Baby Shower, Beer, Baby Shower

They go together right?!?

Beckie had contacted me through a referral looking for baby shower cupcakes.  Sounds easy enough, except that this was my first cupcake order… I read up on cupcake frosting techniques (woo-oo, woo-oo… hear that?  It’s the nerd alert siren), sent her some design ideas and asked her for a bit of direction.

She went the safe route and decided everyone would like chocolate flavored cakes.  It was a perfect opportunity for me to test out a new recipe… holy moly, I kid you not, this recipe turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to chocolate cake – YUUUUMMM.  I will never use another recipe for chocolate cake… soooooooo good.  This comes from the heart of a self-proclaimed chocoholic.  If this is the safe route, I will hardly ever venture off of it.

Then, were the decorations to make my cupcakes unique.  She wanted the designs to include soft blue, soft green, taupe and brown.  Beckie leaned towards designs that included booties, bibs, onesies and circles.  Being such a small order (only 14 cupcakes) I didn’t want to over-kill the design, so I made 2 different types of booties (so stinkin cute), 2 different types of similar “Baby” and “Boy” plaques and a few cupcakes with round coordinating “pearls”.  They were a hit!

Next up?  A last minute order for a pint of Guinness to feed 20.  I love this beer and I was so psyched to make a large one [cake], though as stated in my previous post, a bit apprehensive about the tall skinny design.  In a word – supports.  This cake has a large dowel going down the center, and several smaller dowels throughout, not to mention cake boards inside to help with the support system and height of the cake.  I decided to try wrapping this cake in fondant, as I really could not come up with a different strategy for covering it.  With help from my husband, I was surprised at how easy this actually was, especially after reading so many people suggest against this approach.

I then hand painted the whole thing, added the logo in fondant (the harp is actually shiny gold) and covered the top with the beer head.  The base board is also covered in fondant scored to look like wood then hand painted to get the wood grain effect.  Finally, I wasn’t sure where to put “happy birthday” on this cake and thought a napkin would be a clever/playful addition.  I added a “ring” on the napkin to mimic the look of a wet beverage on a bar napkin and jotted “Happy Birthday” on it.  I am so pleased with the outcome of this cake. 

I later found out this cake was for a judge in the largest county of our state… to me that is kind of a big deal… (I think I hear that siren again)

And I kept on going with an order I had been dreaming/drooling about for a few months – CHEESECAKE, CAKE POPS.  Imagine, cheesecake bites dipped in a chocolate shell and displayed on a cute stick.  Soooooooooo goood that I am currently wiping the drool off of my face as I reminisce about these.  These too were for a baby shower.  I had a lot of fun playing with the display of these (including jelly beans, glass flutes and white platters), as well as taste testing a few – quality control ;)  I was a bit worried that the blue was too bright (they seemed to get only darker with time, and I didn’t have time to re-do them as the cheesecake has to be frozen when you dip the balls) – but I think they ended up matching the invite perfectly…

Thanks so much for thinking of me for your special events Beckie, Rebecca and Libby – I had a lot of fun with each of your orders!

In other news, I’ve been getting contacted quite a bit from different businesses etc and I am working on finding a larger commercial kitchen to work out of, so if you have any connections to one in the Minneapolis area, please let me know.  I have also been working on getting some promotional materials together – such as business cards, stickers, brochures etc… you all have been keeping me so busy I haven’t had time to get this stuff together yet – shocking!  I know.  Finally, I am currently in the process of getting my official Certification in "Kitchen Management" - becoming all official and what not :)

Anyway, I am booking up fast and having so much fun with this “hobby” that I had no idea would take off the way it has.

Until next time,

Tam a Lam
Cakeaholiccakery.com