Easter Cupcakes!

I did it! And I was able to use the one thing that I have been SO excited to use....FONDANT!!! :) When Easter weekend came I went out to Michael's and even though I wasn't sure what I needed, I didn't care I was so excited!

This picture was my little working station for Fondant. I had fondant, coloring, rolling pin, knives, a bunny stamp, and some paint brushes. I couldn't find a bunny cut out so what I did was (I learned this from watching Georgetown Cupcake) rolled out some fondant and colored a bunny stamp with food coloring markers and cut it out with a butter knife.

Now, this was before I found the markers. I first started with a little experiment and with my inexperience, didn't know where to find the food coloring markers since Michael's didn't have them. I colored the fondant with blue and pink coloring. I thought this was going to work but wasn't really happy with the result. I wanted them to really look like bunnies, and not just a fondant bunny.

 

Although this would have worked I wanted to be able to see the details to the stamp which looked like a really cute bunny character. So although I would have settled for blue and pink bunnies, I figured I would try one more store before I settled. By this time it was late at night when all the stores were closing. So I stopped at A.C. Moore but just as I was walking in they were locking their doors. Boo.... so I figured I would try Walmart. And sure enough they had the markers, but then again doesn't Walmart have everything?

Once I found them and got home it was almost 1030 and I still had to frost them let alone make all new white bunnies, stamp them and cute them out. Once I started it was done and I was on to frosting the cupcakes while the fondant dried. I had gotten a grass tip to make it look like real grass and colored the frosting grass green. It looked so pretty...

These pictures are right when the frosting was just made and he was about to go to bed... I couldn't let him not lick for the first time. He thought it was yummy and wouldn't stop asking for more.

Once the bunnies dried a bit and I got all the cupcakes frosted I was able to put my little creations on and have my finished product! and after 10 hours of work....

I think they turned out great!!!! I brought them to my Mother's where we were celebrating Easter and everyone loved them. My grandpa tried stealing one before dinner but I talked him out of it  :) and of course Braeden LOVED them! Once he finished the one I gave him he asked for more.

We all finished the night cheering on Braeden while he searched for Easter eggs in Meema's basement. It was a great day and start to all of my cupcake and cake creations.

In memory Of Louis Michael Apostolakos May 22, 1922 - December 21, 2010

 

Now to Begin...

Now I have the blog, I have the inspiration and the recipes... now I need the tools! I couple weeks ago I went to Michael's and just browsed at all the cake tools and things. They had so many different things; I recognized a lot of it but had never used it before. When I made Braeden's cake I bought the already made frosting in the tubes with tips on them already. When I walked down the cake tools aisle I saw metal tips, plastic tips, kits tips and every kind of tip you can think of. And then there were the bags for to hold the icing, tubes of fondant, coloring to color the fondant and all sorts of different sprinkles. I think the one that I really want to get my hands on is the fondant and the tips with frosting bags. I think I will feel more like a baker when I have worked with them and gain some experience with them.

Fondant

My Mom is walking in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure in September and she needs to raise money. The first thing that I told her that I wanted to do to help was have a bake sale. I am planning on making a pink ribbon cake and then cupcakes with a pink ribbon fondant decoration on top. And of course there is Easter and well, Mother's Day and my Birthday at the end of the may. I know I will make a mother's day cake for my mom, and I know she will share it with me :) and I probably will make my own birthday cake! And Father's Day in June, and Braeden's Birthday in July.... Ok I know I am going a little ahead but I am just so excited to start all of this. So to start out the next post will be all about my Easter cupcakes that I made for the whole family.

Indredients of Inspiration

So ever since I have made my Elmo cake for my son, I have been watching as much as possible of Cake Boss and the newly added show... Georgetown Cupcake! The show Cake Boss is about a man and his family running his family bakery. His father handed down the bakery to his only and youngest son Buddy. Not only does Carlo's Bakery make all these different pastries, cookies, cupcakes, and cakes... he makes the big cakes. Cakes that you see at weddings and crazy places like sweet 16's and event parties. These cakes are so creative, they range from a zoo cake for the New York zoo to Haagen Daz 50th anniversary. Not only are they creative they are so realistic you couldn't tell from the real Haagen Daz ice cream carton to the actual cake. And the other wonderful show... Georgetown Cupcake. Which is about these two sisters that leave their corporate jobs to start a cupcake shop and become business partners together. Although I haven't been to Carlo's I have been to Georgetown Cupcake. And these shows inspire me the most, they show that what I am trying to do is possible and it is fun and worth all the hard work.

Now, I can't talk for Carlo's but Georgetown Cupcake's are so unbelievable good, their ingredients are the freshest and they make them daily. They have 73 flavors and they range from lemon blossom to lava fudge which happens to be in the photo above :)  So I guess you could say that Carlo's and Georgetown Cupcakes along with my promise and Elmo cake would be ingredients to my inspiration.

Braeden's First Birthday!

The love that I have for baking and decorating cakes all started when I made my sons birthday cake. Although this was about eight months ago it is still very memorable for me, not only did my baby boy turn a year old but I think it was when I discovered my love for baking and decorating. It all started when I made a promise to myself, that the one way I was going to make my kids birthday special was to bake their own cake every year. It would bring up so many memories and would be something so special for them. And once I got all the stuff for it, it took off from there! The night of Braeden's birthday party I got him in bed and was ready to starting decorating. I already baked the cake in the pan; which by the way was a Elmo face because he loves Elmo! Once he was in bed I got all the things that I needed set it all up and started decorating.

All of my tools: guide, icing,tips, and of course the cake!

I was so excited to start it, I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to do a very good job. It was my first time, I had never taken any classes and I never once decorated a cake like this before! As much as I was excited... I was nervous! So I start with the mouth, nose, and eyes. They said that you could do fondant but I think I would have been so much more nervous and something would have gone wrong. So I start piping, and as I'm going I start to like it more and more and I realized it was going good I began to get used it and started enjoying it. It's like what Cake Boss says he does when he is piping one of his biggest cakes in his season, "and then things start to change, I forget everything and everything gets quite, and aaaahhh... I'm in my zone. And I could feel the stress coming off my body... and I was good." It was so much fun and a big stress reliever. And once I realized how fun it was... I was hooked! I loved what I created and loved doing it! 

I stepped back and look at it and couldn't believe how good I did! I mean it looked like Cake boss made it himself! It looked just like the picture and I couldn't wait for Braeden to see it.

I arrive at my Mom's with the cake and everyone couldn't believe how good it looked. Everyone was asking me where I got and I got to say "I made it!" and they were so proud and thought it was so cool. When it was time to sing Happy Birthday I couldn't wait for Braeden to try it.

Balloons & the theme for the party

first bite & he LOVED it!!

 I can not wait to continue with my promise and see all the cakes that I will be making for my kids. I can't wait to share the pictures from this party with Braeden and tell him that mommy made his first birthday cake. And I hope that I can tell them that THAT very cake is what started the business that makes all those promises that all the those other mommy's make for their kids :)