Birthday & Ironman Cupcakes

Here are some birthday and Ironman cupcakes I made for my friends Heather and Katie this week! Not only was it Heather's bday but today, right this very moment she is competing in an IRONMAN event. For those of you that don't know what this is, it's a triathlon...a very long triathlon of 2.4 mile SWIM, 112 mile BIKE and 26.2 mile RUN! I am so excited for Heather, she has been training for months now to endure the challenge of 140.6 miles...I can't even imagine what this would feel like. I know what my body has felt like after running just 26.2 miles in a marathon and it is tired and sore and ready to rest! Imagine taking on a marathon after already swimming and biking...this is truly the test of pure endurance and heart! Heather you are amazing and I know you are going to do awesome!

These are Katie's bday cupcakes, she turned the big 30! We met at her house for a surprise party after her boyfriend took her to a nice dinner! She was super surprised!


Heather I'm sending good vibes your way. You are going to be an IRONWOMAN today! So proud of you!

Cupcake a Week: Miette Patisserie, San Francisco

Hello friends! I'm back! I feel like I have left you all hanging in what has been a hectic whirlwind October with so little baking...which I am not happy about! I have been traveling for 12 days straight, to Chicago, Cincinnati and San Francisco with hotel stays, multiple airport layovers and delayed flights in between...so sadly that means my Kitchen Aid mixer and oven have been deprived of sugar and butter.

Although I had so much fun on all my travels I sure am happy to be back at home in Mobile for awhile now! So much has been going on and I promise to post some updates and photos of my recent trips over the next few days! Unfortunately minimal baking has occurred this month, but I promise to completely make up for that this weekend and hope to have some new fun fall recipes for you next week. I can guarantee they will probably include some pumpkin, my favorite baking ingredient this time of year!

So now that you know what's been going on with me, its time to get on with more important things...cupcakes! While in San Francisco last weekend for the Nike Women's Marathon I found a charming little pastry shop, Miette Patisserie at the Ferry Building in downtown.

There were so many gorgeous sweets to look at, I just couldn't make up my mind what to buy, but when it was all said and done, of course I went for some cupcakes!

I got two cupcakes and check out the adorable package they came in!

I decided on the Old Fashioned, a chocolate cupcake with a marshmallow meringue and a Carrot Cake cupcake. They were both fabulous! I loved the Old Fashioned because the frosting was so light and fluffy, it paired so well with the moist chocolate cake.

A peak inside the display case. Those little chocolate pies looked delish...I'm kicking myself now for not getting one!

A beautiful assortment of mini cakes and jars full of macarons.

These gorgeous chocolate wafers are what first caught my eye and brought me into the pastry shop. I absolutely love the way these are packaged!

So if you live in San Francisco or are heading out there soon, be sure to check out Miette at the Ferry Building it is so worth it!

Check back soon for more of my time spent in San Fran!

Cupcake a Week: Sprinkles

The moment I have been waiting for a very long time finally arrived this week...I got to visit a Sprinkles Cupcakes shop! The original Sprinkles is in Beverly Hills, CA but lucky for me this shop in Chicago opened just a few months ago and I was there this past weekend for the Chicago Marathon.

I am absolutely in love with the building! How cute are all those multi-colored cupcake sprinkles!

Peeking through the window, I'm about to step inside to cupcake heaven....

The sweet smell of sugar definitely greets you as you enter the shop. There were 12 flavors to choose from and I just couldn't make up my mind. So I paced in front of the counter for literally about 10 minutes as customers continued to walk in and out ordering cupcakes. I wanted to try them all!

So many great flavor combinations, so I decided what the heck I don't know when the next time I will get to visit a Sprinkles shop is so I'll order a dozen!

Here's their signature and most famous cupcake, red velvet.

The next most popular flavor (and my personal favorite) the black & white

And you can't go wrong with good ole vanilla

Here's a picture of me and my friend Jennifer...this cupcake shop is literally right around the corner from her condo. If I lived so close, I think I would be visiting here every day!

I just love the decor throughout the shop and all the fun colors!

Super cute custom made cupcake tiers and colored trays.

And in case you wanted to bake your own Sprinkles Cupcakes they sell mixes in all their flavors! YUM!

Here's the seasonal flavor, Caramel Apple...Oh my goodness this was amazing! The cake was so moist and delicious and the caramel frosting was unlike anything I have ever tasted!

The cutest single serving cupcake box ever!

A look from inside the shop out to the street.

Their counter seating area was all decked out for Halloween and perfect place for people watching!

Some of the sweet Sprinkles cupcake girls behind the counter! They let me take a zillion photos of the shop and helped pack up all my cupcakes for my flight home! They really know how to package some cupcakes for safe travels!

I just love the Sprinkles logo...this was the cutout shape on their frosted glass door. And when the door is closed you see the "Sprinkles cupcakes" logo from the glass panel of the cupcake counter through the hole in the door...this is just genius!

I am one happy girl with my dozen cupcakes! Visiting Sprinkles was the highlight of my entire weekend in Chicago!

Here's a peak at their daily cupcake flavors. The way they created their 2-color signature circle sprinkles to garnish the tops of their cupcakes was such a clever idea!

Not only were my cupcakes packed safely inside of 6-compartment boxes, but they were even placed inside of ziploc bags to ensure the freshest cupcakes while I traveled!

These cupcakes walked the streets of Chicago, rode in a taxi, rode the L-train, traveled through the airport and flew on a plain tucked safely beneath the seat in front of me and still arrived safely home 10 hours later as beautiful as they were when I bought them!

I can't take it any longer I am ready to sample. I ended up getting a dozen cupcakes, with 9 flavors total (I doubled up on 3 flavors).

So here's the run down of the cupcakes you see here from top left to right and row by row.

Top Row: Red Velvet, Vanilla, Carrot, Cinnamon Sugar
Middle Row: Black & White, Chocolate Marshmallow, Caramel Apple, Vanilla Milk Chocolate
Bottom Row: Red Velvet, Vanilla, Banana, Vanilla Milk Chocolate

The moment I got home from the airport the cupcake tasting began around 10PM with me and my mom tasting every flavor one by one! I have to say my favorites were the banana, black and white and caramel apple. But honestly no matter what flavor you pick you can't go wrong with a Sprinkles cupcake!

Have you ever been to a Sprinkles Cupcakes shop? If so which location and what's your favorite flavor?

Cupcake a Week: Purple & Green

Here's a batch of special "purple & green" cupcakes I made this week for our Team in Training marathon send off party. Our runners are heading to the Chicago Marathon this weekend, and the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco next weekend! I think after 5 months of training at 4:00AM on Saturday mornings in the brutal heat of Mobile, running 12, 14, 16 and even 20 miles calls for a celebration...and cupcakes were definitely present at the party!

And of course they were all decked out in some purple & green cupcake toppers!

For those of you that are new to my blog, you may not know about Team in Training or my involvement as a marathon coach. But it is truly one of the greatest organizations I have ever been a part of that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society while at the same time training for a half marathon or marathon! It's definitely a challenge both mentally and physically but the rewards are so worth it to know that you are helping to make a difference in the lives of those suffering from blood cancers!

It seems like only yesterday we were kicking off the training season with the Nike Preview Party and now it is almost race day. I'm so excited to be the proud coach to cheer all 34 participants across the finish lines of the upcoming races!

So this weekend I'll be in Chicago coaching the marathon on 10/10/10...how cool is that! Then next weekend I'll be in San Fran running the Nike Women's Half Marathon and cheering our participants to the finish! You can be sure while I'm traveling through these two cities cupcakes will be on my mind. I'm on the hunt to find the best local cupcake shops so I can share them with you!

Here's a sneak peak inside the goody bags I gave all our participants last night to prepare them for their race weekend:

(For those of you that are marathoners you probably know the importance of this stuff...for those of you that aren't I don't mean to bore you with this runners jargon)

- a pack of tissue (you never know when the portolets will run out of toilet paper on the marathon course)
- a Ghiradelli chocolate (after all they will be handing these out along the race course in San Fran)
- jolly ranchers (for something different to suck on after you have reached your limit of GUs for some extra fuel to get you through the race)
- a pony tail holder (always good to have a back up)
- halloween bandaids (incase of blisters after 13.1 or 26.2 miles)
- Fall Mix (the best candy combo ever)

Can't wait to report back next week with marathon and cupcake updates!

Another wedding cake in my future?

Have you seen this picture of Hillary Duff's wedding cake? This is definitely not your typical wedding cake covered in buttercream frosting or fondant and elaborately garnished with ornate stencils, sugar work or intricate details, but it still definitely screams "wedding" by the sheer height of the cake.

Photo courtesy of modernwedding.org

I don't know about you but I kind of like the vibe this cake gives off. It's simple and rustic and a new twist on the traditional tiered cake with it's minimal decoration. For all you icing lovers, this cake may not be your cup of tea, but I'm not one for excess icing so this would be perfect for my taste. And as a new cake decorator the stress of making sure the icing is perfectly smooth on the outside of the cake is completely eliminated!

This week was the first time I had seen this cake, when my friend Kelly sent me a picture of it asking if I could make this for her wedding next May! I haven't fully committed to the challenge yet, as my standard cake seems to be a 3 layer 8", or maybe a 6" round on top of that if I'm feeling really gusty. So let's just say I've got some cake baking and stacking practice ahead of me over these next few months to feel confident I can pull off a cake of this caliber!

So what do you think about this cake? Is this cake your style or not? Just enough icing or not even close to enough icing? Do you think I'm capable of replicating this cake?

The bride-to-be has requested carrot cake with cream cheese frosting so if you have any great carrot cake recipes you'd be willing to share I'd love to try them! I'm on the hunt to finding that perfect recipe for her special day!

Cupcake a Week: Pumpkin Skewers

Happy October 1st! I can't believe it's already time to start thinking about pumpkin flavored sweets, Halloween costumes and the crazy amounts of candy that comes along with this month!

To start the month off right I'm excited to share with you another cupcake skewer idea I submitted to the Pizzazzerie contest last week! The winner has been chosen, and although my skewers didn't win, both my Cute as a Button and this Pumpkin Skewer idea were featured on the Pizzazzerie site! Be sure to check out some of the other great submissions over on their website for some Halloween and everyday cupcake skewer inspiration. I was so excited when I saw pictures of my cupcake creations!

For this round of cupcake skewers I made a batch of pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Then decorated the tops with a signature Fall pumpkin candy! These make cute mini cupcakes, but to make the actual cupcake skewer, before decorating there is an extra step you need to do first. So, as promised from last week's cupcake skewer post, I'm going to show you step-by-step how to put your mini cake on a stick!

First make a batch of mini cupcakes and remove the paper liners. Use a circle cutter that is slightly smaller than the width of your cupcake and press through the center of the cake.

Remove the excess cake from around the edges.

You are now left with a uniform round cupcake shape. Cutting the cupcakes with a small circle cutter ensures that all cupcakes are the same size and removes some of the weight of the cake so it sticks on the skewer better. Trust me, I learned this the hard way by first placing the entire mini cupcake on the skewer, the cake was too heavy and flimsy and the skewer poked right through the top of the cupcake. This was bad, very very bad!

Then add a dollop of icing on top.

Add a pumpkin candy for decoration! This just screams fall to me! These are cute enough to eat, even without the skewer!

Place a wooden skewer in the base of the cupcake and viola!

Since candy corns are a staple candy at pretty much every house around Halloween I thought it would be a fun idea to include it in the presentation for these cupcake skewers. By simply using a glass jar, filling it with candy corn and tying a coordinating ribbon around the outside you have a super cute, easy, affordable and festive DIY display for any Halloween dessert table or party center piece.

I'm looking forward to sharing more fun fall and Halloween treats with you! If you have any exciting baking projects lined up for October I'd love to hear about them!

Happy October!