Minnie & Mickey Mouse Cookies

Hope you're having a great week so far! Just wanted to pop in real quick and share some Minnie & Mickey Mouse cookies I made for a 2 year old's birthday party recently!

Up next...some baby shower cookie ideas!

Birthday Cupcakes with Cookies on Top

Happy Monday! Sorry there have been a lack of posts lately...things have been a little hectic these days, but I'm trying to get back into a regular routine of posting again, so please bare with me! I've been doing a lot of baking for customers lately so I've got some fun things to share throughout the week!

First up are some birthday cupcakes topped with sugar cookies and X box fondant toppers. Tracy, one of my loyal customers was the brains behind the idea of cookie toppers for her husband's birthday cupcakes...I mean why not have two sweat treats all in one! Loved this idea, and will definitely be making cookie toppers again!

Red Velvet cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting, topped with white iced sugar cookies and "32" for the birthday age.

Strawberry cupcakes w/ strawberry cream cheese frosting, topped with red iced sugar cookies and "ML" for the birthday boy's initials.

Two special cupcakes were topped with black fondant X box controllers, one of the recipient's favorite hobbies.

When it comes to more masculine designs I sure am glad to have my husband around. I have to give him about 90% of the credit for creating these controllers! I gave him a picture to reference and he went to town molding the shape...pretty good huh! All I did was supervise and make the colored buttons!

Hope you enjoyed this birthday cupcake & cookie collection!
More birthday treats coming soon...

Apple Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

We are getting in the Halloween spirit here at CIS. Several bags of candy has already been purchased...Snickers, Reese Cups, candy corn and one of my all time favorites Caramel Apple Pops! If you haven't tried those green apple lollipops covered in a shell of caramel you are missing out. They are the perfect combination of sour and sweet! In my book apples and caramel go hand in hand this time of year, so I've created a special treat that you are sure to enjoy, Caramel Apple Cupcakes!

If you are planning a Halloween party this year, these Caramel Apple Cupcakes with assorted toppings are a must have on your dessert spread. Hop on over to Half Baked for the recipe! And while you're there check out some of their other adorable ideas for decorating Halloween sweets here, here and here.

Happy October!

Fondant Animal Cupcake Toppers

Lately I've been getting a lot of requests for kid themed birthday or baby shower parties! I must admit these are some of my favorite events to bake and decorate for. There are just so many cute ideas out there and inspiration can come from anywhere, a t-shirt, invitation, toy, fabric, etc. I created these fondant animal cupcake toppers for a boy themed baby shower inspired by the bedding for the nursery. I am thrilled with how the entire collection turned out.

Mr. Elephant...my favorite!

Here's Mr. Monkey! (or a bear according to my husband)

The Lion (or tiger, again according to my husband)

Mr. Giraffe...these are my next favorite!

And finally the Zebra!

I also made monogram "G" toppers for the babies name "Gage".

In addition to chocolate and vanilla cupcakes I made a small carrot cake for the mother-to-be to take home and share with her hubby after the baby shower!

Hope you enjoyed this fondant animal collection!

Superman Cookies

Happy Friday and Happy 1st Day of Fall! Today I'm sharing some SUPER cookies with you...inspired by Superman! A friend contacted me to make some cookies for her son's 1st birthday! The party theme was superheros with the birthday boy being Superman! Instead of the "S" for Superman in the center of each cookie she wanted a "C" for "Chase" the bday boy!

Introducing "Super Chase" cookies! I thought that was such a cute way to capture a theme that everyone would recognize but then personalize the cookies for the sweet birthday boy!

All the guests at the party were encouraged to come dressed as their favorite super hero! I saw the pictures and they were super cute! The mom, dad and birthday boy all dressed up as Superman with capes! I think the birthday boy had one SUPER 1st birthday!

Have a great weekend! On the baking agenda today...a pumpkin streusel cake! Welcome Fall!

Chocolate Cheesecake Turtle Cupcakes

Hey CIS readers...it's been forever since I've posted and I am so so very sorry! Things have been a little hectic lately leaving little to no time for blog updates! I promise I am trying to get back on a regular posting routine so hang tight! I've been baking and decorating some cute sweets lately and can't wait to share them with you soon! In case you didn't see these when they were posted earlier this week on Half Baked...here's my latest creation, Chocolate Cheesecake Turtle Cupcakes! They are super delicious and a nice change from your typical cupcake loaded with buttercream frosting! You are going to love the cheesecake center inside of these chocolate cakes with drizzled chocolate and caramel on top! So head on over to Half Baked for the recipe!

I'm super excited for the first day of fall this week! This is one of my favorite times of year to bake and I'm ready to start making recipes with pumpkin, apples and cinnamon so check back soon!

What are some of your favorite fall recipes?

Waddle it Be? - Gender Reveal Party

This weekend I finally got to reveal a secret I had the privilege of keeping for two weeks now! Another one of my friends is pregnant and asked me to do the honor of making the special cake that would reveal if she was having a boy or girl! Gender reveal parties are definitely a new trend I have seen over the last year as a fun way to get friends and family together and share in the excitement of a baby that is on the way! You may remember last year I got to bake two cakes for a twins gender reveal party!

Jennifer texted me at 15 weeks pregnant saying "I have an envelope in my purse for you that contains the gender of our baby". The next day I drove over to her house, received the secret envelope with the ultrasound and we started planning her gender reveal party! She had come across the theme "Waddle it Be?" from a blog and we both thought that idea was super cute and one that was very unique!

Jennifer's vision for the party was to keep things very neutral in color with yellow and white being the primary focus and adding pops of green! Of course there had to be a dessert table!

I absolutely love what she came up with for the polka dot baby garland backdrop and the dessert table.

She made all of the gorgeous flower arrangements and even hand cut the felt flower embellishments on the vases and wrapped them in twine.

Before it was time to cut the cake and reveal the gender of the baby, guests could munch on lemon squares...

bags of popcorn...

and cake balls that had been tinted both blue and pink inside to keep everyone in suspense.

The secret cake...will it be blue or will it be pink inside?

I have seen so many cute cakes lately with "cake bunting" on top and thought that would be a super cute and simple way to decorate the cake for the big reveal.

Guests were also invited to place their best guess and best wishes in a jar before the big reveal!

Here's the glowing mama to be Jennifer with our friend Andrea, who also helped with a lot of the party decorations and food.

Here's Jennifer and me just before it was time to cut the cake.

The proud parents...Brian and Jennifer! Oh and by the way Brian already knows the gender...apparently he peaked at the ultrasound!

Time to cut the cake....Jennifer was convinced it was a boy!

Love that look of excitement on her face...

Such a happy and SHOCKED mama! It's a GIRL!

There was so much excitement and screaming when the piece of cake was revealed! There are currently 9 boys and only 1 girl grandchild on Jennifer's side of the family so everyone was so excited to know another little girl was on the way!

Jennifer sharing a hug with her mom!

The happy parents!

The ultrasound is finally revealed to Jennifer!

All the guests at the party were encouraged to dress in their best guess...blue or pink. Blue was definitely the majority vote...but they were so very wrong!

Here's the pink group....smaller but smarter!

Congratulations Brian & Jennifer I am so happy for you both and so honored that you allowed me to know the sex of your baby before you! You are going to be amazing parents!