Marianne's Cupcake

I created a group on the ever so popular website Facebook for my little cupcake company. I haven't figured out exactly what to do with the group, but so far I have several members. Two weeks ago I posted a question asking my members if they had any ideas for cupcake flavors. I'm working on launching a Fall Collection of flavors. So far I have Apple Crumble Pie (Jaclyn), Pecan Pie (Rose) and Pumpkin Spice (Tabitha). But yesterday evening I got a message on my Facebook from someone named Marianne. And she sent me two flavor combinations. The one that stuck out was her Baklava one. So that is going to be added to the Fall Collection if I can get my act together and create a Baklava cupcake. Marianne thought the combination of honey, walnuts and cinnamon would be great in a cupcake. I couldn't agree more! But how can I make it into a cupcake that screams Baklava? I'm going to try a couple of things. One, which I hope works, is to use phyllo dough as the cup and bake the cupcake in it.

In the meantime, above is a shot of Pamela, one of the latest and greatest flavors I launched.

Getting There

I haven't posted in a while. I have been swamped with orders, which, yes I know, is a good thing. And when I'm not baking I'm finishing my business plan so I can open my own shop. I'm almost finished and thanks to the help of my Father, my business plan will be solid. Having a former World Bank senior director as a Father definitely made a difference.

In the meantime, I have been working on polishing up my website and booking weddings and events. My carpenter is working feverishly to finish additional cupcake towers. We're getting a heart shaped one! It's adorable. I can't wait to photograph it and post it online.

This weekend I have a baby shower and Success In The City is having a little afternoon event at Saks Fifth Avenue. This will be the first time I put a logo on a cupcake. I'm trying to be creative with the presentation but I'm so limited if the logo has to be the focus of the cupcake. I want to add a little flower or maybe some sugar beads. But I'm scared it will look tacky.

The baby shower should be cute. I'm creating blush, pink and dark pink flowers to adorn the cupcakes. So cute!

So Couture

What can be better than shoes, purses and cupcakes. Absolutely nothing. 

A couple of weeks ago I drew the silhouette of the soles of my stilettos and reduced them using my copier. I cut them out and used them to create fondant soles. Then I needed to let them dry so they had an arch to fit the heel. My solution? I propped them up using the side of a medicine bottle. The rest was fun, the heel was easy to mold and the details on the strap took some time but nothing too painful. 

The purse, well, that I used a fabulous mold I found. 

What's next? I'm thinking pink pumps with a black ribbon.

I love my job.

Too Cute

I was playing around with some left over fondant and thought...how cute would it be to create little bumble bees. So I molded some, painted them and placed them on some cupcakes I made for a magazine editorial. I decided that it would be even more charming to include little ladybugs. I'm thinking of creating a line of these little sugar items and make them available for sale through Couture Cupcakes. I think decorations are so limited for cakes and cupcakes. They look generic. 

But these....too cute!

Traveling in Pink

Just recently I made an order that I just had so much fun doing. A client called me to create a dozen cupcakes for her birthday. She told me that this was the first birthday she was spending at home. Her past birthdays were spent in exotic countries. So she wanted a travel theme. She also told me her favorite color was pink and whatever I did had to have pink incorporated in it. So I thought long and hard and came up with luggage tags...in pink of course. These took me some time to make as I had to also include her name in the lug tags. The long hours paid off. Above is a picture of the order. Aren't they adorable?

Developing New Ones

Summer is the best time for Couture Cupcakes. This is our time to play!!! Orders slow down around mid-July through August, so we use this time to develop fun new flavors and items for the Fall and Holidays.
This weekend is dedicated to a new coconut. While in France I experimented with a recipe I found there. My goal is to finish with a coconut pineapple rum cupcake topped with a light frosting rolled in fresh coconut. I'm debating whether to soak the pineapple in rum or to just add the rum to the cake batter.
And then comes the name, I thought of a friend of mine's little girl named Mia, but since the cupcake carries rum...doesn't feel like a good fit. I need an exotic name, something sassy. Hmmmm. Any ideas?

My next 2 flavors are a Boston Cream Pie cupcake and a brownie cupcake. The Boston Cream Pie is going to be fabulous. I found a great custard recipe from Lady Bourman. I stayed with her while attending boarding school in England. She was an amazing baker. Her custard recipe is superb. So I will probably name the cupcake Lady Bourman. As for the brownie cupcake. I have had this recipe for a while. I developed it while recovering from a terrible car accident. I had broken my wrist and dislocated my arm ...I was a mess. But if it wasn't for the kindness of the firemen that took such good care of me, I'm sure I would of suffered more injuries. So as a thank you, I decided to make them brownies. Of course, I chose the wrong time to create them as I was on Darvocet ( a pain killer) for about a week. But I was determined. I also only had the use of one arm. So everything I added was estimated, I measured nothing as I couldn't be bothered. When they came out of the oven I was shocked that they had baked. I cut them up and placed them in a cookie tin. My dear friend Pamela helped me deliver them. I kept assuring myself that even if they were awful the firemen would still appreciate the thought and effort. Well, a day later I received a call from Fireman Steve saying that the cupcakes were the best they had ever had and if I could make more.  And I got a date with Firemen Steve, which was a nice bonus. The problem was, I couldn't remember what I added and how much. I had an idea. So, I made another batch adding the items I had used...which some were not traditionally used in making brownies. And the end result was even better than the first. Thereafter I started making these brownies every year for the fire station, mostly for holidays. They are super moist and delicious. So now I will be taking my accident brownies and turning them into a new cupcake flavor. The name? I am going to name the brownie after Pamela (Pam), who took such great care of me after the accident. Without her, I would of never recovered.

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.