Fab 50!

I recently filled an order for my 50th cake! Yay! This was an army themed birthday cake for my friend, Paula's, son. Since I used store-bought army man toys for the cake, it was actually pretty easy to make without a lot of challenge or difficulty. Since the cake was a milestone for me, though, I thought I needed a way to commemorate it. At 33 years old I got my first tattoo, a cupcake on the inside of my wrist. Because I was afraid I'd never be able to sit through another tat, I had the artist incorporate a letter E on of the stars, since all three of my daughters' names start with E. However, I've already picked out a couple of designs that I like for my next tat. It's true what they say - body art is addicting! Maybe for my 100th cake I'll have a pic of it tattooed on my other wrist....or possibly beside the cupcake and I'll be well on my way to a 'sweet' bakery item tattoo sleeve.

Sure! I Can Make That For You!

Have an interesting idea for a cake? Let me know! I love a challenge, so if you ask me to make someting in cake, I'm going to give it my best shot. This cake was for the 50th birthday of a co-worker's spouse. It was a 5 layer German chocolate cake filled with coconut-pecan frosting and covered with marshmallow fondant. This was my first experiment working with fondant tools to 'texture' the fondant - the end result was a roll of 'toilet paper' that was quilted and perforated to mimic the real thing. I even added a paper-towel roll in the center, for a more realistic effect. All in all I was pretty happy with it, and I learned a few new fondant tricks for next time!

Everything Cupcake!

Everyone's guilty pleasure seems to be cupcakes right now. And why not? They're cute, they're full of yummy deliciousness, and they're small enough that we don't feel too guilty about spoiling ourselves. For me this translates into constant challenges to come up with unique flavors (and yes, I CAN make chocolate/bacon/cayenne pepper cupcakes that are to die for!) For my kids and my friends at work it translates into lots of taste testing! Some of my favorite flavors have been white chocolate peppermint cupcakes with cream-cheese peppermint frosting and white cupcakes with lemon filling and cream cheese frosting. I also make some peanut butter cupcakes dipped in dark chocolate ganache and topped with peanut butter cream cheese frosting...possibly even more 'to die for' than the choco-bacon cupcakes! That recipe is thanks to my oldest sister, Viriginia....baking is an exact science, and writing a recipe almost takes a chemistry degree....and she should definitely have a chem degree for as good as she is at throwing ingredients together and turning it into something that is super de-lish. If you have an idea for an interesting flavor combination that you'd like to see wrapped up in a tasty little cupcake package for your next birthday party/business event/snow day then hit me up at lainagrace2@hotmail.com....I'm sure we can work something out!