Pretty Peacock Wedding & a *NEW* Cupcake Stand!

I am so excited about this post! Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a part of my friend, and hair stylist extraordinaire, Jackie's big day {oh and her beau, Christian's, too!! Haha!}. I always feel so honoured when friends ask me to bake their wedding treats! Their reception was at the lovely {newly renovated} Viscount Gort.

Jackie and I have been talking about and planning the wedding cupcakes for months. I love that Jackie wanted the cupcakes to be front and center, on display for everyone to enjoy all night long - no pressure to create something awesome! She also had her eye on a beautiful clear stand..... but I did not have a beautiful, clear stand...uh oh! I searched high and low for the perfect stand but kept coming up short. In the end I decided to purchase a new stand and couldn't be happier! Not only does it look amazing, it has presence. 8 tiers and 200 cupcakes later we had the perfect reception centerpiece!

Jackie chose peacock colours - teal, greens and purples - as accent colours for her decor. The real peacock feather on the side of her cutting cake perfectly tied in with the tall peacock feather table centerpieces. 

I also LOVE the black liners used to bake the cupcakes in. Because the cupcakes were two different flavours  {chocolate and cookies & cream} The black liners created a more unified look. Super classy and polished! Not to mention way more cost effective than paper cupcake wrappers :)

Congratulations Jackie and Christian!! Wishing you much happiness and joy in the years ahead! Thanks again for letting me be a part of your big day :)

** My new, beautiful stand is available to rent! It holds up to 200 cupcakes and can be down-sized to accommodate smaller numbers :) **

Red, White ... & ... Blue, eh?!!

** AND GETTING BACK INTO ROUTINES** 

HOLY MOLY... it's been awhile!! I've missed you :( Considering my last post was in May I've been a little... err... absent. Blame it on end of school year festivities and then summer laziness! I don't know about other teachers but I think my calendar year runs from September to August! July and August are all about turning it off and September brings new energy and excitement. What better time to get back to a blogging routine as well!

Despite popular belief (cough, cough, choke, choke) I have been quite busy over the summer. And I have a lot to share! My mom will be very happy about this as she has gently reminded me a few times that my blog was in need of a little TLC :)

On to the goods...

In June I was contacted by the lovely Karen who was looking for cookies and cupcakes for a very important corporate event she was planning at the beautiful Fort Gibralter. The order was huge - the largest I`ve done to date - at 650 pieces! I was thrilled to get the opportunity to see what my little kitchen could do!! My mom, sister and even the hubby graciously volunteered to put in a couple of long nights - thank you to them!

The theme of the event was a little Canadian pride mixed with the company`s famous blue colour. A few months back I purchased an edible image printer (more on that to come soon!) and it worked wonders to add the logo to the sweets.

Each cupcake was adorned with a small cookie bearing the event logo... the best of both worlds!

And each guest left with a cookie favour - a round sugar cookie with the event logo,

trimmed in sparkly, gold sugar. Aren`t cookie favours the best?! ;)

A huge thanks to Karen for letting me be a small part of your event! 

An All-Inclusive Celebration

Although the weather has been unusually beautiful for this time of year on the good 'ol prairies there is just something about Spring Break that has me longing for a hot, all-inclusive getaway. I actually long for a hot, all-inclusive vacation approximately 295 days of the year, but who's counting?! Regardless, here I am, stuck in landlocked Winnipeg this week, catching up on some reading and getting the oil changed in my car... jealous? Ha!

All of this all-inclusive business makes me think about indulgence and that makes me think about the triple threat... cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Annnndddd.... a couple of weekends ago I made all 3 goodies for a double-y delicious 1st birthday celebration. An obvious, yet clever, segway if I do say so myself! See how it all comes together in my head ;)

The story of this 1st birthday celebration is a pretty cool one. My friend Kelly had her son, Makai, a year ago. Her sister was pregnant at the same time with her son, Kian. The two boys were born just days apart and so the joint birthday party madness began!

Kelly contacted me about making cupcakes, 2 cakes (one for each birthday boy) and favour cookies for the party. They had chosen a space theme and requested star cupcakes, rocketship cakes and #1 cookies. And so the all-inclusive {Sweets 'n Sprinkles style} birthday party madness began!

The cupcakes and cookies....

...and my absolute favourite cookies that I've ever made EVER!!!

Warning - I took a lot of pictures of these cookies! They were so cute and I was excited!!

Please bear with me :)

I never miss an opportunity to put a monogram {or 2} on anything!

All packed up and ready to go! How cute is this?!

A table full of cookies at the door for party goers to grab on their way out!

I am such a huge fan of the cookie party favour! Who doesn't like to get a delicious sugar cookie to take home {or eat in the car on the way home.... or maybe that's just me}?!

Check out the cupcakes I made for Kelly's baby shower when Makai was just a babe here.

For those of us "lucky" enough to stay in the 'Peg for Spring Break a triple c all-inclusive party might be just the cure for all this vacay-envy going on right now!

Just checked the weather forecast for the week...snow....awesome...

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street... and how to be a little less forgetful perhaps?!

Some days, s{tuff} happens...

{thank you Forrest Gump}

This was one of those days.

Generally, my plan is to always set up my cupcakes at the venue of the event they are for. I know that my clients appreciate it greatly but, if I'm being completely honest, it's mostly because I'm a wee bit of a control freak {or "detail oriented" as my mom so lovingly refers to it ;)}! Please note: this is in no way intended to be a slight against anyone's abilities to put some cupcakes on a stand. It's just a thing I have... its incurable. Trust me, I've tried.

Anyways, on the morning of Landon's birthday party I had a commitment that I just couldn't get out of and had to drop everything off beforehand. Of course it wasn't until I arrived that I realized my error. I hadn't taken any pictures of the cupcakes or the cake. Not.One.Single.Picture.

For a blog lovin', picture sharing kinda girl like me that is just about as close to the end of the world as it is gets.

Luckily Landon's lovely mom, Elaine, was kind enough to send me a couple of snaps she took and all was not lost. Thank you for saving the day Elaine!!

I have to say that I LOVE the cake on top of the stand and cupcakes below. It is the best of both worlds!

Aren't they cute?!

Note to self... pictures are important in this business!

One more week until Spring Break!! Hopefully my brain comes back...

I do... do you?

It's March... officially the time of year when wedding fever strikes and all those summer brides start to think about cake. Mmmm... cake... or, in this case, cupcakes! When I was planning my wedding it was a whole lot of hurry up and slow down. I seem to remember spring as a "hurry up" time. The final push to get everything booked before the other August brides! Must.Be.First. It's a battlefield out there...

To honour the fifth, and craziest season of all {wedding season} I share with you Unity and Sean's delectable display of red deliciousness! I have to say that I {heart} a red velvet cupcake for many reasons. First of all, taste. Easy. Second of all, beauty. They just look pretty all lined up against a white cupcake stand! Unity and Sean`s wedding colours were red and silver so there really was no other option ;)

The cupcakes were topped with buttercream icing swirled to look like a rose. Very pretty and elegant. It is a little hard to tell in the picture but I also sprayed the cupakes with pearl Colour Mist to give them a little shimmer. I forsee myself using A LOT of this stuff in the future... better invest in some stock!

And lastly, the cutting cake to complete the look. I also swirled icing on the sides to look like roses. I first saw this technique HERE and really liked the way it looked. Smaller roses on the side would have also been pretty. Next time! 

Congrats Unity and Sean! I really enjoyed working with you {and Mom too!}.

Cue the sigh of relief that only comes after the wedding day is over....

congrats christina & chris!!

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of creating cupcakes for Christina and Chris' wedding. Truly, the best part of my baking adventure is meeting new people... Christina was a delight to get to know!! I love sitting down with brides and discussing all things wedding... brings me back to my own day of {super stressful!} wedded bliss. The set up for this wedding was particularly enjoyable - their reception venue was a quick 5 minute drive from my house and the hubby helped out! It is always way more fun with two {although my slight perfectionism sometimes gets in the way ;)}. I hope I wasn't too annoying!! Ha!

Christina and Chris' cupcakes were vanilla and chocolate with almond icing. Their "cutting" cake was red velvet with almond icing and fondant.

Congratulations Christina and Chris!! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your special day!

...and this is what happens when the hubby ventures into the kitchen... :s

Good thing they were extras!!

fondant stamping 101

I created these cupcakes for Aimee for an engagement party a couple months back. I can't believe that I am only getting these pictures up now! I suppose there is something to be said for being so busy that the blog gets neglected!! Haha!! Regardless, here they are now...better late than never!

I made the decorations by stamping the couples initials onto fondant hearts with food colouring. It was a bit tricky to find the right amount of food colouring to get the look I was after. But, after a few tries, some failed attempts and a bit of a learning curve I think they turned out really nice. The cupcakes themselves were lemon and strawberry with buttercream icing - delicious!

I hope you enjoyed them Aimee!

feelin' a little blue

Check out this super duper cool effect!!! I think I'm in love! These cupcakes were made for Navi, a dream customer! Navi tells me how many cupcakes she needs and what flavour she wants and the rest is up to me :) Last week I went for blue on blue swirl and it turned out super cool! To achieve this effect you simply paint the sides of the piping bag with a food colouring of your choice, fill the bag with icing and pipe away. A word of caution though...the first few cupcakes will have quite a bit of colouring. Its best to squeeze out a little bit before attacking the cupcakes. Hopefully Navi didn't have too many blue lips on her hands!

I hope you enjoyed your blue cupcakes Navi!

gnome sweet gnome

Good morning and happy September! Where has the summer gone?! Only 2 more sleeps until school starts and I can't wait to meet my new little bunch of cuties :)

I'll start off this morning's post with some cupcakes and a cake for a one year old cutie! A few weeks ago Carson turned one and his mom, Tristan, requested these adorable gnome, toadstool and owl cupcakes. She was inspired by a pack of stickers for the theme of his birthday and I love it! I was inspired by my new favourite blog (did I mention that in my last blog?! Haha!), Fairytale Frosting, where I saw some super adorable gnome cupcakes. Tristan also requested a small owl cake for Carson to have all to himself...I can just imagine the fun he had digging into it!!

Carson's cupcakes were red velvet with green grass buttercream icing. His cake was chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!!! Chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream. Perfect for the token one-year-old-cake-all-over-the-baby photo op!!

Happy first Birthday Carson!!! I hope you enjoyed your cake :) Thanks Tristan!







...and the little owl cake for the birthday boy...

flower power

These cupcakes were created for a client of a new friend, Aimee. The fabulous Aimee, event designer extraordinaire, is the owner of Devoted to Decorating. Check out her website here (its a work in progress so check back often!). I met Aimee this summer when she contacted me about sweet treats for her events. I won her over with cupcakes (of course!!). We have a few creative ventures coming up including a super cool wedding photo shoot at the end of the month. Stay tuned for that!

These cupcakes were lemon (a new, even more delicious recipe!) with vanilla buttercream icing. The only instruction I had for these cupcake was "flower garden theme" so I hope they were a hit! I love full creative license!!

Thanks Aimee!!

congrats rachel and miles!!

Last weekend was Rachel and Miles' big day! The weather was great and it was a perfect day for a wedding :) I set up at their venue later in the afternoon and it was great to see so many of their friends and family pitching in to get things just right!

Rachel and Miles' wedding colours were light pink and white so they decided on vanilla cupcakes, half with white vanilla whipped icing and half with pink vanilla buttercream icing. They were topped off with tiny pink and white candy pearls. The tower was the same one I used at my wedding (available for rent!) with pink ribbon. My favourite part of setting up at weddings is when I hear people around me talking about how good the cupcakes smell! They definitely fill the venue with a sweet and delicious smell!!

Congrats Rachel and Miles! I hope you enjoyed your day and the cupcakes!!