Butterbeer Cupcakes

A while back my best friend Jordan came across a recipe for Butterbeer Cupcakes from the blog Amy Bites.  She took a trip to the Harry Potter theme park and sampled the Butterbeer, then formulated her own interpretation via cupcakes!  Genius!

So for Jordan's annual Halloween party, she requested I make these cupcakes.  Always up for a challenge, I happily obliged.  While these cupcakes were incredibly labor intensive (just look at Amy's blog for all the detailed photos!), they were absolutely delicious and well worth the effort.   There were only a few ingredients involved that I didn't have on hand (cream soda, heavy cream, and butterscotch chips).  A must for Harry Potter fans...give them a try!  Thanks Amy Bites for the recipe!

Coconut Key Lime Cake

I had some key limes leftover from a previous project (see Cyle's Graduation Cupcakes below), and I had seen this recipe on Smitten Kitchen's blog so I decided to have a go at it.



After I cut a piece for myself....


That evening, I had plans to meet my sister-in-law Shannon and my friend Brooke for frozen yogurt at Yogurtville. I cut them a few slices and boxed them in my pretty Martha Stewart food gift boxes. I think they were pleasantly surprised by the cake. :)

Alison's Bridal Shower

On April 4th, I co-hosted my dear friend Alison's bridal shower at our house in Frisco. A family friend of Alison's was originally going to host the shower, but had some medical problems arise so Lauren and myself accepted the honors. We had about a month to put the whole shower together, so we quickly got to work during the first week of March. We put a lot of attention to detail, and the end result was something that we were both proud of. Here is the arrangement that we had made for the shower, made by Holly's Gardens and Florist in Denton. If you look closely on the table you can see the confetti that I made using a paper punch. Alison is incorporating fleur de lis into her wedding theme, so this punch was perfect.


The gifts....


As part of the shower festivities, we gave each guest a clothespin and told them that they couldn't say "wedding" or "Will" (Alison's fiance). If someone heard them say either one of these words, their clothespin could be taken away, or if they heard someone else say it, they could take it from someone else. I also made these favor boxes that housed the homemade chocolates I made as favors for the guests.


Alex was incredibly kind to be our "panini master" for the bridal shower. He set up his workstation on our kitchen island and went to work making paninis for all the ladies at the shower. They were incredibly yummy and he was the hit of the party!


Here are a couple of shots of the food we served.


I wanted to take a few more detailed shots before the guests arrived, but I ran out of time! We served red velvet cupcakes (Alison's favorite), deli spirals, fresh fruit and veggies, jelly bellies in Alison's colors, brie with garlic toast, and phyllo cups with different fillings.

My Mom and Alex were tremendously helpful throughout the whole process, and I couldn't have done it without their help. Here are the thank you flowers that Alison's Mom Beth bought for Lauren, myself, and my Mom as a thank you. They were so beautiful.


Here is Alison opening a few of her presents.


Lauren and I got so many compliments on the shower. She and I worked really hard to make the event memorable for Alison, and she had a great time. I think we did a great job since it was the first shower we had ever given!

Lauren's Birthday Cupcakes

My good friend Lauren Horton had her birthday party about a month ago. Her favorite cake is a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, so I happily made them in her honor.



Her favorite color is blue, so I decorated them with blue stars and blue edible sugars.





We all sat around, played Rock Band and Nintendo, ate cupcakes, and had a great time!

Workin' for the Weekend

The week that Alex and I got back from our honeymoon, things were very hectic at Wizetrade TV. We were transitioning into our new studios, and I put in 60 hours that week, mostly on the weekends. My co-workers and I were working long days to try to get ready for our launch on Monday. On that Saturday night, I got home around 8pm, and decided to bake for my hard working co-workers. This was the result:



Two pumpkin spice cakes. Mom and Lori surprised me with this bundt pan, and I love breaking in new pans! I brought the cakes in on Sunday morning, and they were a huge success.

Grandpa Stan's Birthday Cake

Alex's grandpa Stan's birthday was also back in September. In fact, we had Alison's celebration (see below) the night before we had Stan's birthday dinner. Stan is one of my biggest cake fans, and this year he wanted an orange cake with orange frosting. I had never tried either of these, so I was in for a challenge. I found what I deemed to be a suitable recipe, and went to work. Alex's Mom told me that Stan probably wanted a orange cake made with FRESH oranges, and not just orange flavoring. Not a problem....I used orange zest and some orange liquor (!) to make it tasty. The frosting was orange buttercream, and was so incredibly thick and sweet, also thanks to the orange zest.



The orange cake was a huge success, and a great birthday dinner was had by all. :)

College Cupcakes

A little bit of back-blogging today! I've had problems with uploading pictures.

Back in May, my good friend Alison's little brother graduated from SMU here in Dallas. Alison asked me to make graduation cupcakes for Owen and I was honored! Here is how they turned out.



Alex and I didn't make it to Owen's graduation party, but I hear the cupcakes were a success! Congrats Owen!

Dad's 60th Birthday Cake

So I've been wanting to do this post for some time now, but I tend to have problems uploading pictures with Blogger.

Anywho, back in May, my Dad celebrated his 60th birthday. Mom arranged a surprise party for him at our favorite restaurant, Giuseppe's. We had quite a crowd! Dad's coworkers, Lori and Randy, me and Alex, Stan and Carol, and Jeff, Ryan, and Shannon! The extra special treat was having The Abbott family in town from Virginia.

I tried to make Dad a Splenda Cake (see my previous post!), but that didn't turn out so well. So I decided to make a giant cupcake cake. After quite a bit of laboring, here it is:



Here is Dad with his birthday cupcake!



Everyone had a great time celebrating Dad's birthday. There is nowhere that I would rather be than spending an evening with my family! Here is a parting picture of me and Alex....

My Brother's Decorating "Lesson"

I had made an extra layer cake iced with buttercream for my cake decorating class, but I ended up not going to class that week. I brought along the cake to my parent's house on New Years Eve in case we got the urge to decorate it. My brother Jeff decided to have a go at it.

Here I am showing Jeff different tips and what they do...



And here he is watching intently.....



And he's off! (Under my watchful eye, of course.)





Well, after much effort and thought, here is Jeff with his creation.



Well, I guess I taught him well....here I am with Jeff's masterpiece.

Cake Decorating Class Final Project

Sunday was the last day of my Cake Decorating Course number one. I start course number two on Sunday and I can't wait. Even though I am a complete cupcake person, I have really enjoyed learning how to decorate cakes, since they better my cupcake decorating ability at the same time! Here are a few pics from my final class.



I am so excited about what I have learned! I start the new class on Sunday, and it looks promising!

A Confession....

Okay, okay....I have to admit this.....

At the last minute on Monday afternoon, one of my co-workers requested some cupcakes. I, feeling flattered, eagerly agreed to bake them. But of course, I had forgotten that Alex and I were going to view some houses that our realtor had found for us. So I was pressed for time....

...and I used a cake mix and pre-made frosting! I know, the horror!

I took them to work today, and one of my co-workers claimed them as the best cupcakes I had ever made! I work for a TV studio, and the host and talent talked about the cupcakes for an hour, raving about how great they were! I just soaked up their praises and didn't say a word about the cupcakes being made from a mix!