One cupcake at a time...

Next July marks my mom's tenth year being cancer free and with next month being Breast Cancer Awareness Month it's only right that we do it big. In the month of October Babycakes Couture will donate 50% of the sales from the Pretty in Pink strawberry cupcakes to Susan G. Komen Philly. We will also one again head up our campaign, Babycakes Couture for the Cure. Stay tuned for more info.

B is baking...

I'm so excited! My sister in my head, Beyonce, has a little cupcake in the oven! Beyonce confirmed it on last night's VMA's after performing the super lovey upbeat "Love on Top" from her current Album "4". If you've ever been in love, you know exactly how she was feeling perfoming that song. You couldn't help but to feel it in this performance. She sang that song like a woman in love. In love with her man, and so proud and so in love with her baby bump. I was smiling from ear to ear the whole time. It was so beautiful to Jay-Z, the proud Papa, beaming and looking at her with loving eyes. They are so cute! My absolute favorite couples. Some people may say that I have an abnormal obsession with them, but, I would have to disagree. I occasionally stalk websites for candids of them, but that's perfectly normal.

Anywho, I'm so happy for them. Congrats Jay and Beyonce!

Source: Meet the Dealer

Can't wait to see what kind of cupcake it is...

Hear "Love on Top" here.

Putt-Putt Party...

For my son Zaire's 6th birthday we gave him a Putt-Putt party at the miniature golf course. Look how cute his golf cupcakes turned out.

I used my favorite multi- holed tip for the grass, lollipop sticks and red scrapbook paper for the flag and a little bit of white chocolate for the golf ball. I absolutely love them!

Monkeying Around

Please pardon the holiday reference, but I stated this post a while ago and never finished it.

I have the greatest hubby in the world, and this weekend I just felt like doing something sweet for him. Though he loves my baking, there is one thing that I will allow him to have from a bakery. I found this little spot by accident one day and I went in just to get him a doughnut. He loves old fashioned bakery doughnuts. Instead of a doughnut I found something I had never heard of, Monkey Bread. It was kind of doughnutty in that it had a glaze on it so I took it home a started an obsession.

He hadn't had it in while so I thought I'd treat him to one. Little did I know the bakery was closed for the July 4th holiday weekend. Of course I had already told him I would be bringing home a treat. Now what??? Bake it myself???  As much as I bake, I've never baked bread. I must say that I was also sightly intimidated by the fact that he already loves theirs. I don't think I could handle if he said the bakery's version was better than mine.

After a little research and the hard swallowing of my pride, I decided to try it. I went out to buy yeast. As I searched online for a recipe I came across a million recipes that used a roll of refrigerated biscuit dough. I don't think so! That is one shortcut I will not be taking! Finally, I found the perfect recipe. Alton Brown's Overnight Monkey Bread. Once I got started I realized I had nothing to be afraid of. Bread is easy peasy! Well that breat at least. The process was long, but the next morning it made a great breakfast accessory right out of the oven. Here is the end result. Let's just say I may have gotten myself into something. He really liked it!

This little monkey tried to steal a taste of Daddy's bread and I caught him.

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.

Cookie Couture...

After my first attempt at decorating cut out cookies with royal icing was a complete debacle, I vowed that that was one thing that I did not need on my menu. They were delicious no doubt but they looked awful. The icing flooded for sure... all over the table. It was a disaster.
Well, as you can see from a previous post or two I think I've gotten pretty good at it. I recently did pocketbook cookies for a ladies night party. Sidebar what do you call them, pocketbooks, handbags or purses? I say pocketbooks and people always look at me like I'm crazy. I think it may be a Philly thing.
Anyway, the pocketbooks came out really cute. I also did apple cookies for my son's last day of kindergarten and his teachers loved them. I found these cute printable Thank You tags somewhere and they were perfect for the boxes.

 

 

 

Recycle... Reduce... Reuse...

I've been trying to think of a cute way to get people to return the clay pots that I use for the cupcake bouquets. Not for economical purposes or anything, just to be less wasteful. I came up with something; it's not creative at all. I am offering a $5 discount on the next bouquet order when you return a pot, given that it's in reusable condition. Don't go digging out the fern you planted in it just to get a discount. That won't work.

Now as I said, I came up with a non-creative idea for cutting down on waste, well one of my customers did just the opposite. One of the doctors I work with on my day job purchased a hydrangea bouquet for his very pregnant wife, which she loved, and wouldn't you know it she was hit by the creativity bug. For the good doctor's birthday she gifted the pot back to him as a cute little flower pot picture frame artsy thingy. I absolutely adore it.

So, in addition to accepting the clay pots back, I welcome pictures of customers' creative uses for them as well. I know there are some crafty folks out there and I would love to see what you come up with.

 I feel a contest coming on.