Monday, November 29, 2010

Up next... Baby Shower time!!



My dear, sweet sister Michelle is expecting her first baby in a few weeks. Naturally, I knew I'd handle all of the edibles for her shower because you do NOT want to deal with a pregnant woman if she doesn't like her cake. Lucky for me, Michelle's favorite cake of mine is the raspberry. And she got it on overload...

Here's a few pictures to drool over until I can give you the rest of the details...










Halloween Treats....

I know, sorry these are being published so late. It would be thoroughly embarrassing to post a Halloween post in December, but I'm right in under the gun!! I'm trying to catch up on my posts, so now you'll be inundated with cupcakes. Careful what you wish for!!

I had quite a few orders for Halloween weekend and knew immediately which cupcakes I was going to make for the kiddie parties. Mummies. I made these last year and they were a hit - so I figured they would be great, along with some "tombstones" this year.

The mummies are super easy to make - and the tombstones are even easier! Let's face it, I had 300+ cupcakes to make, and I was definitely looking to make something easy!!

Here's how to make the mummies:

The picture below shows 3 stages -- the unfrosted cupcake, the skim coat frosted, and the finished mummy. I always put a thin spread of chocolate frosting underneath the white "gauze" so that the eyes pop from the chocolate and the chocolate makes the space with the eyes look "empty". Ghoulish, if you will.



First start by infusing your cupcake with frosting. Everyone loves a little surprise when they bite into a cupcake and are greeted with frosting. My fans are spoiled now -- because every cupcake they bite into they expect to be infused. I've created monsters. hahaha -- that's my Halloween humor for the day. :)

Gently frost the top of the cupcake with a chocolate frosting (I use buttercream). Then use a pastry bag with a flat tip to shape the outline of where the eyes are going to go. Using 2 M&Ms, place them slightly on the bottom eye strip for the eyes.



Then outline the entire cupcake - and fill in the rest of the "face" (except the eye space) with your buttercream "gauze". Your LAST gauze strip should slightly overlap the TOPS of the M&Ms.





And now for the tombstones...

I saw these online a few days before Halloween and thought they'd be fun to make for the kids. And so, so, so simple! What could be easier than crushed Oreos and Milano cookies??

I infused some chocolate cupcakes with buttercream, then generously frosted the tops of the cupcakes and rolled them in finely crushed Oreos to give the look of dirt. How yummy!! Then, I took a Milano cookie, used an edible marker to write RIP on it, and stuck it in the "dirt". Voila! The kids loved 'em!!