I ♥ Cupcakes

I had to bake cupcakes this weekend for a friend's two nieces. Their birthday party is tomorrow and while I waited for the second batch to cool I messed around with some liners and ribbon. They turned out ok. They always taste pretty good but I've got a lot to learn about how to make them "pretty". I am waiting for a large round tip to arrive in the mail so I had to compromise and go without the tip and just use the frosting bag with the tip cut off...so these are just for fun....

Pretty little liners I got on Etsy.com from Vistla House

These are 3 of my fave. they remind me of my Mom...earthy and gorgeous

Creaming the sugar and butter

I let my cupcakes "rest" on paper towels to absorb any grease

Old fashion chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean butter cream

Same cake and frosting with the rose liner and pink ribbon with choc. sprinkles

Red rose liner and red ribbon with pearl sprinkles

Teal liner with red ribbon and red heart sprinkles (love Teal color, makes me think of my very good friend Kara...she's a Tiffany Blue fan)

3 of the cuppies all in a row...Austin had eaten the purple one claiming he "hasn't eaten all day" I then reminded him I brought him lunch 2 hours ago. ;)

~Spiced Cakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting~

Spiced cakes for a friend's mother this past Mother's Day...

These pretty little cakes are spiced with clove, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and allspice. The smell was intoxicating! Vanilla bean butter cream frosting piped on with a basic round tip and then the requested chocolate hearts (made from milk chocolate and white chocolate that I laced with ground clove) on top. The chocolates were made with a simple heart shaped mold. Let them set then pop them out. I really enjoyed making so many cupcakes for Mother's Day this year. Orange and white polka dot liners from Etsy.com were also a nice colorful touch she requested.

~Mocha Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Butter Cream~

Coffee at it's best! Mocha cupcakes with rich espresso and creamy Vanilla bean frosting. It's pretty much the perfect cup of coffee :) I made these for my sister Megan who is a coffee lover as well. I adorned the top with a single coffee bean. These cupcakes had to travel a bit but they made it in one piece. They were my very first cupcake request! And so it began....

Pretty pink liners fancied them up a little more. Not that they needed it.

Thank you Meg for believing in me!

xoxo

~Fresh Strawberry Butter Cream frosting on Vanilla Bean Cupcakes~

These cupcakes were made specially for my sister Megan's boyfriend Scott. They are vanilla bean cakes with fresh strawberry butter cream frosting and handmade strawberries on top.

The strawberry on top is made of royal icing (meringue powder, water and powdered sugar). Originally they were a deep pink shade but they didn't look realistic so I painted some red gel food coloring on them for shading. They turned out pretty good!

My husband Austin bought me a new camera the night before, so you'll see lots of shots of the same cupcake. Just for fun.

~Cupcakes for my Mom~

I made these cupcakes for my mother. She is one of my favorite people. I used these gorgeous cupcake liners from Vestli House. The black and white print worked out perfect with vanilla bean cake and chocolate cream cheese frosting. I added one tiny white heart to the tips of each cupcake for that sweetly simple look.



To add a dose of color I photographed these with a Kelly green polka dot background....so cute!

I love the way they look from the top......

~Birthday Cupcakes for a friend~

These simple Vanilla Bean cupcakes were made for my friend Hilleri...

My favorite cupcake. Just simple vanilla bean but so perfect. I topped them with chocolate butter cream frosting and a simple round chocolate top with pink and green confetti in the center. Hilleri turned 31 so I thought fun girly cupcakes would be perfect for the out of town girls weekend we planned to celebrate.

I found cute cupcake tissue paper at Target to put in the cake box to keep the cupcakes from moving around too much during our 2 hour drive. They traveled nicely!

~Spiced Cakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting~

These spiced cupcakes "tasted like Thanksgiving" according to my husband. I will definitely make them come September. They're topped with Caramel Cream Cheese frosting and filled with caramel cream then fancied up with small clove spiced candies that I made while the cakes baked. I filled them with caramel because they seemed a

little dry. I figured nothing better to fix that then brown sugar, butter and heavy cream. It made these cakes a little more decadent than your basic spice cake.

~Carrot Cakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting~

Fancy little Carrot Cakes for Mother's Day made for an old friend from High School.........

These are a basic carrot cake cupcake, but I added in toasted walnuts. I am not a fan of raisins so I opted not to put them in. Vanilla Bean cream cheese frosting and a little royal icing carrot to top them off. These were so delish!! I even surprised myself! I got the best compliments as well. Hearing that my cupcakes made her mom's day was the best thing ever.

cakes just before the carrot...

boxed up and ready to go with a fancy little label...