They're baked. They're frosted. They're boxed and ready to go to the lodge up at Lake Tahoe. (At the very last minute I changed my mind from doing a blue color scheme to pinks, and so I am making new pink "embrace" flags this morning.)
All that's left is to load them in my car, along with the stacking trays, and hit the road for a great weekend.
I'm baking baby cakes for the Women's Retreat I'll be attending this weekend with my church. (160 lil' baby cakes to be exact.) The theme of the retreat is "Embrace" so I am doing a few baby cakes with flags, and of course all of them will color coordinate so they look pretty on the stacked trays I'll be using. It's such a creative outlet for me, creating these yummy treats!
*sigh* You know, I do believe I could bake and decorate these sweet little cakes all day long and never grow tired.
I was in cupcake heaven yesterday at the bridal expo. ( After all, next to a new baby, what is sweeter than a giant banquet room full of brides to be, planning their big day and tasting cupcakes? ) The caterer spent the day working the booth with me,and we had a great time. Our booth had a definite vintage theme, with our collections of vintage cake toppers up across the top of our backdrop, which was made of large shutters.
We gave out ten dozen babycake samples in less than an hour and a half...there was a fashion show with wedding and bridesmaid dresses..so many pretty gowns!
My booth was located on a corner right up front, right near the fashion show, which turned out to be a pretty prime location. At the end of the day, the caterer and I happily agreed that it was a huge success, and I am going to check into doing the really big bridal fair here in January.
Now, that will be a perfect way to start off the new year!
I'm in the Bridal fair this Sunday, pitching my cupcakes to brides and their friends. Oh, you know I am in heaven on this one! Planning the table display, and baking cupcakes....I can hardly wait to show you my finished booth table.....
I'm out yard saling this morning but I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you that sent me emails and posted comments on the blog post yesterday! I'll be watermarking things now...
Anyway.
I'll share my finds from today later (wish me luck!) but here's a lil' cuppy cake love for you to enjoy till then.... a baby boy's bay shower, all in greens and blues.
We had one of my favorite appetizers at the shower this past Saturday, and I thought you'd like the recipe too! It's very easy and it's always a hit.
Cucumber Dill Bars
1 package Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
2 tablespoons dill
1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
sliced cucumbers and /or cherry tomatoes
Spread the crescent rolls out flat on a cookie sheet, forming one big rectangle. Bake according to package directions. Cool. Mix dill and garlic into cream cheese, let sit out to room temperature, then spread on cooled crescent roll sheet. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, cut into rectangles and top with cucumber or tomato garnishes. (Oh, and at Christmas time you can shape the crescent rolls like a Christmas tree, with tomato ornaments and cucumber garlands and serve it up that way...kinda cute!
Mmmmm. So yummy.
(If you haven't already, make sure to check out the Openhouse blogpost on my little gift buckets!)
Hopefully I'll be sharing more new-to-me junk treasures later today (there's a neighborhood wide sale at the south end of town today) but for now I'll share some freshly baked Friday cupcakes. Tiny buttercream frosting lady bugs adorn each chocolate cupcake for a little birthday girl who attends a preschool class called the lady bugs.
I made babycakes yesterday for a friend's last day at my grown up girl job and I thought I'd share the recipe, as well as some easy peasy tips for decorating them! Here's my recipe (which is the one on the Nestle' Toll House Cocoa box):
1/2 cup butter or margarine
tsp. vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cups of sifted powdered Nestle' Toll House Cocoa
a few drops of milk
Beat on high speed with your mixer. Then....
Decorate by frosting the babycakes (I use the big star tip) and then by adding your choice of:
a malt ball
mini chocolate chips
1/2 of a white chocolate candy melts (found at the cake supply stores...)
See how easy that is? Yummy too.
When I did the last order of orange, white and lime green baby cakes I had no idea they would be so well received! I got a phone call the very next day from a woman working with a ladies golf tournament wanting exactly the same babycakes... ten dozen of them to be precise!
I was more than happy to oblige.
Three cupcake orders this weekend, and lucky for me, two of the orders were for the same colors and flavor. The cupcakes pictured here are the tiny ones (I call them babycakes) but it's hard to tell that in the picture, since there isn't really anything to reference it by.
Lime green, orange and white baby cakes, with whimsical little details. I make the swirls by piping melted candy melts through a parchment bag onto freezer paper. Once I am done, I put the freezer paper in the refrigerator to firm it up, then lift off the swirls and pop 'em on the little babycakes...so cute.
And so yummy too.
Happy 4th of July, everybody!
Another busy week (and it's only Tuesday!) I made a batch of bird's nest cupcakes (18 classic sized and one big boy for the birthday girl) and I must say, they just look so sweet. And yummy. I never get tired of making these cupcakes.
Never.
Ever.
Last night I baked three flavors of cupcakes for various orders. These lil' cuties are for a birthday party. See the little candy butterflies? I hope the little girls at the party enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!
Oh yes. It's that time of year.
Graduation cupcakes are kind of a challenge to me.You can't really tell in the picture, but the flags are a gray-silver color with blue printing, 'coz that's the school color combo.You know, you've got to try and get remotely close to the school colors, and yet, there is something so unnatural to me about a color such as royal blue frosting, that I am not sure I could eat one of these little guys.
*sigh* Next week I am doing some more for another high school graduation where the colors are red and blue.
Another busy day. I'm up and at 'em early for Toastmasters, then work, then an event for work..after work. I wanted to pop in for a minute to share another b-i-g cupcake.
Have a fabulous Thursday, people!
ps.Thanks so much for all of the support and confidence yesterday in my latest adventure of baking my way to bliss. I'm still struggling with the logistics of how this is all going to work out around my gown up girl job, but I am sure I'll figure it out so I can do both.
You know I love baking my cupcakes and cookies. And you know that I love packaging them up so sweet, with tags, and ribbons, and boxes even more. Well, I am stepping things up, from baking for friends and family to a full blown baking business (once again, this is on the side of my grown up girl job) under the umbrella of A Cottage Industry.
A catering /restaurant owner friend met with me last week to talk about being their "cupcake supplier" and another catering friend has offered me time in her commercial prep kitchen, so it all fell into place. (I love it when things happen like this!) Now I'll get to be even more creative with my cupcakes, from wedding and baby showers, to cupcake towers, to new flavors and all sorts of fun little details.(..and hopefully I'll even make a little money while I'm having so much fun!)
Oh! And there are new additions happening all over the place. I've now added the jumbo sized cupcakes to my menu (I call them "Big Boys") and they are going to be filled with yummy cream or fruit fillings. I'm adding a webpage to my website, showcasing the fabulous cuppy cakes,(sorry, local delivery only) and I've designed an online flyer for emailing clients,as well as a hard copy printed brochure, and business cards.
I am working on the last details for the wedding cupcake brochure now. Once that's complete I am going to do a small photo album of themed cupcakes and details that I've already done in the past...an inspiration book of sorts. (having those three weddings and showers within twelve months has really paid off for me in this area...)
*sigh* I am having too much fun.
I'm off to a baby shower this morning. I made the party favors, (cupcakes, of course!)and I wanted to share them with all of you.
They look so sweet, and they were oh, so easy to make.
I melted 1 part light blue candy melts and 6 parts cream colored candy melts, along with 1 teaspoon of Crisco in the microwave, 20 seconds at a time to soften it up until creamy. I then poured the melted candy melts on to a piece of freezer paper and let it sit until firm. I then used a butter curler to cut the curls. After frosting the cupcakes, I sprinkled the shavings on top of the frosting.
My friend that is hosting the shower ordered the acetate 4"x4" boxes and double sided satin ribbon online. I lined the bottom with baby blue tissue and set the sweet little cupcakes in. Once I added the bow and tag with a verse, they were all set.
As you surely have guessed, she's having a sweet baby boy.
A few weeks back, Ms. Crafty told me about Target having the Wilton giant cupcake pans. We decided I needed one. (I did need one, right?)
Once I got it, I needed to find the right occasion to break it in. Well, Sunday night was that occasion.One of my favorite people had a birthday yesterday.
She's a third grade
teacher, and I thought I'd surprise her and her little students with something
special. (Can you think of anything more special to a class of third graders than a giant cupcake?)
This pan is really odd, and I am very disappointed in Wilton and I will tell you why. (They are supposed to be the experts in cake pans you know...) See the pan down there, laying on it's side? Well, as any experienced cake baker will tell you, when baking two cakes at a time (like 2 round 8 inch cakes for example) they bake at the same rate...why? Because they have the exact same amount of batter in them. Not so with this set up. Look close. The cupcake top pan (on the right) is much more shallow than the cupcake bottom pan. 
Hmmm. I was concerned as I poured in the batter. Yup, sure enough, the top of the cupcake was done and ready to be pulled out of the oven a good 5-7 minutes before the bottom part of the cupcake...but I couldn't do that, because the pans are connected. Consequently, the top part of the cupcake was slightly over cooked (this is the worst thing to me as a baker...it makes for a dry, dry cake, and yes, I am a perfectionist, I know.)
Anyway, live and learn. Next time I will bake one cake (one side of the cupcake) at a time so I can cook them until they are just right...not under done, not over done...
It did come out awfully cute anyway. Oh, and my friend and the kids loved it (one little girl shrieked, "I don't know who you are, but I love you!" Is that just the cutest?)
I thought I'd share a lil' bit more from the day before the big day. After "Breakfast at Tracey's" all of the girls in the bridal party and the mother of the groom and I headed up to the lake for pedicures before the wedding rehearsal and dinner. (As I am writing this I am discovering that it seemed to be all about eating)
We decided it would be easiest to take along shoe box lunches for the girls, instead of squeezing in a trip to a restaurant.
Friday morning before the breakfast, we packed the lunches- croissant sandwiches, fruit, and some fabulous cupcakes.(See the cute napkins the bride ordered?) I found the perfect white boxes at Michaels and added the darling polka dot ribbon and the tags.The bride found the adorable paper napkins with the fabulous chandelier logo online.
Even the gals working at the salon loved the presentation and added mimosas all the way around for us, as we took turns getting our tootsies done up for the big day.
*sigh* This was all just too much fun to plan.
Mmm, mmm, mmmm. Yumm-meee. Pass the milk please.
One of my friends at my grown up girl job is having a birthday today. Her 49th to be exact. That's big. So big, that it called for a little cupcake celebration.
I decided to try making filled cupcakes this time. Coconut creme filling in a coconut cupcake, with toasted coconut buttercream frosting.
Coconut isn't really a very strong flavor, and these came out just right; nice and tasty, not overpowering)
I think this flavor just became one of my top favorites.
Have you ever had a filled cupcake? if you haven't you're missing out. They're deee-lish.
What a busy week.(and it's only Tuesday!) Wedding stuff, and helping a friend re-do her kitchen. I was glazing shutters and cupboards last night, then making little signs back at home for the "Breakfast at Tracey's" party. So much fun.(I swear, I get so pumped up doing this type of thing that I could stay up all night creating. Really.)
We have 2 team members at my grown up girl job having birthdays, so I also made cupcakes last night to take to work today. Double chocolate cake with double chocolate frosting. Double yummy!!
**Edited to add** I used the big Wilton star tip, #2D, to frost these babies.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Oh, how I love to bake. I have a nice cupcake order to drop off today for someone, so I decided to make some extras. Mmm hmm, I'm going to spread the Valentine love at work today with these goodies.
Speaking of cupcakes...cupcakes remind me of love and love reminds me of the things I am passionate about and passion reminds me of Bliss...and my Bliss seems to be unfolding rather quickly these days. You remember the farm I am looking into, right? Well, if you read this Blog daily, you know another of my not-so-secret dream is to have a cupcakery.
Well, apparently in my current state of positiveness, it now seems that there may be a competing wish my heart made that is coming to light. The current Bride-to-be called me to announce that she had discovered a possible future cupcakery location available in my little dream town of Stars Hollow Camas!
*sigh* Images of me, in a fabulous chef coat (all custom done up with fabric covered buttons and coordinating robin's egg blue mini polka dot print chef pants, made by the Sewing Queen of course!) be-bopping merrily up the street to go to work each day at Cupcake Heaven fill my mind. The Bride-to-be is going to further investigate the charming little place this weekend and is working on some number crunching. I on the other hand, have completely decorated the place, in my mind. (Robin's egg blue and white striped French roman shades on the windows, at least 3 matching crystal looking chandeliers casting romantic light on the French bistro tables and the vintage bakery case that I have already located, possibly some framed vintage sepia tone photographs of old bakeries from days gone by, and a giant vintage style chalk board on the wall behind the bakery case with our vast menu)
I made a Pro/Con list for the cupcakery and for the farm. The farm does have some kind of scary zoning issues, and needs a whole lot of work. This all makes me wonder if the cupcakery is my stepping stone dream....
*sigh and a smile* I just can't wait to find out what God's plans are for me.
Someone ordered cookies for a baby shower from me.(I must be nuts.I'm sure of it. This was the busiest week I've had in months at my grown up job, and then I was up till I-won't-even-tell-you-when, decorating these.)
I bought the cutter here. They wanted pale yellow, white and pale green..not too much I could think of to jazz them up besides hearts and roses.... but they did turn out kinda sweet, don'tcha think?
...or how about an amazingly cute cookie or two?
It feels like it's been a long time in the making, but the last workshop I conducted on cupcakes and cookies is all set, in a kit form.
The bride-to-be/editor and producer called me last night to tell me she was shipping my newest DVD's to me today.
The DVD covers creative ideas with cookies and cupcakes, and a few little extras. It also comes with a handy dandy booklet (shown in the picture) and is available for $20 plus $5 shipping. Kits will ship to you next week.
Please email me at: info@acottageindustry.com to let me know if you'd like one, and I'll send you a Paypal invoice (or we can work out a check payment if you prefer!)
I had a friend over for a little Christmas time dinner last night. We met years and years ago, when my Mom had her gift shop and she was a customer. We rekindled our friendship when she attended the tumbleweed Cotillion and it's like no time has passed at all. So nice. She is over the top creative and such fun to be around!
I wanted to share my table set up. Remember when I did the brunch for my girlfriend last spring?
Well, it's almost the identical table setting, complete with my all time favorite black and white toile cones, but with a definite holiday slant.(see the holly?)
I always save all my little table setting items. (see the "You" name tag in the holly filled cone? "Me" and "You" works for everyone!) I keep them all in a drawer in the living room hutch, and they're then there when I need them. So easy and quick to set up, and it looks like I took an hour. (Now, how cool is that?)
Remember this, when you are creating something sweet for your table.
Snowballs. Mexican wedding cakes. Russian Tea Cakes. There are quite a few names for these delightful cookies. So easy to make, and even easier to eat. Perfect for gift giving.
You can make them way ahead and freeze them, and whether bagged up as a favor, or all decked out in a martini glass, these little cookies fill the bill.
In case you've never made them, here's my recipe:
1 cup softened butter (room temp)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 chopped nuts if desired
extra powdered sugar
Mix all ingredients with mixer, roll into little balls. Bake at 400' for 10-13 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar while hot, and again when cool.
Second option: roll in powdered sugar while hot, then in sparkle sugar when cool for a more elegant effect.
*sigh* baking is one of my most favorite parts of the holiday season.
What's a girl to do with all of the goodies created in demonstrating cookie and cupcake decorating ideas? I'm taking them in to work to share with my friends at my big girl job.
Honestly, after this past weekend of running through my demonstration twice (once for the workshop, once for the dvd...) I can't even look at another snowball cookie, or nest cupcake.
On the other hand, Moose thinks there can never be too many t-r-e-a-t-s.
Is it Saturday night yet? I've gone and over booked myself dreadfully this week. I'm way too busy at my grown up job at the moment. Last night I had a wonderful time with out of town company for dinner (and tree trimming!) *Sigh* A good friend and comfort food.(chili and cornbread and all the toppings!)Such a nice time. The tree is now officially decorated. Wow. Looks A-mazing. Christmas cheer in all it's glory....
Back to my dreadfully over booked week...
Tonight I'm hosting a jewelry party (What was I thinking, planning that at this time of year?!)
Yet another house guest comes in tomorrow and then, finally, on Saturday...oh my, Saturday I'll be conducting a very fun workshop at my cottage, where hopefully we'll be making a DVD to follow up from the class. This one is going to cover cupcakes, sugar cookies, packaging your baked goods in creative ways, and last but not least, some ideas for menu cards, place cards and table themes.So, in between all the other things this week, I am prepping and creating and making an outline.
Mmmm hmmm, this little chicky is gonna be so ready for a holiday bubble bath by Sunday.
Gosh, I love that line. Love it so much that I used it on the favors for the engagement party.
The favors are my signature sugar cookies, all dolled up and ready to eat. The monogram look is so big right now that we decided to capitalize on it (no pun intended...) Now I've just got to decide if I want to bag up the cookies as favors, like my samples shown, or display them piled on a tray to eat at the party.
Which do you think?
................................................................................................................
Another Tumbleweed Cotillion update!
Here are the dear little press kits I've been hand delivering to the local newspaper, magazines and television stations.
I think they came out pretty charming, and will get our message across!
The plan of attack was this: If the cuteness of the folder doesn't entice you, maybe a cupcake will.
Think it will work?
