Strike A Pose

Today was such a great day. My little cupcakes were photographed for a editorial in one of the city's hottest magazines. I spent a week creating different little ornaments to jazz up the cupcakes. I now have so much inventory of sugar pieces, I just don't know what to do. Anyway, I snuck in behind the photographer to capture the moment.

Wedding Bells

This order was created for a small wedding. I used edible silver paint to give the frosting a certain glow and added a beautiful flower. The cupcakes were placed in lace cups. They looked great and the look on the bride's face was priceless. I have to say, having a cupcake business is a great. People are always happy to see you! But the best is when I get emails telling me how yummy they were. It is such a "feel good" business. Everyone should make cupcakes!

Mother's Day Best

Mother's Day week was a very busy week for my little cupcake business. I baked and baked and baked until I didn't know my own name. There were some orders that I was particularly proud of. The picture above shows an order I made for an event planner who was hosting a little brunch at her house. The only instructions I had were to make the cupcakes "over the top". So I did just that. I hand painted the butterflies in a iridescent sky blue. Each cupcake was placed in a lace cup and adorned with several flowers and sugar beads. I walked into her house feeling like I was carrying a work of art, a true testimony of utter fabulousness!

I hope to receive more orders where the only instruction is for "over the top" cupcakes!

Show Off

A client called me asking me if I could create a "girly" cupcake. She was turning 40 and wanted something cute and sweet. I asked her if she had any ideas and all she said is that she wanted the cupcakes to look too pretty to eat. So I sat in bed that night with the remote in one hand and a glass of Rose in the other and thought to myself...what would be too pretty to eat. I starred at my glass and thought...pink! And then I went on to pink roses and daisies and leaves and sugar beads and....what else could I put on them? I had to edit my list because if not the cupcakes would look like an explosion of gum paste and her guests would spend a good 30 minutes picking off all the decorations before getting to the actual cupcake.

The end result was sheer girlishness. I took some pink and purple roses and topped all the cupcakes. I added a smaller flower to balance the rose out so it didn't look like a beacon. The beads were a little extra bling.

I love orders like these. When customers give me a general theme to go by but let me create the final design. It's fun and really gives me the opportunity to be creative.

Make Them Beautiful

It is so easy to make cupcakes or cakes stunning. All you need is a little imagination and some time. There are places one can buy sugar flowers. I highly recommend buying them, but making them can be fun...especially for kids.

The ones in this image were purchased from http://www.fancyflours.com/. A great little site with fun and beautiful decorations. To make the leaves, I used left over frosting which I added green to. The tip is a leaf tip. Practice makes perfect when it comes to piping. You can find disposable bags and a variety of tips at http://www.fancyflours.com/ or http://www.michaels.com/.

You can use a recipe for cake to make cupcakes. However I would add more fat (butter or oil) to make sure the little ones don't dry out in the oven. If you are not much of a baker, the pre-mixed cake mixes are great. And for the frosting I would recommend making your own. A great recipe mixes soft unsalted butter with confectioner's sugar. I never give measurements because you should decide how sweet you want it. But generally it's 2 sticks butter to every 4 cups confectioner's sugar. For those with no patience or time, buying a tub of pre-made icing works. But I would try adding two sticks of soft butter and whipping it. It will give you a smoother and more "homemade" flavor.

The Birth Of Couture Cupcakes™

Presentation is everything. How you present a product to the desired demographic is key. And that's exactly what I thought when I developed the ad for Tiny Jewel Box titled 'Just a Little Frosting".

I moved to DC about two years ago from Beverly Hills, CA to take a job with a local jewelry company. My first task was to create fresh and eye-catching ads. The cupcake craze had just launched in Beverly Hills with the opening of Sprinkles. So cupcakes were definitely on my mind, especially since there were not cupcakeries in DC. I knew that I wanted to use a cupcake, but not an ordinary cupcake...I wanted Couture. So I approached a local pastry chef and he created a not so fabulous cupcake. He wasn't getting my vision. So that weekend I went to Michael's and purchased everything to make my dream cupcake. I bought Fondant, sugar flowers, cutters and a book on how to make decorations. I bought 8 boxes of instant cake mix and spent my weekend baking hundreds of cupcakes. After destroying my kitchen, I came out with four beautiful cupcakes. I photographed them and should them to the Chef. He said...aha! And within two days created spectacular cupcakes which were used to create a series of beautiful ads. After the ads launched, I looked at my box of goodies I purchased from Michael's and started to make more cupcakes. I spent several days finding the ultimate recipe from my Grandmother's cookbooks and baked away.

Soon, my friends were asking for my cupcakes. I got requests for "something pretty, something different". So I did just that. I developed unique flavor combinations and offered a variety of unique decorations. Some looked just too pretty to eat!

Finally, in April, I decided I wanted to share my passion for fabulous cupcakes with the public. I incorporated and got all my permits and licenses. I launched my website and a week later I got a call from Daily Candy. The next thing I know I'm being bombarded with orders. Not complaining, but it did shock me. I'm sure I disappointed a lot of people when I turned their orders away. I'm a stickler for quality and to make great anything, you need time. Quality cannot be rushed.

My future, well, I plan on opening a store and purchasing a very powerful and large oven that can make 200 cupcakes at a time. That way I can increase my capability and still make delicious and beautiful cupcakes.