A Milestone...

It had finally happened to one of us. One of us had done the unthinkable. One of us had dared to turn 26. The wrong side of 25. The mere thought of this was enough to send me down a Peter Pan induced rabbit hole, but thankfully the victim wasn't me... Since J's birthday is first, she was the trailblazer into "wrongsidedom" as I will henceforth call it. Unfortunate for her, but fortunate for me. (I jest, I jest--Kinda. I'm serious about this whole Peter Pan thing...) Her birthday celebration was to be at a favorite Mexican restaurant and I, of course, was going to make the treats that we would feast on. It had been a bit more than a year since my initial foray into cupcakery, and since then (as you can tell by the blogging) nary a celebration is had without me, cupcakes in tow. J requested chocolate cupcakes, chocolate buttercream and cherry filling. As I've mentioned before, my "base" recipes have long since been perfected, and for the most part it's all about the toppers. So I began brainstorming exactly what could adorn the cupcakes for wrongsidedom. The martini glasses I had made a few months earlier were such a hit, I decided to include those, as well as some brightly colored flowers. I also wanted to have something uniquely J on those cupcakes. I spread out my arsenal of tools, and thought, and thought, and thought, until divine inspiration hit me. Peacock feathers! These are very J. So to work I went, mixing what I thought were the perfect color combinations and crafting tiny peacock feathers. I frayed the edges with my trusty exacto knife (it never lets me down!) and voila! Peacock feathers! I sat looking at my tools again, and decided to also make little Js. Hot pink, a favorite color, Js and as it just so happened, I had some sprinkles the EXACT same color pink. Thus came into fruition one of my new favorite decorating techniques. I covered my parchment paper with a thin layer of hot pink sprinkles. Then, I pressed the fondant down into the sprinkles, gave it a few quick rolls with my fondant roller and cut out the Js. The result was sparkly Js. Perfect! On top of the cupcakes they went, and off we went to celebrate wrongsidedom. A wonderful time was had by all (despite the occasion... ha!). Cupcakes go great with birthdays, and Mexican food!

Fancy Flowers.

A few sideways, sparkly Js

Martini glasses... always a hit.

Fashionable peacock feathers for a fashionable friend.

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J

A First Day Back...

Summer is glorious. Days of sleeping in, making my own schedule, trips to visit the ones I miss and all around shenanigans are thoroughly enjoyed. I'll admit, summer is a HUGE perk of being a teacher. Though,  is is a well earned (with blood, sweat and tears), well deserved, perk of being a teacher. The majority of people would not last a day in my shoes... Seriously. My sister made the mistake of coming to my classroom once, and I think she may be scarred for life. With summer being so magical (we're talking random, unexplained, choreographed musical numbers in the street magical), it makes going back to the old grindstone reeaaallllllyyyyyy hard. Realllly, reealllly hard. I have it on good authority, that most normal people would just never go back if they had summers off. Alas, it is a burden I must carry upon my still-ghostly-white-despite-the-end-of-summer shoulders. Since that first day back is such a beating, (often made in a very ill chosen shoe choice... Heels? Really? Total palm to forehead moment there.) I knew it was essential that I made it slightly more bearable with cupcakes. I decided to take the old "an apple a day" adage, and apply it to cupcakery. To the littlest bakesweatshop I went to create a myriad of fondant wonderies. Little red apples, gold stars (who doesn't love a bit of affirmation?), and chalkboards with chalk (really, kinda passe... everyone knows that chalkboards are soooooo 1999) were to adorn each little bite of first day salvation. I found a delicious recipe for apple cupcake with apple filling that was both sweet and tart, and topped it with my favorite cream cheese frosting. The piece de resistance (ha!) was the corny, cheesy, teachery, poem that I paired with the cakes de cup. Word wizardry is a skill that has come in handy many a time in my life... It goes without saying that these little beauties didn't last long in the Teacher's Lounge. If I had to put a time to it, I'd say a hot minute. I think I've started a tradition though... The first day of school is apple cupcake day. To go with our adage theme here, the early bird gets the worm, and if you snooze you loose.

A brighter way to start your first day...

A very teacherly display.

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J

A Very Special Baby Shower...

C and I became friends our Senior year of college. She became the coolest person I knew since she was the first, and only person, I had met with an iPhone, and I was the classic that girl (come on, every class has one, and sadly it was me...) that, luckily, had some other redeeming qualities. We shared a college major, a wicked sense of humor, and a love of Jimmy John's. Since we were both in the same cadre at school we, quite literally, had every class together and spent many an hour doodling notes to one another, laughing, and rolling our eyes at all the that girls in our classes (once C realized how incredibly awesome I was, other girls quickly took my place). After we graduated C broke my heart as she moved to TexArk with her then fiance. Adventures to TexArk and pursuits of the famed chupacabra with our mutual friend M soon followed. C and I's friendship still holds strong and she remains one of my closest friends. So, when C and K announced their pregnancy of little D, I was more then excited! Off to the famed cupcake shop I went to create the perfect goodies for little D. Strawberry cream cupcakes were a must (every little girl deserves PINK at her shower) and since C loved Dr. Pepper I knew that Dr. Pepper with cream cheese icing would be a perfect match (I was on a Dr. Pepper roll... and once I roll, I don't stop... when it comes to cupcakes AND terrible jokes). C loves elephants, and it was the featured animal in little D's nursery. I decided on some lovely elephant decor, and coupled those with black, lime green, and hot pink polka-dots (the featured colors, AND pattern. I do nothing half heatedly, obvs.). The cupcakes were the perfect way to help celebrate little D and the friendship of her mother and I (insert collective "aawwwwww" here). The cupcakes and I survived the trip to Tekark (every time a touch and go occasion... ha!) and the haphazard application of icing with only one contact in my eye. Ah, the trials of a cupcaker. All in all, a success!

Elephant on Green.

Elephant on Pink.

Dots galore... I love this look!

An ensamble of treats.

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J

A BFF's Birthday and a Tribute...

A and I have been friends for a looong time. She is my oldest, most consistent friend. Our acquaintance began in 6th grade during lunch with some mutual friends. There we all sat at the table, bantering back and forth about goodness knows what, when the conversations took a sarcastic turn. As I'm sure you all (painfully) remember about middle school, looking cool was the end all to be all. Duh. Who knows what prompted it, but at one point I threw at A "Oooo, where did you get your T-Shirt? Target?" Everyone knows you had to buy your clothes at Abercrombie(Kids). Burn. I was really at my comeback peek in 6th grade... To which A (and I remember this clearly) looked down and her shirt, and back at me and said, "Um. Yeah, actually." Whoopsie. And from that ill-fated moment on, we were fast friends. Well, that's a lie. While we hung around in the same circles (look at me, sounding all Housewives), it wasn't until our Junior year of high school that our friendship really took hold. We spent lunches speculating about Harry Potter, and a glorious summer running around town causing mischief (Mischief Managed, anyone?). Our friendship only grew and strengthened as we entered college and began to celebrate so many of life's important milestones-- marriage, college graduations, acceptance into grad school--together. In fact, this is the same A that I accredit in my first post to introducing me fondant. When in high school, one of our favorite things to do was to play old school NES. Coming from a technological strict family, I had never experience the glory that was Super Mario Bros. 3. A was quick to introduce me to it. Many an evening/afternoon/sleepover was spent studying (usually for Econ) and playing Super Mario Bros. doubles. I would study, while A played. When A died (infrequent... while my play time made it look like Mario had a death wish) we would switch. We really knew how to use our time wisely... In fact, this is a past time we enjoy even today. So when A was slated to turn 25, I knew what I was going to do. A had a love for Dr. Pepper cake ever since I brought her one from West (the best) on a back home from college trip. One fond memory has A and I eating some in the car with doors locked taunting her (now) husband and brother. It was also the flavor of her husband's groom cake. Knowing this, and wanting to conjure up images of our youth (25 is ooollllldddddd) I decided to make a Dr. Pepper, cream cheese, Super Mario Bros. extravaganza of cupcakes. I set to mixing and handcrafting fondant wonderies in preparation for A's big birthday celebration. The night before I was set to go to Austin, I baked up some Dr. Pepper cupcakes, and whipped up some cream cheese frosting to pair with it. These cupcakes were to have no filling, as they are super moist. The filling would turn them into puddles! On the day of A's birth, the cupcakes and I made the long trek from Dallas to Austin. The cupcakes (and I) survived... if just barely. A wonderful celebration was had by all!

A festival of Mario!

Side view of the cakes.

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J

A Very Rushed Birthday...

I had made a fatal cupcakery flaw... I had allowed the sweet, sugary, deliciousness of my new-found obsession to be released into the wild... and now EVERYONE wanted in on that (Duh. Wouldn't you?). One of these people was my sister, who, after her delightful experience with her graduation cupcakes, decided she wanted to gift the cakes to her friend, B. B's birthday was the weekend after school let out, and K used her powers of persuasion to convince me to make the cupcakes for their party boat weekend. In hindsight, agreeing to make a ton of cupcakes for the weekend directly after school let out wasn't one of my wisest ideas to date, but I am always bending over backwards for the ones I care about. So, bend over backwards I did. Amidst the classroom rearranging, the end of the year planning, and the comment card writing, I went home every day to craft some fondant creations. K and I both wanted something fun and pretty to commemorate B's birthday with. Additionally, B had some insight of her own. She had told K that she loved the chocolate monograms from K's graduation cakes, and that the chocolate-raspberry and strawberry-cream flavors were her favorite. With flavor profiles set and at least one topper decided on, I went right to work. In the end, I chose to make some pretty flowers in bright summery colors, and some fun martini glasses. As a piece d'resistance, I made some catchy sombreros and mustaches-part inside joke, and part pure fun. Though I wasn't there to see the looks of overwhelming joy on the faces of those who indulged in my creations (kind of kidding... kind of not), I did hear there wasn't a crumb left over. I aim to please people.

Flowers and martinis galore!

More flowers and martinis!

Monograms and Ole!

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J

A (Very Important) Graduation...

One of my favorite people in the whole word is my baby sister, K. We are 2 (and then some) years apart, as different as night and day, and despite this and the 200 odd miles that separate us, we are very close. So, naturally, K's graduation was EXTREMELY important to me. K had worked immensely hard, with intense determination, drive and passion to complete not just her undergrad, but her Master's degree in Accounting at UT. AND in a 5 year integrated program nonetheless. I couldn't have been prouder of my (sassy) baby sis. To make the occasion even more special, J, my sister's bestie, my honorary little sis and a welcome addition to our fantastic family, was graduating from UT as well! This was certainly, an occasion to celebrate, an occasion for a party, an occasion for... CUPCAKES!!!! (Duh, really, what did you expect?) My cupcake scheming immediately went into overdrive. These could not just be so-so cupcakes, they had to be the edible embodiment of such a milestone. Not only that, but there had to be A LOT of them (K estimated 60 would do the trick). Since I have pretty much perfected my basic cake flavor and filling options, choosing these was a no brainer. I would stick with some classic, well-received combinations- chocolate with raspberry filling, vanilla with lemon filling and strawberry with cream filling. Each cake would have the icing to match- chocolate fudge, vanilla and strawberry. Where my creativity really came into play was the toppers. Duff had some great orange and white sprinkles I would generously coat each top with, and I was also going to add some great fondant (again, this should be a palm to forehead moment) accents to each cake. I rapidly took myself to the Internet (you know what to do...) to research elements I wanted to incorporate. I finally landed on what I thought would be the perfect decorations for a burnt orange and white Hook 'Em affair. K loves my chocolate monogram look (let's face it, what's not to love there...) so I would have monogram Js and Ks with fondant flower and pearl sprinkle accents. I then was going to add some elements that were strictly UT- the burnt orange longhorn symbol, the classic UT symbol, the UT tower (with the number one lit up, naturally) and the McCombs School of Business logo (the school K spent many a long night in...). The flowers on the the chocolate monograms were to be the same color blue as the logo in the school (Human Ecology) that J graduated under. After printing some basic templates on the Internet, backing them up on cardstock and cutting them out, it was time to get to the real work! I mixed up copious amounts of burnt orange (I am still shocked I got the color right... it is a feat I will probably never be able to repeat), a bit of gray, black and blue and set to cutting. And cutting. And cutting. With the exception of the chocolate monograms, each topper was painstakingly cut out by hand with an exacto knife. This literally took me H O U R S upon H O U R S. Ah, the things you will do for the ones you love. I also carefully painted the year and the time on the UT clock towers. The time on each was set to either K or J's actual graduation time. It is this attention to detail my friends...  By the time everything was cut, dried, transported to Austin, baked, filled, topped, and artfully arranged I had probably spent about 25-35 hours on these cupcakes. A labor of love for sure. To date, these are my absolute favorite cupcakes I have ever created. Not only because they were stunning, but because they meant so much to my sister and marked such an awesome occasion. Oh, and they were delicious (as if you even had to ask)!

 Js and the McCombs logo

Js and Ks

Longhorns!

UT and Clock Towers (Note the times friends...)



Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J

A (Stranger's) Bridal Shower...

I'd like to say I'm a pretty helpful person, so when J asked (implored, perhaps) me to create cupcakes for a bridal shower she was throwing I had to say yes. Perhaps it was my love of making cupcakes, or maybe it was just J's desperate plea and relentless pestering (I kid, I kid) but I was on the case now! J and I had several brainstorming sessions to create the perfect shower cupcakes. The bride's favorite cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting, and since I had never made a red velvet cake, I immediately went to the web where I could research and find the tastiest option. I learned a lot about red velvet (the red color originally was caused by a chemical reaction, it contains vinegar--oh and the vinegar smells like death) and found the perfect recipe. Then, it was to figure out the perfect toppers for the bride to be. We both decided we really liked the chocolate monogram look, and thought it would be cute if I could fashion the tops of cupcakes to look like the busts of a wedding dress. Both of these things I had never attempted before, but my ever loving desire to research random topics on the computer had me figuring out the techniques in no time. A trip to the store later, and I was laden with new cupcake wares, all of which would help me create some perfect designs. After finding the best monogram "S" (bride's new last initial to be) on the *gasp* Internet, I began carefully piping out melted chocolate. Before the chocolate solidified, I adorned them with little sprinkle pearls, and added a pink royal icing flower. They were quite adorable, and I was pleased. Now it was to make the cakes and dress busts. J and I decided to have a sleepover, where we would be free to create delicious treats and so I wouldn't have to transport the cakes the next day. After a few minor setbacks (I forgot the sprinkles, J didn't have a hand mixer...) we began baking away. J was my apprentice, a role she decided she would not like to take again (I run a bit of a bakesweatshop), and together we worked into the wee hours of the morning. Again we hit a few more setbacks (I turned the skin orange--can you say too much spray tan?--,the royal icing busts kept sliding off the cakes, and there was that vinegar death smell to contend with), and consumed enough batter and icing to make our teeth hurt and to feel jittery. In the end everything turned out great! After all, J had me at "I'll pay for your supplies and feed you!"

Wedding Dress Busts. I am working to perfect the look of these for the future!

Monogram Ss. Love, love, love these!

Until next time, sweet dreams!

-J