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 :) **

It's Wedding Season!!

When I think about all the summers of days gone by I undoubtedly think about weddings! Big weddings, small weddings, weddings here, weddings there, weddings everywhere!!! Weddings galore... I think one summer my record was 8 weddings... phew! I don't think there is a place in this city that I haven't been for a wedding. Between friends and family I was busy!! And then there was the summer of my own wedding a couple of years ago. Needless to say that was pretty consuming :) And now wedding craziness is all about cupcakes and cookies... I love it!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of providing sweet treats for Elyse and Sean's wedding. Their reception was at the beautiful Niakwa Country Club. Congrats you two!!

Elyse provided the hilarious cake topper and orchid flowers to complete the look!

The great thing about being a teacher is that I can devote my summers to wedding fever! If you are still looking for the perfect treats for your summer event I still have a few weekends left. Shoot me an email - I would love to chat!

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!!

strike a pose!

This past summer...yes, back in August.... I had the extreme pleasure of being a part (well, my creations atleast!) of a fun little photo shoot put on by the wonderful Aimee of Devoted to Decorating. This was the first time we worked together on a photo shoot and it was a blast! The theme was red and purple so of course red velvet cupcakes were in order! This was the first time I have had my goodies professionally photographed and now I wish I had a better camera... haha! They look so yummy!!

A HUGE thanks to:

Photography... Christa Dawn Photography

Flowers... Norwood Florist

Linens... Bel-Ayre Rentals

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!!

congrats kendra and jared!

Last weekend I had the extreme pleasure of being a part of Kendra and Jared's big day. I have known Kendra for about a year now, just after my wedding when she contacted me about cupcakes for her own wedding. She had seen the cupcakes I had made for my wedding and wanted something similar :)

Kendra and Jared's wedding colours were black, white and apple green. She had the black and white stand made and I am IN LOVE!!! How gorgeous is it?!?! If you are worried about cupcakes having as much "presence" as a tiered cake at your wedding this is a perfect example of achieving a "big" look that your guests will notice!

The cupcakes were baked in black liners, with white almond whipped frosting and topped with apple green monogrammed "K" and "J" hearts. The majority of the cupcakes were chocolate for all the chocoholics in the crowd, the rest were vanilla. I love the way they turned out, the perfect combination of classy and fun!!

I have to thank my husband, Gerardo, for helping me with this setup. I am a bit of a(ok...a HUGE) perfectionist when it comes to my cupcakes and he was very meticulous and patient with me!! Thanks so much for all your help!!

Congrats Kendra and Jared!! Now the fun really begins :)

something old, something new...

Sooooo...this much I know is true...I am a HORRIBLE blogger :S Ugghhhhh!!!! Seems like the cupcake life gets away from me sometimes and before I know it I am 3 or 4 (or more) blog entries behind. I suppose that it a sign of booming business so I shouldn't complain! Haha! I am weeks away from the last year of my twenty-somethings so I figured I should make a birthday resolution this year...to keep up with the blogging!!! As for right now I will get caught up :)

First out of the gates are some absolutely adorable bridal shower cupcakes for my friend Jennifer Webber over at Wink Wedding and Event Planning. Jen ordered these cupcakes for her friend Vanessa's celebration. I LOVE monogrammed cupcakes for a personalized touch. The hearts were pretty cute too!

Hope you enjoyed the cupcakes! Congrats Vanessa!!

wedded bliss

I was recently contacted by Dorota, a friend of mine from University, who needed cupcakes for a bridal shower. Her friend, Chelsea, is getting married this summer to Chris and the theme of their wedding is C-squared... SO cute! Their wedding colours are chocolate brown and Birks' blue...beautiful! We decided that brown and blue monogram wafers on top of chocolate buttercream icing would look great and taste absolutely decadent. I think they turned out amazing! I am a huge fan of monogrammed cupcakes...they look really sharp and I love the way they look stacked on a cupcake stand :)






Dorota also asked me to make bride sugar cookies as take-home gifts for the bridal shower guests. The cookies were decorated with a blue flower and brown ribbon to match the wedding colours. This was my first attempt at fancy sugar cookies and I was really very excited with how they turned out. What a great idea for a bridal shower, baby shower, birthday party or any event where a small token of appreciation for your guests is needed. Who doesn't love a delicious sugar cookie?!?!





The cookies were packaged in clear bags and finished with brown, stamped "thank you" tags and a Birks' blue ribbon...

the past, present, future...

...and what a year 2010 was!! I think that last year was quite possibly the craziest year of my life! Gerardo and I bought and moved into a new house, I graduated from University, we got married, I started a new job and began my cupcake adventure! Needless to say our December honeymoon to Mexico was much needed and much deserved!

Definitely the most stressful event of the summer was our wedding. I had a definite vision for my wedding "cake". I , and everyone who knows me, knew that it had to be cupcakes... anything else would just not do! I wanted a cupcake tower with presence that would hold close to 100 cupcakes and a small cake on top (because Gerardo still felt that it was important to have a cake to cut). I designed and made my own cupcake tower after searching high and low for the perfect one and coming up with nothing. The cupcakes were a hit with all of our guests and I had people immediately questioning where they were from. So...the ball started rolling! Because of the wedding I decided to start thinking about a cupcake business more seriously. I was extremely happy with the way the wedding cupcakes turned out and grateful for the opportunities that have come from the most wonderful day of my life. The following photos are from our wedding and courtesy of Moore Photography.

...and yes...the cupcake tower is available for rent!

Happy 2011 everyone! May the new year bring you love, joy, success and patience. We are starting out the year with the addition of a 3 pound, white, furry bundle of joy to our family...wish us luck!