This is my life, as a cover girl...

“The very best moment in any long journey that makes your dreams come true, comes not on the day you realize they have, but on the day you realize how little they matter compared to loving the adventure they've inspired.”

Oh my goodness how true a statement that is. I had one of those moments yesterday. I’m not one of those people who has dreamt their whole life of being this one thing. My dream has changed so many times over the years and is still changing everyday. At almost 33 I am still figuring it out. Starting and running a new business is a difficult thing to do. This thing I call Babycakes Couture Sweets kind of just came to me as a gift from The Universe and I am doing the best I can to nurture it and help it grow just as I have done and continue to do with my children. In many ways starting a business is like having a baby. No one tells you how much of an emotional roller coaster running a business can be. Last week was probably the most trying time for me in my journey thus far. From smiles to tears to complete bliss in knowing that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. Lots of emotions for one week. Who knew cupcakes could make you cry.

To end my crazy week, I spent Sunday morning in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art surrounded by people who came together for the purpose of peace, love and healing. I had the honor and pleasure of being a vendor at the 10^th Anniversary Yoga on the Steps event. This event sponsored by Living Beyond Breast Cancer is held each year to promote healthy living and the healing properties of yoga. I can’t think of any place I would rather have been. 1500 people on the art museum steps participating in a yoga class while Kirtan is played and live musicians perform to focus the energy. It was an awesome experience and I can’t wait until next year. People were so happy to be offered a free cupcake or tiny sample of cake. The smiles and the thumbs up and the “Best cupcake ever!” responses I received were worth more that any money I could have been paid for those cuppycakes.

The energy I felt in that space was the perfect topper to my crazy super emotional doubt filled week. Today I awoke more certain than ever that I can do this. I can reach my dream even as it changes, and I will be great! We all tell ourselves stories about how things are going to go and what we will do, but it doesn’t always work out that way. But that’s the point… we are in charge of our stories and if the plan changes rewrite that sucker! I’m in charge… I’m in control, of this anyway.

I could not have realized any of this, or even gotten through yesterday, without the ever present support of my AMAZING friends and family and the BEST husband in the whole entire world. Seriously, he is the best.

"You will find, as you look back on your life, that the moments that stand out are the moments when you have done things for others."- Henry Drummond

This past week I had the opportunity to donate cupcakes to families at the Ronald McDonald House here in Philly. A few months back I saw Bakerella's Burgers and Bees  post and I thought they were so cute; but when would I have the opportunity to make burger cake bites? Well, now, that's when. Once I thought about it a cake ball would be a bit too much to go on top of a cupcake, so I made mini burgers with mini vanilla wafers and chocolate. They came out so cute that I broke out into a dance. The mini burger dance if you will. My daughter was thoroughly embarrassed. I was in love with them and I immediately started thinking of other tiny foods I could make.

Though I didn't get to be there to see the kid's faces when they saw those tiny cheeseburgers, I was satisfied with how much fun I had just making them. They were so cute! I have since rediscovered an old obsession; I love tiny food replicas. 

My mom reminded me that when I was little I would collect those magnets that looked like slices of pie and doughnuts, etc. I think I'll have to revisit that hobby. Thanks Mom.

                                                                                                                                  

Don't they look yummy?

 

 

After realizing my old/new hobby I found this awesome shop on Etsy, and they even had a cupcake!!!

Until next time :)

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

First of all let me say that I have a new found appreciation for Bakerella, I bow down to her in all of her cake pop fabulousness. I've done cake pops before, but 7 dozen was a bit of a task. Not to mention the fiasco of trying to find these cake pop petals that I am convinced had to have been a figment of my imagination. A few months ago while perusing the the isles of Joann's I swear I saw the cutest little cake pop petals by Wilton. At that point I wasn't making cake pops regularly but I thought it was a really cute idea. Well, I should have bought them then because they were exactly what I needed for my cake pop flowers this weekend's lady bug birthday party.

I seriously looked all over the place, called every craft store in a 10 mile radius and googled everything I could think of, to no avail. Nothing to say that these things ever even existed. So I had to turn the clever crafty up a notch. I started looking at scrap booking and card making videos and was reminded of when my mom and I used to make paper snowflakes. That gave me the idea to use mini cupcake cups to make paper flowers to adorn my cake pop flowers. They were perfect! 

Here's what I did...

1. First I pressed all of the crimps out of the liner, and smashed it out to a flat circle. Then I folded it in half. And then in half again, and again.

     

2. Then I trimmed the top edge of the triangle into a round edge, like an upside down U. And trimmed the point so that I would have a hole for the stick from the cake pop.

3. Lastly, I pulled the petals apart and opened up my cute little flower!

(So as you can see, I forgot to cut the tip on this guy before I opened it up, but you get the picture)

Yes, that's Fiddle Faddle in the background. Something had to get me through the wee hours of the morning dipping pops! Don't judge me.

Artificial grass- one of my thrifty finds, but that's a story for another day

They came out really cute.

Happy Birthday Zoie!!

Prince Erick's 1st Birthday party was at the Philadelphia Zoo. How fun! His fabulous mom Brandy just told me to use animals especially the giraffe. I couldn't have asked for better finds for his cookie pop bouquet. I am so in love with this giraffe and these little monkeys on the ribbon. They're so cute!

Cupcake Sundays...

Today I did a sophisticated 50/40 birthday party for two ladies who are dear to my heart. As much as I love doing things for kids and baby showers it's nice to do something simple and elegant for grown ups.

Princess and the Frog Baby Shower

I had lots of fun with this lavender and green color scheme for this Princess and the Frog baby shower. And I made my first tulle pom pom cupcake topper and cupcake tree tutu. I am so in love with these things. The tutu was incredibly easy to make and it looks soo cute.  The pom pom took me back to the days of roller skating with my mom. She would make then for me out of yarn. I think I'll make them a part of the Babycakes Couture repertoire.

Big Flop Cupcake...

It was inevitable that one day I would have a customer request a giant cupcake. Especially with that darn Big Top Cupcake commercial on every five minutes. Everyone knows that I don't make cakes. I hate cakes actually. I hate how long they take to bake, I hate icing them, and I absolutely despise fondant...YUCK!! So when people ask I always tell them cupcakes and only cupcakes, well cookies too, but you know what I mean.

This weekend I had a beautiful bride who wanted a giant cupcake to top her cupcake tree. You can't say no to a bride. So off I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to pick up this stupid cupcake pan. So let's back track, one thing you should know about me... I don't like shortcuts. My dad always told me never take the easy way out. So when I see something like the Big Top Cupcake contraption I feel like that's being lazy and taking the easy way out. Nonetheless, I purchased my pan and went on my way. I Googled and Googled until I could Google no more to get ideas of how I was going to do this and make as uncheesy as possible. All of the pics I found looked...well... cheezy, not to mention juvenile. I got my creative juices flowing and put together a plan of action.

Friday night I whipped up a batch of my strawberry cake and popped it in the Big Top thingy and baked as I normally would. 35 minutes go by... not done. 45 minutes go by... not done. I baked that cake for an hour and 10 minutes took it out of the oven and don't you know if fell. Sunk right in in the middle. It looked like it was hit by a meteor. I was so engrevascent! (That's a word we use in my family. My daugther made it up when she was 3. It means very angry, LOL) I didn't event attempt to figure out the problem. I just popped it out of that silicone mold thing right into the trash. That's exactly why I hate shortcuts. Needless to say I couldn't sleep thinking about how I was going to make this cupcake happen for my bride. Then it came to me...in a dream. Not really!

The next morning I got up extra early whipped up a batch of red velvet split it between two of my 6 inch round cake pans and the cupcake top from the Big Top thingy, and baked. 35 minutes later I had a perfectly baked red velvet cupcake cake puzzle. After I whipped up my faboo cream cheese icing i put it together making a three layered red velvet cupcake. I accordion folded some coordinating scrapbook paper and wrapped that puppy up, and VIOLA!!! I had my own gigantic cupcake and it was too cute.

Now, one of these days I am going to take the time to photo document each step that I so eloquently described above. But for now, the after pics will have to do.

 I could have cut my wrapper just a wee bit shorter. My cupcake is looking like an ice cream sundae in a bowl.

I do..

I recently tried my hand at something I've wanted to do for a long time now. A cupcake bouquet.
I was hired for an office bridal shower and given free range to be creative. This was my chance. I had it all mapped out it my head, but then I got nervous. I've never done this before. I don't even know where to begin. Those were the thoughts that were running through my head. I decided that it could only go one of two ways. Either I would do it and do it well or I would try it and fail miserably. I don't do failing miserably, or failing at all for that matter... so I went for it. And I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.

  



The bouquet is made up of  red velvet cupcakes, and is surrounded by mini strawberry cupcakes with strawberry  cream cheese frosting rosettes. So pretty!!!

And check out my topper... I love love love it!!!

The bride was so pleased that she packed it right up and took it home. It's a good thing they had the minis.

Baby Shower for Dilan

This weekend's BCC busy-ness took us to Baltimore, MD for a friends shower. We did the cutest boy color scheme of brown, blue, and green. Super cute! (A cute equivalent for a baby girl would be brown, yellow, and pink, very sweet.)
Anywho, Everything went well and the cupcakes and favors were a hit.

Better late than never...

I've been keeping busy while we were getting all dolled up. It took a while, but as I mentioned in Snowed in..., I had some V Day cupcake sets to make to be sold in a store. Well, then the snow storms hit and sadly, the cupcakes never made it to the store. But I sold each and every box anyway. Here's what they looked like.