Love is in the air

Yesterday I had a cake tasting with a couple whose wedding cake I'm making in May. They wanted carrot cake, so I made two different kinds, both layered with a fluffy, spiced Italian buttercream. I used Canadian Living's Best Carrot Cake and Cake Boss's Carrot Cake. Can you guess which one they chose? :)

Of course, it is Valentine's Day tomorrow. It's fun to do orders for this occasion because they're only meant for 2 people, so they're mini and cute! 

Red velvet cake with white chocolate buttercream and dark chocolate
covered strawberries

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone :) Hope your day is filled with love, whether you are in a relationship or not. Stay tuned for a Tiffany-themed bridal shower cake and an African inspired birthday cake!

Catching up

As you can tell by the lack of posts in January, it was quite a slow month for the cake business. I had a few projects here and there, but nothing big. Here are some pictures of my January baking :) 

Chocolate sheet cake with vanilla buttercream for an office function

AJ's second birthday- Red Sox cake. Vegan chocolate cake with
vanilla buttercream. 

Red velvet brownies with white chocolate buttercream- yum!

I'm currently working on a friend's birthday cake and a wedding shower cake. In about a month, I'll be working on a special wedding cake as well as some macarons wedding favours! Stay tuned for pictures :) 

back to baking

I just got back from vacation- I spent a week in beautiful Nassau, lying on the beach and exploring the city every day :) It was heavenly. Now it's back to baking time! Here is a cake I had forgotten to post last month- a Christmas cake for a family gathering. I was unsure of how to go about drawing the lion, and in the end, instead of attempting to cut it out in fondant, I used red buttercream with a small star tip to achieve the shape as well as some texture and height.

Vanilla cake layered with vanilla bean buttercream and strawberries

And voila my first cake of 2012, a chocolate cake layered in chocolate and decorated in chocolate! The birthday boy is a huge fan of milk chocolate, so of course I put in as much as I possibly could! The cake was a big success with all the guests.

Dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate chips, layered in a milk
chocolate ganache and decorated with dark chocolate curls and Crisperles 

Holiday madness

This was my first December as an "established" pastry artist. I was pleased to have gotten 6 orders for the holidays... spanning 5 days! Not an easy feat. I was so anxious that I would be missing my family dinner in Ottawa! Alas, 4 full days of baking and decorating later, I was able to put down my tools and enjoy the holidays for a few hours. Here are my holiday (and a birthday) creations :)

Paris-Brest

Pâte à choux with a praline mousseline for an office Christmas party. Apparently it was a huge hit! 

50th birthday

Used my Cricut Cake for the first time! I was very happy with the results- there is no way
I could have ever cut out that shape with such precision

Vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream for a surprise 50th birthday party

Christmas cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes with English vanilla buttercream

Holly on a mountain of snow

Snowflakes and pearls

SO cute- love this one

Chocolate overdose

Vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream and lots of dark chocolate curls

Christmas logs

Chocolate cake with English vanilla buttercream, covered in a chocolate glaze,
decorated with fondant holly and meringue mushrooms

Stay tuned for my last cake of 2011, and a few NYE desserts :) Happy holidays everyone!

the cupcakes I couldn't eat

This year for my boyfriend's birthday, I wanted to switch up his regular favourites (carrot cake and cheesecake) and do something completely different. I found a recipe for maple bacon cupcakes (yup.. bacon) and just had to try them.  Like a typical guy, he loves meat and so would probably freak out over bacon in his cupcakes! I used a recipe I found online but made many changes to it- the batter as is just wasn't right.  My baking skills proved to be sharp when the cupcakes came out of the oven all risen, spongy and moist :) I made a maple buttercream that is to die for, and decorated with a few grains of flour de sel and a piece of bacon. Since I'm a veggie, I couldn't taste them, but they sure did smell good! I got great feedback about them at the party, people telling me it was a surprisingly great combination of salty and sweet. I'd definitely say success for a first time recipe :)

Weddings and thank you's

Here are a couple of my most recent cakes. The first is a wedding cake that I made at school in my decorating class. I made the sketch last semester in my drawing class and had to bring the cake to life last week. It was very simple, but my goal was to make it so, with clean lines and sparse decorations. I was very pleased with the final result, including the look it gave with the columns (it was my first cake using them!). Due to some unfortunate circumstances at school, I was unable to bring it home to share with my family and friends, but at least I snapped a few good pics while I could! Enjoy :)

The product of 6 hours of work!

Also last week, I made a cake for one of my old high school teachers, and the coordinator of Student Council. The kids in Student Council came up with some ideas for the cake and I designed the rest. The cake was pretty big, feeding about 60 people. I received many compliments as I delivered it, and I think some of the teachers were surprised to find out I now study in this field! :)

Various SC committees and events piped in different fonts

SC logo cut out from fondant and outlined in royal icing 

The final product :)

Mo Cupcakes, please!

This year I participated in Movember, a fundraising and awareness campaign for prostate cancer. No, I did not grow a moustache :P Instead, I raised money by soliciting donations and organizing a Mo Cupcake bake sale! As soon as I posted this idea on Facebook, people immediately responded with their orders. It was so popular that I had to stop accepting orders 3 days after I initially posted the event! With a whooping 234 cupcakes ordered, I had A LOT to organize. Timing, ingredient requirements, freezer space, pick-ups, etc. It was manageable but I definitely had to stay organized along the way. Overall, the sale went great! I didn't lose my mind baking for an entire day, nor while making 5 kg of buttercream :) All the cupcake orders were picked up last Sunday, without a hitch. I am proud to announce that I raised a total of $598 from Mo Cupcakes!!! Knowing the positive response I got with this fundraiser, I will definitely use my baking skills to raise money for other charitable causes in the future :)

Here are a few pictures of the process!

I had 7 cupcake carriers FULL of cupcakes! 

A portion of the chaos that was pick-up day 

Dark chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and fondant moustaches!