Anniversary Cake for my wonderful parents

Alex and I made this cake for my parent's 34th wedding anniversary last Saturday night. It's a golden cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Alex has turned out to be a natural when it comes to cake decorating! Mom and Dad were totally surprised and we all had a great time at dinner, and the cake was delicious!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

This year for Thanksgiving I made Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream frosting and Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting.

These are the mini-cupcakes that I took to my Mom, she unfortunately had to work on Thanksgiving day.

Maple Buttercream:



The pumpkin cream cheese frosting I am extremely proud of because it was my own recipe! I made it up all on my own! This was the first time I had done that! Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

Jennifer's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

(1) 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
(3) cups confectioners sugar
(6) tablespoons butter, softened
(1) teaspoon vanilla extract
(2) tablespoons canned pumpkin
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Sift in confectioners sugar, mix until smooth. Add vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend until creamy and all lumps are gone. Yummy!

Here is a picture of the pumpkin cream cheese in action:


For Thanksgiving this year, I made pumpkin cupcakes with maple buttercream frosting AND pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

And for grins, here is a picture of me and Alex after Thanksgiving dinner at his Mom's house. What a wonderful holiday...I LOVE Thanksgiving!

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!

Cake Decorating Class Project #2

Okay, it's over a week late, but here is my second project for my cake decorating class. I went a little off the beaten path and made pina colada cupcakes with toasted coconut cream cheese frosting. I did the flowers all by myself, sort of! I am really learning a lot in my class!

Cake Decorating Class Project #1

Today was the second day of my cake decorating class at Michael's. Since I am a lover of all things cupcake, I chose a cupcake shaped cake as my first assignment. I am having such a great time in the class, but it is turning out to be a lot of work!! I am learning so much! Next week we have an option of either making cupcakes or a round cake, obviously I am going to choose cupcakes! I think we are making clowns out of buttercream frosting....should be interesting. Here is a picture of how my first project turned out. Strawberry cake with buttercream frosting. Don't mind the dab of purple at the bottom...I was cleaning my pastry bag and dripped on my poor cake! I am so excited to return next week!

I got paid to make cupcakes!

Okay, okay, so it was my Mom that hired me to make them, but still! I made chocolate per her request. I went with dark chocolate cupcakes with a yummy chocolate buttercream frosting. They turned out great!

Trying something new.

Next Friday, my studio is hosting a football tailgating "potluck." I am known as the cupcake queen around the studio, so of course I signed up to bring cupcakes. After searching online for inspiration, I found some cute ideas for football cupcakes. I'm thinking I will make a butter or white cupcake, topped with chocolate buttercream frosting.....sadly, I have to wait until next week to work on them. Pictures to follow!

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!

New Blog, New Inspirations!

So this is a new blog for me. I felt inspired to join after seeing all of the fabulous cupcake bloggers out there.

Unfortunately for me, I am itching to go home and bake, but can't because I am at work!

More later...