Whirlwind Weekend

The LPC kitchen was super busy this weekend.  We had an order for a Winnie the Pooh cake for a first birthday.  I thought it would be cute to make his honey pot, as Winnie the Pooh is a copyrighted character I would not have been able to recreate him so his honey pot I thought would make an adorable cake.  It was my first time doing a cake in this sort of shape.  It's tapered at the bottom and I was concerned I might have problems getting it to stand or it possibly cracking and falling over.  Thankfully, Niki baked a very sturdy cake for me to work with.  I stacked it and made sure to put supports in half way through.

I carved the honey pot shape which wasn't quite as difficult as I anticipated.  Covering the cake in fondant proved to be slightly more difficult than I thought it might be, but in the after trying it three different times I tried a "paneling" method that ended up working out great.

I thought the bees flying around the pot made a nice touch.  I used one of Duff's (Ace of Cakes) new products the cake wires which worked pretty well. I have tried other wires in the past and it's hard to get the right gauge. 

I think the final product turned out pretty cute. 

The second cake of the weekend was such an interesting concept.  The client was hosting a baby shower for her cousin and had told us that she wasn't into the typical "baby" type of look. Her nursery was decorated in turquoise, light grey, and black. What a cool combination of colors.  She sent a picture of a napkin that she was using for the shower to give us an idea of the color scheme and inspiration.  Here's the pic she sent:

So we took the color scheme and I came up with a design that I thought would look cool.  Niki had the idea of using a stencil as we are working on a wedding cake in December that requires some stencil work and we needed some practice.  So, we ordered a new stencil for this job.  Niki came over to help execute the ideas.  This was our first time working with a stencil. 

This is definitely a two-person job.  One person has to hold the stencil in place while the other person does the stenciling.  For our first time doing the stencil technique we were really happy with the result. 

Niki painted the baby rattles with an edible silver glaze and added some silver glaze to the border.  We were really happy with the end result. 

 Close up of the "b" and silver baby rattles.

Cute and Pretty 21st Birthday Cupcakes

This last weekend we filled an order for a 21st birthday.  The client, Lynne, wanted them for her daughter who likes all things cute, pink, and well, you know what 21-year-old women like.  So, I had seen a cute idea on a movie that Niki and I just watched (Life as We Know It).  The lead woman character, Katherine Heigl played, had her own little gourmet shop with baked goods sandwiches, etc.  She also did cake decorating.  She had some super cute cupcakes she made for the little girl's birthday and I was inspired by those.  I couldn't find a pic of the cupcakes she made but here is a pic of part of the birthday cake that was made for the little girl.  Also adorable.


Anyhoo, Niki whipped up some delicious vanilla and fleur de sel cupcakes.  I filled the caramel cupcakes with the delicious oozy caramel and then iced them.  Then went to work on the flowers .

After I completed the flowers I wanted to design some sort of tiny purse element to go on the birthday girl's cupcake.  I came up with this little turquoise number.  It evolved as it went and the end result was pretty cute if I might add. 

I loved the end result and I think the birthday girl did, too!  I would love to do more mini-purses in the future.  The possibilities are endless!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ok, so I think I have a weird fetish with all things "miniature."  I needed a cute topper for some pumpkin cupcakes (pumpkin with maple ginger cream cheese) for an order and thought tiny pumpkins would be fun.  Niki baked the delicious goodies, of course.  It was right before Halloween, but these little pumpkins actually reminded me more of Thanksgiving.  I think they turned out pretty darling if I do say so myself.  I would love to do a cornucopia cupcake for the Thanksgiving holiday (hint hint). I dusted the pumpkins with some luster dust to add to their cuteness.  Overall I think they turned out so well. 

Now I have visions of miniature everything dancing around in my head, like mini purses, flowers, holiday ornaments.  Just about anything you can think of to make miniature I am pretty sure would look good on a cupcake.  Why not?

The Triplet Little Peanut Cake

So my friend of 10 years (who I have been reconnected with through facebook - yay), Gayle, came to me and asked for a cake for her sister in law's baby shower.  Her sis-in-law is having TRIPLETS!   Bless her heart!  What a miracle from God.  Oh my.  So, Gayle knew that she wanted some sort of "peanut" theme because the mom-to-be's hubby calls her "Peanut."  So I thought up a concept and ran it by Gayle she liked the idea so a cake was born.  Niki baked up four layers of delicious chocolate cake and she suggested a color scheme, which was very clever.  I went with it. I created the little babies out of peanut butter flavored "candy clay."  It was a fun medium to work with and the first time I had worked with it. 

I love how the babies turned out and I know the client, Gayle, and her sis-in-law were happy with it.  It was a little hard for me to say goodbye to the little bundles of joy I created, but alas, they were going to a good home to be devoured (or maybe not).  Enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed making this cutie concept of a cake. 

The "Beer-Fish" Cake

This week I got to work with my friend Amy "The Cake Lady" on another beer- fish cake.  Amy is on Facebook (Amy Vanderhaag) and she is a true cake artist!  She is one of my favorite people and we don't get to see each other nearly often enough, but I enjoy doing this cake so much. For those of you who have not seen a picture it's a cake of a fish laying out on a cutting board with a can of brewski on it as well.  It's completely made of cake and the decor that goes with cake.  The end result is so fun. 

Anyhoo, that was my Wednesday night fun and excitement. I cannot wait to see the end result and post pics once Amy's amazing Miller Lite can is finished.  Good stuff!

Here's a photo of the last one that worked on together.  Amy did an AMAZING job on that beer can I know some people thought that it was real!  Crazy good!

It has begun!

It's been a long time coming.  Niki and I have started a business.  Not just any business a business full of baked goods, pretty things, and SUGAR!  Does life get any better than that?  The two of us have both independently wanted our own business for as long as we can remember (I think) and we just took the plunge and are going at this cupcakery with full force.

We started the kick-off with our tasting on October 18 and it has been a whirlwind of flour, butter, and sugar (with some Madagascar vanilla thrown in) every since! 

Thanks for joining us on this journey,  we'll keep you posted on future projects and other excitement.  Here are some pics from the tasting. Enjoy!

Photos Courtesy of: Shane Empie and Stacy Brower