Couture Cupcake Craziness

modeling a caramel apple cupcake - still smiling one order in.

I've been blog MIA for a few weeks now because (thankfully) the cupcake business got off to a great start!

First up was 5 dozen holiday cupcakes for my friend's annual Christmas shindig, plus a few to-go cupcakes for a friend moving back to Michigan.

After that was a few shipments around the States for friends and then the doozy: 7.5 dozen cupcakes for clients, courtesy of my boss (who has thrown support behind me from the get-go.)

Here are a few photos from the Christmas party - my menus, business cards and flavor flags are courtesy of Lila Designs. If you have stationary needs - Lindsey is your lady! She's also the blogger over at Wed Michigan; check it out if you haven't yet (her blog always makes me want to get married in Michigan.)

*All photos are courtesy of Lindsey (pictured below)Lindsey was dying to try the champagne cupcakeholiday sampler cupcake tower - I picked up the towers at Michael'smenu cards, designed by Lila Designsflavor flags designed by Lila Designs

After making about 200 cupcakes for the holidays (that's a lot for a one-lady shop!) I am closing shop until January. I'll be back with some new menu offerings for the spring, but for now I am going to enjoy some much-needed family time back in Texas.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

And Eat it Too (A Follow-up to Having Your Cake)

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? Here is my finale cake to Course 3 of Wilton Cake Decorating. I constructed this cake the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, so I wanted something that would travel well since I was flying out to South Carolina the next day. I originally thought about a fall-themed cake with red, orange and gold fondant leaves, but couldn't find a leaf cutter. Instead, the night of class I opted for a simple wedding-style cake. It helped that Stephen's dad recently got married and we would celebrate that over the holiday. Without further ado, the cake:

The base cake is a home made chocolate cake layered with home made strawberry buttercream frosting. The top layer was boxed vanilla cake (lazy, I know) with home made lemon buttercream frosting. Both cakes are covered with fondant. I went a little heavy on the extracts for the buttercream so that the flavor would seep into the fondant.

The trim is silk ribbon "glued" to the fondant using piping gel.
The Lillies are made from royal icing with Wilton stems.

I'll post finale cake photos from my last class next week. Until then, have your cake.

Have Your Cake

As I head into my final two weeks of cake decorating lessons, I thought I'd show you some recent creations, from class and one that I did for my boss' birthday/ company get together.

Course 3 (Fondant) Class 1 - a pretty wrapped present
Not bad for my first try at fondant
B-day cake for Emerge and my boss. Writing is getting better. Next up: centering text.

How cute are those daisies?

Coming up I'll show you the two-tiered wedding cake I did for my course 3 finale.

Couture Cupcakes

It's official folks! I have taken the plunge and started Couture Cupcakes! The place for gourmet cupcakes without the gourmet price tag!

I can't tell you how excited/nervous/anxious/pumped I am about this opportunity. It feels good to start something and hopefully it will be fruitful. You all know how much I love making cupcakes for birthdays, parties and events, and the cake decorating classes just helped strengthen the need to do something different.

So, please, check out my site - www.couturecupcakesboston.com and tell me what you think. Couture Cupcakes make EXCELLENT Christmas gifts, so please e-mail me at couturecupcakesboston@gmail.com if you're interested in getting some cupcakes for the holidays and beyond.