Mint Chip Cupcake

So my summer mission has been to create specialized cupcakes. Regular chocolate, vanilla etc... are just too typical, and if I'm ever going to get my own #foodnetwork show or at least become a contestant on #cupcakewars, then I need to develop more flavors. ;)

The first request I got was for a mint chocolate chip cupcake. I used a chocolate base cupcake with a splash of coffee. I filled each cupcake with a chocolate mint ganache and then topped it off with a mint frosting folded with chocolate shavings. I tipped each one off with a piece of chocolate; however, I would have preferred a mint leaf. The mint chip frosting tastes like ice cream cold! :)

Variation: top cupcake with mint ganache then add frosting. The min ganache was also delicious cold!

Halle J's Big Day

Halle J is one of my closest friend's baby girl. In fact I consider Halle a niece and her mom my sister. For her first birthday, her mama allowed me to design the cupcakes for miss Hal's big celebration. Heidi decided she wanted to have a cupcake themed party. What a great theme! Do you realize how many cupcake things there are for decorative purposes? Heidi had wooden cupcake centerpieces made that spelled out Halle's name; it was adorable! So for the cake...

Cupcakes are SO appropriate! However, a simple cupcake would just be too ordinary...so I decided that these cupcakes needed to be decorated with another cupcake to truly capture the theme.

The giant cupcake was made for the smash cake. I used a regular cupcake to top off that one, and for the regular cupcakes, I used mini peanut butter cups to mock the base of a mini cupcake. I used a variation of star tips to swirl the cupcakes tops and colored sprinkles to add a splash of fun!

Halle gave me the thumbs up after she dove into her birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Leslie

For my friend Leslie's birthday I wanted to design a cake that truly captured this woman. Leslie is so funny and she has a great sense of humor so I thought, what's a better way to capture Leslie, than creating a cake with Leslie actually pictured on it? I used basic food coloring and size variations of the round frosting tips to create the details. I used the 233 frosting tip to create her hair. I sketched out a photo I found on her Facebook to create this illustration.

Basic tip, I froze the cake that was frosted with a chocolate ganache before pipping.

Leslie got a kick out of this cake and it even made her profile pic on Facebook!

Zoe in Wonderland

My friend Theresa asked me to create the birthday cakes for her daughter Zoe's 1st birthday. The theme was Zoe in Wonderland, mimicked obviously after the Disney movie "Alice in Wonderland". If there is one word to describe my friend Theresa, it's creative. She had the cutest decorations splashed around the party site. From pictures of Zoe in paper red roses placed on the green hedges (to represent the Queens red rose bushes) to table arrangements full of the imaginative youth of little Alice, Theresa's precision truly captured the playful theme of this story.

Theresa sent me some pictures of ideas that she had for the cakes. Since it was a 1st birthday, a "smash cake" was requested, so what's a better cake than a giant cupcake? For the smash cake I used a giant cupcake mold (which I don't really recommend outside the use of a smash cake or a cake strictly used as decoration. Perhaps it's the oven I use, but the giant cupcakes tend to need more time for the middle to cook, therefore, the outsides get over cooked). For the giant cupcake I used a frosting tip 233 to create the image of the grassy hill in which Alice was placed upon. For the mini cupcakes I used mini vanilla wafers as a surface to pipe the small words "eat me" to mimic the little cakes Alice ate that makes her big and small, and I used a 13 tip to create a bed for the cookie. For the regular cupcakes I alternated a giant swirl of pink and purple frosting (to mimic the colors of the Cheshire cat) with a larger round tip. Theresa bought mini figurines of the major characters to decorate the table with as well as an Alice to top of the smash cake.

Zoe wasn't sure what to make of all the green frosting, but she sure looked adorable smashing it up!

Shane's Heart Cupcakes

Yesterday we had a board meeting for Shane's Foundation, I am so excited about the major projects that we are getting involved in and it makes me so happy to see Shane's life leave a positive impact in this world. One of the reasons we started this Foundation is to create awareness of Congenital Heart Disease and make early scans of the heart an important step in prenatal care. While Shane's Heart is participating in a Congenital Heart detection symposium in October, we are also going to be doing a major fundraiser in the month of September to help pediatric cardiology patients. The fundraiser will include raising money for gift cards to help families and patients of UCLA's pediatric cardiology. Since UCLA is one of the BEST in the nation, people travel from all over to get their children the best care. Hospital stays can be a difficult time for families, whether that is travel expenses, food expenses and even overnight expenses. Every parent should be able to be with their child while they are in the hospital and if we can assist in that way, that is one way Shane's Foundation wants to help. I know this is my dessert blog, but I was so excited about this I just had to share. The website has not even been updated yet, so consider yourselves VIP of Shane's Heart news :) Later this month, check the website for further details and updates on these projects.

Onto these desserts:

In the month of July, two of my friends and fellow board members had a birthday, so to celebrate Chris and Karen's birthday I made some cupcakes with the Foundation logo on them. I made the cinnamon bun cupcakes that I made for Easter brunch and I decorated them with a simple vanilla frosting topped with a white chocolate disc with the logo pipped on it. Unfortunately Karen couldn't make it but I sent her this picture to let her know we were celebrating in her honor!

Most of the time, I like to experiment and create recipes of my own, but this one is just too good to alter or even try to duplicate in my own way. So I found the recipe online and I want to share it with all of you, because these cupcakes are really SOOOOO good!

The BEST cinnamon cupcakes EVER!

Truffles on the Menu

My mom sent me a link to this website where she found these delicious looking chocolate truffles. When I went to visit the website I was amazed by how easy it is to make these bite-size balls of goodness (and yes, I just said that!). But how else can you describe this tiny chocolaty treats that are packed with richness?

These are Brigadeiros: "the gooey, chocolatey, caramel-y Brazilian candy treat"

I decided to try this recipe out for dinner at my mother-in-law's tonight, since family is visiting from out of town. (Mom, I will be sure to bring you some the next time I visit, and again, thanks for sending me this link) From start to finish these treats probably took under an hour to make, you could tack on more time for the refrigeration process, but I was able to get other stuff done while these little guys chilled out :)

There are only 4 ingredients to this recipe. All you need to do is to combine 1 (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk, ½ cup Dutch process cocoa powder, and 3 tablespoons butter. Heat this over medium heat and stir until the chocolate mixture is at a thick consistency. From there, all you have to do is pour the mixture into a square dish, refrigerate for an hour or so, and then roll the chocolate into 1 in. balls. Let them take a dip into a pool of sprinkles (whatever kind you like) until fully covered and then you are done!

That was my quick version of this recipe, but to view the actual one, with pictures and all, click on the link I have provided.

I highly recommend this small dessert for any kind of get-together. They have a fun yet sophisticated look, they are rich in flavor, and they sound expensive! Brigadeiro, they are a truffle after all.

And the Poll Went Gaga...

Your WINNER is...Lady Gaga!

Lady Gaga, clearly a unique soul and extremely talented, this cupcake was inspired was inspired by this multifaceted musician. Her extraordinary taste in fashion has influenced the design of one-of-a-kind cupcake.

I chose to create a cupcake that truly captured the essence of this standout celebrity. Her bleached blond hair and big sunglasses are a part of this artist's signature style.

The nest-like head piece inspired the base of this cupcake's decorations.

Lady Gaga, shocking and unprecedented entry into the 2011 Grammys also influenced this cupcake.

The cupcake was extremely fun to create as I had very creative individual to pull from.

As for the cupcake itself, I felt the cupcake needed some

"pizazz" so I created a vanilla cupcake that was swirled with two different colors.

So here it is...I hope you find it as entertaining as Lady Gaga, herself:

Your LADY GAGA inspired cupcake

CARmageddon=Baking Weekend :

Ok, so for all you So. Cal folk you know that this is the weekend to either get out of town (TODAY) or stay home. Since the 405 closure is keeping me from going anywhere east of my home, I thought it was a good time to create my "Celebrity Inspired" cupcake, that has been picked by those of you who like to follow my blog. Since, the "Celebrity Inspired" cupcake is about the aesthetics, and will probably require some time, I think this weekend will be a good time to create this fun dessert. So...

PLEASE PLACE YOU VOTE TODAY, before the poll closes tomorrow at 12 noon. If you want to write in a vote, leave it in a comment.

-its Thursday people...time to get desserted!

Marshmallow Fondant, Lemon Cake Pops, and a Chocolate RED WINE Cupcake

This was the first time I ever used homemade fondant to decorate an entire cake. It was for Mike's nana's surprise birthday party. I used marshmallows, white chocolate, vanilla, and confectioners sugar to make the fondant. This fondant is extremely sticky and it takes a lot of kneading and powdered sugar to make it the consistency where it is easy to work with. I used cookie cutters to cut out these flowers, though, they kind of look like rounded out stars. I threw in some grapes because the theme was wine.

I also made dark chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate cabernet sauvignon frosting. I made a rich chocolate cupcake and decided to throw some wine into the frosting, because who doesn't like chocolate and red wine? It is probably the best combination since peanut butter and jelly. I added the wine to taste. I probably used about 2 cups. I, personally, really enjoyed this frosting because it gives the chocolate frosting a sophisticated taste. It is such a wonderful combination of flavors. You can really smell the wine and sweetness of the chocolate when you walk into the room.

Lastly, for the party I made lemon cake pops. I made a lemon buttercream frosting to mix with the lemon cake and I coated them with purple candy melts and also semi sweet chocolate chips with sprinkles. I think the lemon cake with the chocolate coating were the best ones :). I put them in the dragonfly tea cup because of my dragonfly tattoo for Shane, and Shane is Nana's first great-grandson.

The Birthday Girl

My Fantastic Family

Cake Pops Take 1...

I decided to try making some cake pops. I saw them done at a bridal shower and I thought I might give them a try. They look way more easy to do than they appear. The initial part of making these little treats, the baking of the cake and molding the "pop" together, is yes, very simple. However, it's the candy coating part of these bad boys that seemed a little more difficult, at least to me.

First off, I realized very early that the pop cannot be too big, or they will be too heavy for the stick. The second part that I had to learn, is that you really have to get the candy part of the shell very hot so that it is smooth and thin enough to coat the cake. If the candy melts are not hot enough, the candy coating is not smooth, and the shell is very thick which can weigh the cake down and cause it to fall off of the stick.

After a little of "trial and error" it got a little easier. Needless to say, these were not the prettiest things I have every made, but they did taste pretty good. I'm going to try these again for a birthday party next weekend. Stay tuned for "Cake Pops Take 2..."