Posts filed under 'Articles'
Starry Night Cupcake Project – cupcakes frosted with dark chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate stars brushed with edible gold dust and a sprinkling of silver dragees; includes a 6.5 inch round cake with a similar design. Price available upon request.
gold stars for a retired general
After three cupcake projects in a row, I was itching for a much-needed break. Then came M._’s email inquiring about a cake and cupcake package for her dad’s 65th birthday. To hell with that break; on with the new project!
M._ was a joy to work with because in her initial email, she gave me the specifics I needed: age and gender of the celebrator, type and date of event, quantity of cupcakes and the budget. She just told me to provide the theme. Since it was for an elderly male, I suggested the Starry Night design with devil’s food chocolate (frosted with dark chocolate ganache), mocha (frosted with mocha ganache) and earl grey tea (frosted with earl grey tea truffle) as cupcake flavors. Fortunately, I have a cake that has a similar design so I suggested that as well. M._ agreed with my suggestions and so the project was on.
Actually this is an upgrade of the Starry Night design. I love the freehand chocolate star topper I make but in this tropical weather we have, it melts easily because it is quite thin. I found a star chocolate mold and thought the molded chocolate topper will work better.
The cake, however, still has the freehand chocolate stars. M._ requested if I can write a birthday greeting on the cake, so there. The cake base is mocha with bits of chocolate coffee candies and is filled with dark chocolate ganache and covered in chocolate glaze.
When M._ came to get the cake and cupcakes, she told me that the design I suggested was perfect for her father who turned out to be a retired general. Coincidence, huh. I suggested the design because as the one celebrating a birthday, you are the star of the occasion and gold symbolises perfection, achievement, and power while silver symbolises strength. Anyway, thanks M._ for your trust and I hope your dad liked his birthday cake and cupcakes!
July 27th, 2011
Thriller Cake Project - cake and cupcakes inspired by the late great Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” MTV. Price available upon request.
cause this is thriller, thriller night ….
Happy new year everyone!
I am so behind my posts. I was away the whole month of December ’til the second week of January to celebrate a very important family reunion (my parents’ golden wedding anniversary). Though I sadly turned down several cupcake projects 
, the time I spent with my family was more than enough to compensate for my 39-day hiatus 
.
It was a good thing that when I returned, I was back to my mixer, baking pans, bowls, measuring cups and ingredients the second day after I arrived home. I was jetlagged still and woke up at 2 am. So I just started prepping for an order to be delivered that very same day. It is so good to be back in our kitchen and start the new year with a cake order! But I digress. Let me just move on to the story of how this Thriller cake project came about.
When I met up with some of my high school classmates last November, our class president and my sorta namesake R._ asked me if I can make her son’s birthday cake and cupcakes. Young M._ is turning seven and he had a specific theme in mind—Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Wow, R._, your kid has style!
I thought of making werewolf cupcakes since Michael Jackson turned into one in the music video. I found the instructions on how to make them here.
As for the cake, I thought of making a graveyard with headstones and zombie hands crawling out from the dirt.
The headstones are actually cookies and the hands are marzipan. The dirt is crushed Oreo cookies.
During delivery, I thought I would not make it in time as I was stuck in a ridiculously snarled traffic. I started to get worried but after I squeezed my way out of the jam, I felt that the “powers that be” were with me and that everything will turn out fine. And I was right.
M._’s delight and wonderment over his birthday cake and cupcakes were priceless. And that is all that matters.
Thanks, R._ for letting me be a part of your son’s special day.
January 18th, 2011
teacher’s pet
I made these cupcakes for MM who thought of a creative and delicious way to honor her children’s teachers during this past teacher’s day. Yes, I know this post is waaay too late but I was having trouble with my web host, so there.
Anyway, MM gave me the details to put on the label and one of them read: From Bumblebee Joshua. Later on when MM got the cupcakes, she explained that her son was in section Bumblebee in his kindergarten class. And of course bees abound where the flowers are so my Blooming Garden cupcakes were the perfect partner for my Buzzy Bee cupcakes as MM added them to the gift array. I bet Joshua and his brother earned extra points from their teachers!
November 23rd, 2010
I Love You Cupcakes – cupcakes decorated with chocolate letters that spell “I LOVE YOU”, chocolate hearts and marshmallow flowers. Price and cupcake flavor available upon request.
all you need is love
This was a rush order from P._ . Rush, as in he called me the night before he needed the cupcakes. Fortunately, I had time in my hands so I gladly accepted the order.
P._ didn’t tell me what the cupcakes were for. All he said was that he will be bringing these to a date on Tuesday night. I know it’s none of my business but as I started baking until I got to decorating, I got curiouser and curiouser like Alice (in Wonderland). Surely, these are for someone special. What is P._ and his special person celebrating? I can tell during our telephone conversations that P._ was excited. I think he called me more than 10 times and we discussed about how the cupcakes will be arranged in the box, the color of the box, if there is a ribbon, if there will be sprinkles and what color will they be, are the cupcakes dense (they’re soft) and the frosting sweet (it is ganache so it is not cloyingly sweet). He said he set their date at around 7:30 pm so he had to rush from work to pick up the cupcakes and go back to keep his date.
When we finally met, I showed P._ the cupcakes and he said they were as he imagined them to be—impressive I hope! And without me asking, he told me it was for his and his significant other’s monthsary. Aww, ain’t that sweet. I honestly thought he was going to propose and will hide a ring somewhere in one of the cupcakes. Heck, maybe I just watch too many movies.
Thanks P._ and I hope your special someone enjoyed your gift!
November 18th, 2010
Glittering Flowers Cupcake – flower cupcake decorated with snipped marshmallows dipped in shimmering colored sugar. Price available upon request.
baking 160 cupcakes in a day? no problem!
These are the beauties I made simultaneously with a birthday cake and cupcake project that required a total of 160 cupcakes. And I baked all those cupcakes in one day. Honestly. What spurred me to do everything in one go was that I could not sleep the night before. I actually set my alarm for 3:30 am. For some reason—stress, maybe—sleep eluded me. So instead of counting sheep, I just got up at the ungodly hour of 2 am and started baking.
In the end, everything went well and this whole project made me try some new things. First, I was able to successfully freeze unfrosted cupcakes. Actually, freezing cakes and cupcakes and have long been written by dessert authors. According to “Cupcakes!” author Elinor Klivans, unfrosted cupcakes can be “wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, sealed in a container and frozen for up to two months.” I have frozen freshly-baked cookies before but never cupcakes. After reading some disaster stories from a cupcake forum—liners becoming soggy and peeling away from the cakes—I was hesitant to try it but I did it anyway and everything turned out fine. One note, though, I did not use these frozen cupcakes for this project. I saved them as my stash to find out how long they will last. After a month, they still tasted the same, stayed moist and retained their fresh-baked quality—yum! Freezing cupcakes will really save you some time if you are baking cupcakes by the bulk but you have to have ample freezer space.
Second thing I was able to try was to transform some of my regular-sized cupcakes into petite sizes. These are not like those baked in the mini-muffin pan. I still used the regular cupcake pan but put 2 oz cupcake liners. They are just slightly smaller than regular cupcakes but I think they will be great for those who love their cupcakes but dread getting a “muffin top.”
As for this cupcake’s design, client F._ actually wanted something that resembles a carnation to go with the motif of her baby’s christening celebration. She saw my Citrusy Sunflower cupcake and suggested just having all petals sans the chocolate chip center. Though I thought it looked more like a dahlia, F._ was happy with how the cupcakes turned out and she loved the cupcake base that went with it which was the golden butter cream flavor that I also use for my Confetti cupcake.
A plateful of these shimmering flower cupcakes is truly a delight to see. Another client G._ was so taken with the design (she said they were unique) that she is ordering them for her wedding. No problem, been there, done that, I told myself. Until I found out that G._ is having 130 pieces of these, with another 20 decorated with marzipan roses. Wow, I guess I should start snipping those marshmallows and dipping them in sugar right now! Watch out for my report on that project on my next post.
October 13th, 2010
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