~Rubber Stamps on Fondant~

So easy to do and so fun. I love buying rubber stamps, despite their cost. And they work so well on gum paste and fondant it's almost a crime to charge people for the work. But someones gotta pay for those stamps! Here is a small collection of cupcakes I've fancied up with the work of a simple rubber stamp.

Merci!

Simple stamp...gorgeous cupcake!

Such a cute little tree cupcake!

Bon Voyage Ben & Katie!

My own version of a love bug ; )

Website update

For those of you interested in ordering my cupcakes, the original website www.thevanillabeancupcake.com is no longer in service. Check out my new website at: http://www.thevanillabeancupcake.us/ or for order information please email Mareah at onesmallcake@yahoo.com Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience!

~Superhero Cupcakes~

These cupcakes are a little controversial for me...I've never wanted to do "theme" cupcakes and because I prefer all edible decorations...I hate using cupcake picks. I feel they're too easy to do and why would the person ordering want to pay for cupcake picks? So, I colored and rolled the fondant. Cut it out and "tattooed" non-toxic tattoos on them. Took a long time, they're obviously not edible, but they look so good! Believe me, if you decide to try something like this, have patience my friend, the work is worth it! So darn cute and anymore these days they have temporary tattoos for just about anything at a very cheap price.

All together

Human Torch, Iron Man, and The Hulk

Wolverine, Captain America and Spider Man

Didn't work out so well on black fondant but my husband says this one is the "coolest". ; )

~Love Is In The Air~

What's more romantic than giving the person you fancy most a fancy little cupcake?

Valentine's Day is almost here and I already have a orders coming in

from people ready to show their love! I love this holiday because

everything is expected to be sweet and cupcakes are almost always

very sweet. They're also really easy to personalize and a fairly cheap way

to show that someone special just how special you think they are.

Just a few sweet cakes from past V-Days....

Typical flavors requested for Valentine's Day are

Red Velvet,

Chocolate or Chocolate with Cherries

and surprisingly German Chocolate....all equally yummy.

~ Autumn Cupcakes~

It's that time of year...family....baking....brisk air....pumpkins....all the things that make me love Fall! I've been asked to make a few different types of fall style cupcakes so this is kind of a compilation of them. Great spices for fall can be just about anything...but when it comes to baking I love the ones that fill your home with that warm toasty smell like clove, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and of course vanilla. Hope your Thanksgiving Day is wonderful!

Vanilla Spiced Chai

More of the same

Maple and Pumpkin Butter Cream

Ginger Spice

Black Tea Chai with whipped cream

Toasted Walnut and Carrot with Vanilla Cream Cheese

"Pumpkin" spice

More of the same

Tiger Spiced Chai with chai syrup

There are so many different ways to add some spice to a cupcake these are just of a few of my favorites.

~Merci!~

They sell the most amazing White Chocolate Macadamia nut cookies in the mall here in town. So I did my version cupcake style. They were delish! Most went to the bake sale at my place of work to raise money, but a few lucky people got a free sample before they were all gone.

Fresh out of the oven

Swirls of white chocolate butter cream

"Merci" pressed fondant as a thank you for buying them at the bake sale

~Merci!~ with a little love

One pink heart to give a little pop of color.

For the "merci" I used a rubberstamp from the craft store.

Very easy, but make sure to "emboss" the fondant right away so it doesn't dry.

Otherwise your words or design might not be as prominent.

~Jumping on the Macaron Bandwagon~

I admit it. I made fun of those girls who first wore skinny jeans...now I wear them. Does that make me a follower? Maybe. Well...I've always loved cupcakes so I am proud to say I didn't just jump on that bandwagon...however...the Parisian or French or Macaroon or Macaron (who knows the real name?) bandwagon just showed up and I'm trying to get behind the wheel let alone just on the wagon. I am so enticed by these little clouds of sugar and egg in all their bright colors that I just had to give it a go....so here is my attempt at the "Parisian Macaron"...

My first try was Martha's recipe...I used way too much pink gel food coloring. As if I was licking a marker tip. They were very pink...and other than the chemical taste from the gel they were very sweet and pretty much tasted like nutty textured meringue. Almost like coconut which is what an American Macaroon recipe calls for. The French recipes call for Almonds... "pulverized" blanched almonds...so I took slivered almonds I already had and blanched them (boiled for 1 min. then shocked with cold water). I put them in the food processor and tried my best to beat the life out of them, but they were still gritty in texture. I assumed that was okay as they refused to get any finer. I followed the recipe as it stated and when they were all done baking they were as I described above...like a little cloud of chemical sweetness. Ick. My mouth was pink until noon the next day. They had no "feet" as a macaron should have and they did not flatten out at all...the peeks from piping them baked in position like little witch hats.

Second attempt...I found a recipe adapted from The Sweet Life In Paris by David Lebovitz. No food coloring just cocoa powder to color and add flavor. Still called for almonds only I opted not to blanch them and they pureed down to a nice powder texture. After following all the steps carefully, I piped them onto the parchment paper then banged the pan on the counter as it said to do to flatten them, but the peeks stayed in place tall, pointy, defiant. So I dipped my finger in cold water and smoothed them out. This worked very well, next time I'll use a spoon. The final product was good, some very uniform photo worthy "french macarons" and some odd shaped, cracked or blown open by hot air. So here are the "presentable ones" and I'm eating the other's as I type this. So they won't feel left out. I filled my macaron's with chocolate butter cream and orange and vanilla butter cream.

You can find the full recipe at: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/

All in all they are gorgeous and delicious...but one or two is plenty.

Chocolate with Orange Cream

Chocolate & Chocolate
First batch of pink flops... : (
Perfect little "feet"
One good one out of many messed ups...but they all tasted the same!