Wedding Cucpakes Coming up

These cupcakes were made for my tasting with a bride-to-be for her November wedding.
On the menu:
1. Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with choices of dairy or vegan cream cheese frostings and either a spicy pecan or caramelized ginger on top.
2. Vegan Dark Chocolate Mocha cupcakes with regular or dark chocolate mocha butter cream and chocolate covered or plain coffee beans on top.

The final combination:
Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting and a sweet/spicy pecan on top.
Chocolate Mocha Cake with Chocolate Mocha buttercream and coffee beans on top.

The client was happy, and everyone was full from sampling. They were fun to make for a client that's fun to work with! Win-win. I can't wait to set up for their wedding and bake about 200 of these!

BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT TO BE LIKE THEM

Upon meeting Kathy and Aben, the clients for the wedding cupcake tower above, a friend of mine said "I want to be as nice as them!" I don't know if it's quite possible. The newlywed Cooper's are truly a wonderful couple of folks who tied the knot this weekend in Chicago. After trying some cupcakes at a friend's birthday last March, Aben and Kathy asked Simran Bakehouse to do their wedding cake! The fun couple decided on a cupcake tower with two flavors of cupcakes: Carrot and Chocolate. Each cupcake was baked in a gold foil liner and was topped in cream cheese frosting with organic orange zest and a white non-pareil rim. With more cupcakes than guests at the party (about 200), friends and family were able to endulge in more than one! At the top, a small carrot cake wrapped in white fondant and topped with calla lilies to mimic the centerpieces was cut by the bride and groom towards the end of the reception.

MCCLURE-MAY WEDDING CAKE

As a gift to my friends, Cory and Kristin, I offered to make their wedding cake this August. The dinner reception was held at The Whitney mansion in the historic arts district of Detroit. Prepared in the Windy City and driven to Motown for assembling and devouring, were layers of delicate vanilla bean cake, Michigan strawberry filling, rich vanilla buttercream frosting and hundreds of hand-made and colored shimmering fondant flowers. A smaller cutting cake was on display, but sheet cakes were prepared for twice the number of guests so everyone could have a big piece. Next to each slice, chocolate and white chocolate hand-dipped strawberries sat in a cloud of freshly whipped cream and rounded out the dessert for the new bride and groom!

ROSE PETAL WEDDING CAKE

This was my first wedding cake commission. The three buttercream frosted tiers were made with both chocolate and vanilla layers. The 14", 10" and 6" double layers served well over 70 people.

LOVE BIRDS

Another wedding reception was held for the newlyweds, Sheila + Frank. This time, it was at the beautiful home of the Krugers in the Chicago suburbs. Two little love birds sat atop this vanilla cake with pineapple filling. This nest crowned the top of a 5-tired cupcake tower for the special event!

APRIL SHOWER

 

I never thought I'd be making a Wedding Shower cake for my MOM! With Daffodils being one of her favorite flowers, there was no question about how to decorate her spring shower cake! Hand cut and formed from fondant, daffodils of various colors were set into this chocolate hazelnut 2-tier cake. Keep watching after June 16th for the Wedding cake to follow!

SHEILA + FRANK WEDDING CAKE

 

 

 

A unique situation called for a unique cake! My Mom just got remarried to an old high school flame! They dated in the 12th grade, met up at thier 40th high school reunion, and well, the rest is now history! My Mom wanted something fun and light hearted for this summer garden wedding. Two tiers of white cake with strawberry filling were covered with a luscious vanilla buttercream and then a final coat of white modeling chocolate and rolled fondant decorations. (Every side was different!) Inside, two moist layers of cake were joined together with bakehouse-made strawberry filling. Strawberries were hand-picked in Indiana and cooked down to make a delicious, deep red filling, bursting with fresh strawberry flavor. Extra filling was modified into a strawberry sauce for plating. Note to self: Do not experiment with new techniques when preparing a wedding cake out of town! Extra stress is definitely not needed, but the end result worked well - a box-like square cake with a smooth surface for applying fondant cut outs, and the first-time filling recipe was delicious (thanks for the tip, Martina!). Since this was my gift to my Mom and Frank, I made more than enough to feed the guests so the family could have some to devour over the rest the weekend. The 12" tier disappeared very quickly and over a week later, my Mom and my Brother are still wishing there was more! [Photos by Chris Grayson]

DISCO FEVER BEGINS

A 40th birthday with a 70's disco theme calls for a special cake! This disco ball cake topped a cupcake tower of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry cupcakes that had swirls of silvery-gray buttercream frosting and disco dancers on top. These other images show a behind the scenes look at what will soon become a parts of a disco ball cake! Hundreds of rolled and hand cut 1/2" fondant tiles will be drying for the next few days. Once hardened, they'll be painted with edible silver luster dust so that they sparkle on the ball-shaped cake they'll be affixed to! Still to come, cake for 50, dancing silhouettes, and a rocking good time building this cake! I'll post the finished cake in less than a week.

HAPPY 50th!

The LEAST I could do for a dear friend's birthday was make party favors to go on everyone's plate at his surprise dinner party. Seating for 60 was set up in a private room and individually wrapped classic chewy chocolate chip or dark chocolate-white chocolate chip cookies with a custom label were set out for each guest.

FORMAL BIRTHDAY CAKE

This is a strawberry cake with strawberry filling covered in vanilla fondant. The calla lilies are edible, and are also made from vanilla flavored fondant.

PRINCESS CAKE

Princess doll cakes seem to be popular with the younger ladies! This vanilla cake with strawberry filling was a delight at a princess party for 5-year-old Bianca! Doll cakes are also great for Sweet 16, Bat Mitzvah, or Bridal Shower celebrations too!

GARDEN WEDDING

This light and airy vanilla cake was filled with a rich chocolate custard and enveloped in the bride's favorite shade of purple. Orchid arrangements made by A New Leaf in Chicago adorned the two tiers.

OH BOY!

This mod baby shower cake was designed for Susanna and Colin. 4 layers of dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling were covered with a rich chocolate buttercream and decorated with fondant shapes. (top photo by Rose) Colin and Susanna stand at the beautiful buffet that Anna put together and cut their cake. (bottom photo by Anna K.)

CHRISTENING CAKE

Made for an Irish Catholic Christening, this cake was used for a cutting ceremony at the reception. The fondant covered cake was adorned with medalians with the child's initials, his full name and date of the baptism, and an edible celtic cross. Edible silver luster dust gave the finishing touches to the cross. Fondant-covered cakes are perfect for those who want a clean, smooth design. Kept mostly white by the client's wishes, this cake was full of color and flavor inside, with four moist layers of white cake alternating with delicious strawberries.

CAKE POPS - TAKE I

I have seen the Bakerella blog and her cute-as-can-be cake pops. I've even bought her aptly named cookbook. However, I thought I'd better start with the basics and see if I could get a handle on these bite-sized treats.

Using my favorite white cake recipe, baked, cooled, crumbled and mixed with freshly made buttercream frosting, I started shaping up little balls of the moist cake mixture and put them in the fridge to chill and firm up. Once ready to dip, I melted Wilton candy coating (I'd like to make an all-natural version of this candy coating one day) and went to town! This is a very simple process, but it's tricky to get perfect shapes. It definitely makes me appreciate the details that Bakerella puts into her pops. It's time consuming, but worth the wait. My biggest problem was trying not to gobble up all of them myself!

"PRE-COOKIES"

I love to make a big batch of cookie dough to have ready for later. Once my favorite mix-ins are added (any or a combination of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans, walnuts, raisins, craisins, etc.), I scoop out the dough onto a parchment-lined tray, pop in the freezer for a few hours, then store these delicious little nuggets in a freezer bag or air-tight container in the freezer for up to a few weeks until ready to bake. This is great to have on hand for freshly baked cookies when unexpected guests come over or you just need a little treat. Though, of course, baking is optional!

WINTERY TREAT

I love the cool, refreshing flavor of peppermint and chocolate. These chocolate cupcakes were topped with rich buttercream and some had sprinkles, others a peppermint patty. If making peppermint frosting, make sure you get peppermint extract, not just mint flavor. Add it to a basic buttercream recipe instead of or in addition to vanilla and you're on your way to a mouthfuls of oohs and ahhs.

LEMON + CHOCOLATE

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it! Big soft swirls of lemon buttercream topped these dark chocolate cupcakes. Instead of colored sprinkles for these birthday cupcakes, candy and chocolate coated sunflower seeds were used for a festive touch.

GINGERBREAD CUCPAKES

An experiment with gingerbread cake, I probably wouldn't try this recipe again. Still, the flavor was nice, especially when paired with a smooth maple cream cheese frosting and candied ginger on top! It was the perfect bite-sized treat for a holiday dinner party.

MICHIGAN BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Having frozen, locally grown and hand picked gigantic blueberries were such a welcomed treat on a cold winter day. Using a recipe from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess, I put those berries to good use and made a quick batch of fragrant muffins. I ate them just as Nigella likes:

warm out of the oven, finger split and slathered with good butter and some blueberry jam.

RHUBARB CRUMB CAKES

With the one of the first edible harvests of spring, I just couldn't resist making all things rhubarb! It's a fruit/vegetable (depends on who you ask) that I've grown to love, and this year I made rhubarb compote sundaes with strawberry ice cream, rhubarb jam, confiture du rhubarbe, honey roasted rhubarb and goat cheese salad, and these little handfuls of goodness: crumb cakes. Sweeter than a muffin and heartier than a cupcake, these rich crumb cakes made for a delicious spring breakfast, paired with a strong cup of coffee.

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKES

An October birthday in my office called for fall flavors! Rich, moist pumpkin cupcakes were topped with a choice of luscious cinnamon cream cheese frosting or brown butter icing, all topped with caramelized pecans! The recipe I adapted (thanks Martha Stewart) called for brown butter icing, but the cream cheese frosting was definitely the crowd pleaser! Though I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin desserts, I'll definitely be making these again soon!

BRIDAL SHOWER

These dark chocolate cupcakes baked in red foil liners and topped with chocolate ganache and a little red hot on top fit the color scheme for a Chicago bridal shower this July.

CUPCAKES FOR A TOUR

When given the opportunity to tour the Vosges Chocolate Factory, naturally, I couldn't resist! So, I offered cupcakes as a humble gesture of my gratitude. Just as Vosges has assorted boxes of truffles, I decided I'd make a box of assorted cupcakes! (Though they are not nearly as flawless or decadent). Using my classic vegan dark chocolate cake, I made 4 varieties. Shown from left to right are black forest cherry, lemon, coconut and strawberry. Organic lemons were zested into the buttercream and used on top for a garnish. The cherry and strawberry are filled with bakehouse-made "almost organic" preserves. Organic sugar was mixed with the cherries I picked last week in Michigan and the strawberries bought from a local farmers' market. One with vanilla buttercream and the other with dark chocolate, it was hard to resist finishing them off with a strawberry and a cherry on top.

ORGANIC MARMALADE

Though citrus season is fading, making way for spring fruits like rhubarb and strawberries, I thought I'd make one batch of marmalade while the weather was still chilly! Using only organic fruit, organic sugar and pectin, these deeply colored jars of blood orange marmalade offer spoonful after spoonful of tart, sweet, spreadable goodness! While most were given away as gifts, I'm looking forward to trying some on a crusty buttered baguette and cup of good espresso.

EASTER TWEETS

I love Easter candy. One of my childhood favorites were the malted milk ball eggs that are pastel colors that you can paint your lips! This year, I wanted that malted chocolate taste and added malted milk powder to my standard chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting! A coconut border served as a cozy "nest" for these little buttercream birds and were a fun spring treat for an Easter brunch.

CUPCAKES FOR BRUNCH

Dark chocolate vegan cake served as the base for two cupcake options at a recent brunch: Fluffy and smooth vanilla buttercream on the large cupcakes, and vegan dark chocolate buttercream on the minis! Sprinkles and coconut were optional for dipping or sprinkling, but fruit from the brunch buffet landed on top of one vegan chocolate mini and set a trend for more fresh fruit topped cupcakes!