Order Up: Happy Birthday Kathy!

The order:

1 dozen mini Reese's Love

1 dozen mini Margaritaville

My friend Alison emailed me last week asking if she can order cupcakes for her mom's birthday, and of course I said yes. Funny story - Alison and I knew each other in high school (Huberts, 1998 tyvm) and about 2 years ago I was walking down the hallway at work and went "Man she looks familiar". Turns out - it was her who was walking down the hall! It's funny to know someone who understand the catholic school upbringing, being a Hubert's Bambi, and now sharing the insanity of the place of my employment. She was lucky to escape.

So back to the cupcakes.

For the mini cupcakes, we typically do not split the minumum order of 24, but since I was feeling nice that day, I decided what the hell. Not really just me being nice, but since the tasting party is still in the works, who am I to deny someone wanting 2 flavors. But no, we will not split the dozens into 6 and 6, so don't even ask :)

Since these were suprised cupcakes and Alison didn't need them until later on Thursday night, I decided to make them when I got home from work. As with our other order for the company picnic, the mini Reese's went in at the same time as the big guys. Only difference here? Smaller Reese's inside and Reese's Pieces on top. They still look and taste adorable:

After we found our lost shaker of salt, salt, salt, salt (hahaha, do what if you don't laugh, I did!), it was time to frost, sprinkle some sugar, and add little straws to these mini's.

After that it was time hop into the box to await the pick up! Hello little ones!

And it's not complete until is wrapped with ribbon and a label attached!

Happy Birthday Kathy, hope you get to waste away in margaritaville!

Order up: Company Picnic!

The order:
1 Dozen Margaritaville
2 Dozen Reese's Love

Last night as I was on the train home, my uncle FB messaged me to ask if I was baking that night, turns out I was! He decided to place an order (us Ulrichs, always waiting til the last minute...) for his company picinic and a dozen for his family! How nice is he to send a dozen cupcakes home when he isn't there? And how could resist more exposure?

After a quick stop to pick up fresh key limes, it was home and into the kitchen. I baked up the Reese's Love first, since they take a shorter amount of time. As they were baking, the batter for the Margaritaville's were prepped.

A side note about these - if you aren't a straight margarita fan, you will not like this cupcake. It is made with fresh lime juice, zest and tequilla in the batter and in the icing. Some people like them, some people hate them...it's all about personal preference!

Anywho. Reese's Love out and cooling, Margos in the oven to cook. As they were cooking/cooling, I began making the frostings. Since the Reese's were done cooling, it was time to swirl some frosting and get those bad boys boxed up.

After that, right onto the other little guys. Since it was a picnic, I wanted to add a little detail to make it summery, so coconut tree straws were added along with some green sugar, and Voila: happy cupcakes.

Twelve little monkeys sitting on the cupcakes, one fell off and bumped his head..

Ok enough of that! And next time I'm going to take a bet...the one dozen went home to 3 teenage-early 20s boys...I'm pretty sure it only took a few minutes for half of those to be devoured! Don't forget the milk!

Enjoy the perfect day for a picnic, along with the delicious treats!

Order Up: Happy 1st Birthday Jaelyn!

The order:
2 dozen vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream
2 dozen chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

The cupcake theme? Oh The Places You'll Go!

How adorable right? This order was for Christine, a return customer who we made the Jumbo Yankees cupcake for her husband. She emailed me to ask if we do work with fondant (not yet, still practicing!) and that her daughter's first birthday was coming up and the theme was Dr. Suess. Each table was going to be a book! I loved this idea the minute she mentioned it!!!

This order was due on Sunday, so once again it was up early and into the kitchen baking. I honestly couldn't wait to make these cupcakes since I just got a new piping tip that is a circle and knew that it wouldn't have to be "exactly" perfect because the book itself is all swirly and twirly!! She asked that I did stick with pink, yellow and blue for the icing so that it would match - no problem at all!

Once the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes were made, they were set to cool and the icings were made and colored. Then it was time to prepare the bags and get to piping! Swirl, swirl, star and voila!

As they were being finished, I was lucky enough to have Steph be at my house (to shoot pictures for Luli's new fashion line - stay tuned for the launch of her webstore!) and she was able to take pictures of the cupcakes and even get an action shot! Look at that pretty star!

Once they were frosted, I packed up and headed out to Fairmount Park to deliver the cupcakes to the birthday girl! Once I got there, I asembled the cupcakes and placed cupcakes pics on top that had all the various quotes from the book! I forgot to take a final picture before I left, but here is a shot while singing happy birthday! Too cute!

Happy 1st Birthday Jaelyn and it is true - just think of all the places you'll go!

Order Up: Happy Birthday Jenn and Dana!

The Order:
2 Dozen Cupcakes decorated for birthdays

A friend of the family Peg was talking about the cupcake business when they were visiting her in Florida. She mentioned to Steph that she might want to try the cupcakes for her office for birthday parties. When they came back from the trip, I emailed with Peg and we setup the first delivery for July.

As the time came closer, I worked with Peg and figured out how to comprise an assortment to be provided to her office for the birthdays! It turns out that this came up on a great weekend where we were able to have a great variety to provide!

First up, we have Red Velvet and Carrot Cake.

They were decorated with birthday hats and cakes, and colored sprinkles. I loved the way that they look sitting in the box!
Next up, we made plain chocolate cupcakes. Normally I'm a vanilla girl all the way, but I've received a lot of comments on the chocolate cake that is made, so I decided to go with that.

To switch things up, I frosted 6 cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, the other 6 received the strawberry buttercream that is typically on the Strawberries and Champagne. Can't go wrong with chocolate and strawberry!
These cupcakes were adorned with straws that had palm trees and monkeys hanging from it! I think they completed the group and made them look adorable! I mean, who wouldn't want to transport themselves to a tropical island?

The order was packed up and delivered to the office this morning and the staff looked very excited to get a taste! It made me smile to make people happy first thing in the morning.

Thank you Peg for this opportunity to share the cupcakes and Happy Birthday Jenn and Dana - hope you enjoyed every bite!

Order Up: Wedding After Party!

The Order:
6 Reese's Love
6 Weezy Carrot Cake
6 Red Velvet
6 Vanilla with Vanilla buttercream

I know this order may seem a bit whacky to you, but you have to understand, Aunt Louise (aka Weezy) is my aunt and my godmother, so whatever she wants, she gets :) We usually don't split the dozens, but with enough orders going out this weekend, I was able to make the orders and utilize any excess to get these done!

Anywho, Weezy emailed me last week, asking if I could make cupcakes for the after party of Christopher and Jessica's wedding - who happens to be her neighbor Cathy, who we've known pretty much our whole lives! Amazing when you see people who you remember from when you were little getting married - brings such a smile to my face. Of course, I was in!

After the meltdown on Saturday, I took a little while and went to rest in the yard with Winston, give myself a little pep talk, and get back to it. Since the wedding was going until 10 PM, it wasn't a rush.

First batch I made was the carrot cakes. I put a lot of attention into making each batch of cupcakes, but since I was making the cupcakes for the recipe creator, it was time to make sure they were extra perfect! And I must say, they turned out exactly how Weezy's carrot cake tastes! Once they were frosted with cream cheese frosting, I added green pearl details as the wedding colors were green and purple. And yes, there were more than just 6 cupcakes of each...I couldn't resist!


After that, I made up the Reese's Love and had the extra vanilla cupcakes from a morning order. I frosted the vanilla with a purple icing and added the same green pearl details. The Reese's speak for themselves.

Congratulations Chris and Jess and I wish you a happy future together...filled with love and cupcakes!

Order Up: Happy 1st Birthday Holly Mae!

The Order:
1 Dozen Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream
1 Dozen Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream
1 Dozen Chub Rub
2 Dozen Strawberries and Champagne
1 Jumbo Vanilla Cupcake

It's well known that my cousin Allison has fallen in love with the Strawberries and Champagne cupcake. So much so that she convinced her friend Becky to order cupcakes for her daughter's 1st birthday party. Insert me :)

Becky emailed me with her order and we were more than happy to accomodate! Friday night, into the kitchen we went to bake the giant cupcake since they take a while to bake.

Saturday morning, it was up and at em early! First baked were the chocolate cupcakes for the plain chocolate and Chub Rub. Next in, the vanilla cupcakes for Strawberries and Champagne and and vanilla. Once all the cupcakes were baked, they were set out to cool.

After that, it was frosting time! First completed were the Chub Rub cupcakes - I mean, how adorable do they look packaged up and ready to go?
And now for Ms. Strawberries and Champagne. Unfortunately we learend the hard way that with 100 Degree heat, chocolate covered strawberries are not our friend. Next time, Becky will get extras with her order!

Then onto the kiddo's cupcakes. I'm really loving the way the new frosting tip we bought swirled onto the cupcakes and the sprinkles just topped it off perfectly!

Hello chocolate friends!

Now it was time to tackle the big momma. I made the frosting, took the cake out of the fridge and applied the crumb coat. I put the cake back to "set" in the fridge (again, did I mention the heat/humidity was at an all time high?) and took a break for a few minutes. I may or may not have had a Reese's cup at this time.

After I waited about 15 minutes, I opened the fridge to check on the cake. And that's when I almost burst into tears. The icing literally slid off the top of the cake and was sitting in a pile. I think I shut the door and opened it twice to make sure I was really seeing that. Wahhhhhhhhhhh.

Once I composed myself, I texted Allison to let her know I'd need a little more time, and it was time to get to fixing...which wasn't fixing, since now it was just pulling the icing off that was already there. Allison and I kinda sat and looked at it trying to figure out what to do. This wasn't good. I told her that as much as I didn't want to, I'd go buy her a cake if she wanted.

Then it was a few minutes of sitting there staring at it, debating on making more cupcakes, debating on getting her another cake. Then I just picked up the piping bag and started trying to make it look pretty. I swirled pink and purple stripes around the bottom, purple stars and a flower. Then topped it with some white pearl sprinkles and away it went.

Do you think Holly Mae had any complaints?

Us either! She tore right into it - girl after my own heart!

All in all - it was a lesson learned again about heat and frosting. For now, we'll stick to cupcakes and not try to make the giant ones...maybe until my fondant skills get a little better ;)

A special thank you needs to go to Allison and Becky for being so understanding while I had a mini-meltdown...and thanks Allison for being there to help me through it! Love ya chickie!

But before we go, we were able to have a picture sent to us of how the cupcakes looked on the awesome stand that Becky made! We may have to contract her for stands in the future! How cute!

Happy First Birthday Holly Mae! Enjoy those cuppycakes!

Order Up: Tee Time for Charity!

The donation:
1 Dozen standard cupcakes decorated in a golf theme
1 Dozen premium cupcake gift certificate

A friend of mine Katrina contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in helping with a donation for their company's, ServePro, annual golf outing that benefits the McKeown Foundation, that is involved in a lot of things related to Alzheimer's Disease. As soon as I found out about that, I was in since Alzheimer's is a disease that hits home for me as I lost both of my grandparents on my mom's side to this disease. Seeing the impact that this disease has not only to those who have it, but their loved ones as well, I am in support of any types of research. I know that my Pop-Pop and Grammie are up in heaven watching down on me now and how they would both love my chocolate cupcakes :)

Man, this was a busy week in the kitchen! Since there were a lot of orders going out, I was able to provide more than just 12 cupcakes. In thinking about this order, I knew I wanted to pipe the cupcakes to look like grass, add some graham cracker crumbs to have a "sand trap"
As I got to decorating, a light bulb went on when I remembered that I bought little golf ball cupcake picks! How perfect to place them all over. Looks like a hole when you're golfing huh?


Final touch I added was a flag for the 18th hole.

I was SO happy with the way these turned out! I actually want to make a larger scale version of these the next time we head to the country club for a round of golf with Rich's dad for an event! I also noted next time that I'll smooth out some of the cupcakes for the "fairway" and smooth some out around the flag for for the putting greens!

Overall - I will call this a order a hole in one and can't wait to find out who the lucky winner of the gift certificate is! Good luck golfers!

Order up: Barb's Bridal Shower!

The order:
2 Dozen Reese's Love
1 Dozen Strawberries and Champagne
1 Dozen Chub Rub
1 Dozen Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream
1 Dozen Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream

It was a no-brainer to me when Steph mentioned to me that the 10 bridesmaids were starting to plan Barb's bridal shower that I would be making cupcakes for it. Barb has been awesome and commenting on our pictures and "like-ing" our status on facebook that I couldn't pass up an opportunity to make some cupcakes for her to try!

Since the shower was on Sunday, we decided to bake a batch of the cupcakes on Saturday night, the others bright and early on Sunday. Good thing I'm an early bird!

After the cucpakes baked and cooled, it was time to get to decorating. First up - Reese's Love. I needed to make sure these were perfect, just for Barb since they are the ones she has been drooling over! After that, had to get a little Chub Rub going - I forgot how fun they are to make...I mean really how can you go wrong with chocolate, marshmellow filling, topped with fudge and graham crackers? You can't...and it was fitting since it was so stinking hot that day and my chubby thighs were rubbing together!


Since I was not just baking for the party, I was attending, it was time to get packed up, get pretty and get out of there! Steph came over and took 1/2 of the cupcakes with her to get them there and setup, I arrived with the rest (after getting a little lost!) Cupcakes were setup and looked so pretty on the cupcake stands!

The theme of the shower was a luau theme, so we had to throw in some beach, ocean, and umbrellas!

Hello little fishes...and how cute are the sunbathing gummy bears lounging on their rafts?

And the results of the cupcakes? Tons of rave reviews - all 72 cupcakes were gobbled up...I don't even know if there were any crumbs! That definitely made me smile :)

These were kid tested (And could Joey be any cuter???),
and mother approved!


Best wishes Barb and Kev for a long, happy, healthy marriage! Can't wait for the wedding 9-10-11!

Order up: Block Party!

The order:
1 dozen Reese's Love
1 dozen Strawberries and Champagne

The donation:
2 dozen chocolate with vanilla buttercream
2 dozen vanillla with vanilla buttercream

This order came up thanks to my Uncle Michael - he emailed me that Kelly was having a block party and looking for donations. Since we're trying to get our name out there and reach more people, I was in.

I emailed Kelly to let her know that I would be interested in making a donation. I sent her the link to our FB page and to the website and from there the gears got going! Once she saw the flavor list, she decided to place an order!

Friday night, I decided to bake half of the cupcakes so that I wasn't pressed for time on Saturday. Once they were done, my besties from NY came down, so we took a little break.

Saturday morning, it was up and at 'em to finish the baking and get the icings prepared. It's funny how time seems to fly by and you get things done when you have entertainment!

The first batch of cupcakes to be frosted were the Reese's Love. Of course - how can you go wrong with those?!?
Next up? Strawberries and Champagne. I left out the Champagne since I knew kids would be around and didn't want them to get into the wrong hands!


After that it was time to frost and sprinkle the vanilla cupcakes. Since there was talk about a cupcake eating contest, I decided not to go crazy with the decorations and just added colored sprinkles!

Once those pretty little cupcakes were done, it was time for the chocolate.


Once all the cupcakes were frosted and decorated, it was time to box them up and send them on their merry way to be delivered to the block party!

Once we arrived, we were greeted by 2 HUGE slip and slides and lots of people having a good time!

Well Kelly, I hope you and your block enjoyed the cupcakes and let us know if you had the eating competition!

Order Up: Congratulations Fran!

The order:

3 dozen vanilla with vanilla buttercream

3 dozen chocolate with vanilla buttercream

1 Jumbo cupcake in the shape of a softball

Decoration: Softball field layout, graduation stand, giant yellow softball

This order came to be from Steph's girlfriend Gabby. Her mom, Elyse and dad, Ralph came to a BBQ at my house and Gabby was telling them how I've just started a cupcake business. Gabby showed them some pictures of the cupcakes I made and they decided to place an order for Fran (her sister) high school graduation.

I agreed and the brainstorming began. For those who don't know - Gabby is a planner(love ya Gab), she came to my house one night with ideas of how they wanted them to look, and we took it from there. After that, I spoke with Elyse and told her the ideas - she's not so detail oriented and said "I trust you - whatever you think is good with me!"

Friday, I took off of work so that I could dedicate my time to making all of the cupcakes and not having to rush decorating. I got up early and got to work - cupcakes were going in and coming out of the oven looking delicious. Next I made the batches of icing and colored them so they were able to set.

When I finally looked up, I realized I was in the kitchen for 5 hours. Rich decided to come over and we ran out to lunch, ran into AC Moore and headed back to get to frosting.

As I was laying out the cupcakes for the template of the field, Rich (being the sports fan and hoping to make it as realistic as possible) gave some great ideas. We were able to make the field look like a softball field, align the bases and get the frosting done.

Once we were done frosting, Steph came over so we could transport the cupcakes and get them to the party. When we were packing up the car (in the torrential downpour from the skies that decided to open up), Steph was putting the softball cupcake in the car, and it decided to roll a little bit. Not to worry though, we learned our lesson and packed the extra icing.

We got to the party, everything was intact, and that's

where the Cupcake Wars started. Ralph is a bit of a "ball buster" so when I walked in, he said "You've got 2 minutes"...*Gulp*. No time to waste.

Steph setup the adorable graduation cupcake stand and started placing the cupcakes on it.

I worked on patching the smush on the big cupcake, piping the laces and adding Fran's number - she's the pitcher of course so it should hold her number! After that, the cupcakes were arranged, dirt (graham cracker crumbs) were added and placed onto the cake board. Two pennants were placed in the outfield with the logo for St. Johns, the college where Fran will be attending, and "Congratulations Fran 2011".

Needless to say, I wasn't able to do this in 2 minutes or less, but at the end there were smiles all around!

Thanks Elyse and Ralph for giving me the opportunity to make the fun cupcakes!

Congratulations Fran and best luck on all your endeavors at St. John's!

Order up: Happy Birthday Lizz!

The order:
1 dozen mini Red Velvet
1 dozen mini Strawberries and Champagne
1 dozen Fluffy Elvis

One of my good friends Denise contacted me last week asking if I would be able to make cupcakes for a friend's 40th birthday party. And how could we say no?

The cupcakes were needed Saturday evening, so Saturday was spent back in the kitchen (after I treated myself to a mani/pedi - after Friday's order, it was well deserved!) First batch in the oven were the Fluffy Elvis - I love making a batch of these - the whole house begins to smell like fresh baked banana bread. While they were baking to perfection, I prepped the Red Velvet batter. Since these were going to be little guys, I decided not to cut the recipe in half and I took the extras to a BBQ that evening. Just look at the pretty red color!

As the red velvet's were baking away, the vanilla cake was prepped for the Strawberries and Champagne. Those pretty little ones went into the oven and 30 minutes later, all the baking was done. From there, it was time to tackle the icing. I'm not going to lie, I actually sat in the chair and stared at the mounds of cupcakes and the mixer trying to decide what to tackle first - cream cheese, strawberry buttercream, make the filling for the Fluffy's. There may have been a few explicits that came out of my mouth, maybe even a few "WAHHHHHs", but a good song came on, I slapped on my apron and got to it. Moment of delirious was over :)

First was the cream cheese frosting. Seeing the pretty red velvets sitting there, I knew they needed to be properly dressed and placed into the fridge to set. Hello pretty little lady.

Next up, strawberry buttercream to frost the other leading lady of the evening. And wow - everytime I make this icing it smells wonderful and it just smells girly! Once they were frosted, they joined the red velvets in their little box, and went to set in the fridge.
And that left me with the star of the show. Funny, sometimes you forget how many steps it takes, especially with this cupcake. I had to text Denise and tell her I was running about a 1/2 hour behind schedule and I felt bad - I knew they had to get to the party, but I wasn't about to let something leave my kitchen that wasn't perfect! So I got to it - broke out the paring knife and hollowed out the inside of the cupcake, made the peanut butter filling and piped that into the cupcake. Then it was onto the frosting which was swirled onto the cupcakes and packed in their box waiting for pick up.
Once Denise and Joe arrived, after a year or so, I was able to show Denise my house! It was so nice to catch up with her and get to talk for a few minutes! It's amazing how quickly life goes by! We definitely need to schedule a girl's date night to catch up!

And with that, the pretty little cupcakes were on their way.

Happy 40th Birthday Lizz and may your forties be fun and fabulous!

Order up: Happy Birthday Tamika!

The order:

1 Dozen vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing

Once again, an order for Ang. She has quite an addiction I'd say...but we love it! She might keep me in business single handely ;)

The decorating request was something girly and I knew exactly what we would do! I got the cutest cupcake holders - they were pink with zebra print high heels on them and I have a high heel chocolate mold!

Thursday morning before leaving for work, the cupcakes were baked(I know, I know - why can't I just be able to bake cupcakes all day right?!?) When I got home, the icing was made, cupcakes were frosted and decorated and waited for the cupcake monster to come pick them up! I love how excited her and Gida get when they come to pick them up!

Happy Birthday Tamika and hope you enjoyed your celebration in style!