Pac-Man Cupcakes!

I had to find a sort of geeky theme for my husband's friend's birthday cupcakes, so I came up with these. They turned out great!

I used a white boxed cake for the cupcakes and cut the tops off after baking so they'd be flat on top. I added a layer of yellow buttercream icing and black fondant on top. For the decorations I used colored gum paste. When the decorations were dry I used clear vanilla applied with a paint brush to stick them to the cupcakes.

The whole process was quite time consuming but not too difficult.

Fall is in the air

No need to be sad about summer ending, make cookies instead! I actually really enjoy fall, and was in the mood to make some sugar cookies today. Unfortunately it's too early still for Halloween themed ones so I decided on some colorful fall leaves :)

Masala Chai

I've been making this for years and it's always delicious.. Time to post about it!

Masala Chai
- 2c milk
- 2 tbsp loose black tea
- 1 tsp masala chai spice
- honey to taste (optional)

1. Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a slow boil (just to the frothy stage)
2. Reduce heat to low and let summer for 4 minutes.
3. Strain into a mug and enjoy :) careful, it'll be very hot!

Starlight Mint Cupcakes!

The idea for these came from the Hello Cupcake website.  Mine definitely aren't as pretty as theirs but they were fun anyway :)  Instead of vanilla extract I used peppermint extract in both the cupcakes and the icing.  If I were to do it again I would only substitute half the vanilla instead of the whole thing in the cupcakes, it changed the flavor too much.  They still tasted great but it would have been better with a bit of vanilla flavor in there. 

I love how round these get!  They're so cute :)

Very yummy and easy icing.  Just 1/2c shortening, 1/2c butter, 

4c icing sugar and 2tbsp milk. Cream butter and shortening together, 

add icing sugar 1c at a time until icing looks dry, then add the 

milk and mix until it looks good :)  I usually add a little extra milk at the 

end to make it a bit smoother.

And the finished product!  They're just iced with the white, 

then the red swirl pattern goes on, then dip in sugar to make 

them sparkly :)  Lots of fun!

Starting out and catching up!

I suppose I should start by introducing myself.  My name is Juanita and I live in Vernon, BC.  I'm not a professional baker and haven't taken any courses or classes on cake decorating.  I get my ideas from various places on the internet and learn the hard way.. trial and error.  Sometimes I get it right the first time but more often and not my husband gets to take several "oopses" to work with him.. not that he minds!

My facebook page (Nita's Cupcakes) has a lot of the same pictures I'm about to post here, I just wanted to keep this blog current with all my projects I've finished since I started that page. 

Without further adieu... here are some pictures of my projects :)

Chocolate cupcakes with mocha buttercream icing, 

made for a coworker's birthday :)

Chocolate mini cupcakes with mocha buttercream icing, topped with 

a Starbucks coffee bean :)

 Coconut vanilla mini cupcakes with coconut buttercream icing, topped 

with--you guessed it--shredded coconut!

Vanilla mini cupcakes made for a friend's Christmas party.  

Topped with blue buttercream icing, white chocolate 

snowmen and colorful sprinkles.

My first gum paste flowers.  I was told it was next to impossible 

to make gum paste black so I started with white ones and the

plan was to paint them with food coloring to make them black.  

The white flowers turned out beautifully, however painting them 

did not (hence why there are no pictures here of the painted ones).

I decided to give coloring them a go, and it was actually fairly 

simple.  It did take A LOT of food coloring, and I warned 

people not to actually eat the flowers or their teeth would be purple f

or a week, but they turned out great!

A great vanilla cupcake recipe I borrowed from a blog I follow 

called Cake on the Brain.   They turn out perfect every time and are so simple!

Also from Cake on the Brain, a wonderful chocolate cupcake recipe 

and Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing. 

Some leftover white cupcakes with the leftover swiss meringue buttercream 

and dinosaur sprinkles.  The icing wasn't actually that yellow, it's white like 

the picture above.  The lighting in my kitchen made them look that way.

I love this chocolate cupcake recipe.  It's a little time consuming 

because you have to melt chocolate over a double boiler and then wait for

it to cool, but it tastes amazing!

This is what the chocolate cupcakes look like right out of the oven... mmmmm!

Some fun with colored fondant  :)  I got the penguin idea from 

www.cakewhiz.com, another great cake artist I pull inspiration from!

 

 These were a request for a wedding.  They were a lot of work and 

took me all night (literally finished them at 4am!) but were 

well worth it!  They turned out great :)

 

My first stab at cake balls... turned out fantastic!  I love the way 

they look.  I just bought the book Cake Pops today so I'm hoping

to experiment a lot more with these! They're so fun to make :)

  

Well that's it for the catching up!  I don't think I have anything else to post for now.  Stay tuned for more yummy creations!