Cake!

So, I don't think it's a big shock that I LOVE cupcakes...and honestly, I am not picky.  I am very happy with the 6 yellow cupcakes with butter cream frosting I can get at the grocery store...especially on Friday when they are offered at the reduced price of $2.22. Now, I do prefer if I can get a mixed pack of 3 yellow and 3 chocolate, but I'll still settle for the 6 yellow.

As much as I love eating cupcakes, I love decorating cakes even more.  I am by no means a professional, but I have been decorating cakes since I was young, learning tricks and techniques from my grandma and my mom.  I decorated a sheet cake to look like a folded western shirt for Father's Day when I was 12.  I carved and decorated cake to look like a giant glazed donut in my 20s.  I made a birthday cake in the shape of a beer mug for my father-in-law a few years ago.  I've even made some, ahem, bachelorette party cakes...  I've made countless bunny-face cakes for Easter, and tons of heart-shaped cakes for Valentines' Day (none from shaped molds). 
About a year and a half ago, my dear friends Lee Ann and Jeremy were expecting a baby for the first time.  While shopping with Lee Ann at one of our favorites stores (JoAnn's), we saw a Wilton Cake Decorating Toolbox (with 101 tools) on sale.  And Lee Ann had a coupon.  And she really thought I should get it so I could start really getting into cake decorating.  Especially since she had a baby shower coming up...I was roped in, and I thank her for that every time I make a great cake.

The first cake I made for public consumption after this purchase was, indeed, the baby shower cake.  I had an idea in my head of a bear on blocks and all kinds of fanciness...then I got nervous and decided to go with something a little simpler for my first attempt at using fondant on a cake...

The base and paci are cake covered in fondant; the paci handle is molded chocolate.

The result was a pacifier cake, and I was very proud of it.  I could see every tiny imperfection, of course, but I was still happy.  Luckily, my mom had made many, many things out of Candy Melts white chocolate while I was growing up, so the handle was easy enough to do.  The round ball was a cake mold and maybe a little more advanced than I should have tried for my first attempt at fondant.  Everyone was happy with it, and it tasted good.  Score!

I have made a few other cakes in the last year, but nothing too exquisite... until yesterday.  I made the birthday cake for our now one-year old Goddaughter - Jeremy and Lee Ann's little girl.  Lee Ann told me "ladybug theme."  I've been looking at photos of cakes online for the last several months.  I found one that fit what I was thinking of doing, and here is what I ended up with.



Ladybug cake!  It's all cake and fondant!



A close up of the topper.

The "smash cake" just for Analee to enjoy (and make into mush and get all over herself.

A ladybug on top of a two-layer cake.  Everything was cake, including the ladybug body and head.  I started with all white fondant and colored it myself.  The green border and grass is butter cream frosting.  The smaller flower "smash cake" was covered in butter cream with a fondant ladybug accent.

I am very proud of this cake.  I only cringed a little when Lee Ann made the first cut...then, we all enjoyed eating the cake, especially Analee:

Analee elbow-deep in her cake!

The Cupcake Debacle

I love cupcakes.  They make me happy.  This is something my friend over at "little bitty bites" and I have in common, other than high school...

I had six beautiful cupcakes just like this.

I had a wonderful six-pack of yellow cupcakes with butter cream frosting starting on Saturday night.  By Sunday afternoon, I had three left.  And by Sunday night, I had NONE.  ZERO.  They were gone.  I miss my cupcakes.  I'd like to say I am ashamed to have eaten six cupcakes in 24 hours.  It's happened.  I am a little ashamed to say I ate three cupcakes in 12 hours, and I am sad to say I didn't get the other three...

What happened, you ask?  Stryker.  Stryker happened.

I've been such a proud puppy mommy for the last week, and then last night - The Cupcake Debacle.  Stryker has been so well-behaved that we've given him some privileges over the last week.  The first few days, he had the basement to himself.  Then, we started leaving him to wander in the house with the doors closed to rooms we didn't want him in.  Last night we let Stryker have the run of the house while we went to a concert.  He had eaten his dinner, and he had been walked and let out, so we felt safe.  I inadvertently left our bedroom door open...that was MY mistake. 

I own that.

When we finally arrived home from the concert sometime around midnight, all seemed well.  Stryker was a little sleepy, but he still met us at the door.  I let him out, and we played with him for a bit.  I looked around, and everything seemed to be in place.  When I went upstairs to the bedroom to change into jammies I turned on the light, pulled out my clothes, spun around to turn on the television, and shrieked, "Ahhhhh! Stryker!"  My  husband immediately yelled, "What did he do!?!?!?"  My response:

"HE.    ATE.    MY.    CUPCAKES. 

ALL.    OF.    THEM."

On top of completely obliterating my hair pick (luckily, I had two), he had taken the plastic container of my treasured snacks and destroyed it.  He ate all the remaining cupcakes, all six wrappers, licked up all traces of butter cream frosting and sprinkles, and shredded the plastic container.

I wish this was what was left of my cupcakes...

The packaging he ate through.

So today Stryker will be in the basement, having lost his house-roaming privileges...I will have to be more careful about where I store my precious cupcakes going forward...perhaps I will keep them in the guest room (the door is always closed to that room) so that I can enjoy the cupcakes without worry.