Penguins Cupcakes!

My father-in-law attends a Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey party every year and this year he asked me if I could make some fun cupcakes for him to take along! Obviously loving the Pen's (and my F-I-L of course!) I said absolutely. I made two flavors- Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Amaretto Buttercream and Coconut Cake with Lime Rum Buttercream. Very delicious. Brandon helped me pick out some of the most well known Mike Lange quotes (not being from Pittsburgh, I find them very fascinating and odd...) so that's what's written on the little white plaques. "He doesn't know whether to cry or wind his watch!", "Get in the fast lane Grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll", "Lord Stanley Lord Stanley bring him the Brandy!" just to name a few. I painted the old school pen's logo with food coloring and then decorated all the mini's with sprinkles. I don't know why but I'm just loving mini cupcakes with sprinkles lately, so cute!

LET'S GO PENS!

DMS Cookies for Spirit Day!

It was homecoming today at Dorseyville Middle School in Fox Chapel where I student teach so I made my home base kids cookies. Yum!

Twilight Cookies

I was excited to make these Twilight cookies as party favors for a girl's birthday party after having such a good time making the Twilight cupcakes I did for my cousin Sarah's birthday a little while ago. The black, white and red is pretty classic and who doesn't love Twilight?! ;)

Catered Wedding Desserts

I had a wonderful experience making wedding desserts for a lady named Marlene who got married this past Friday/Saturday. What a beautiful fall weekend for such a happy event! She was having a Tuscan themed reception so the desserts were done with Italy in mind. On the menu: Italian Wedding cookies, Lemon Ricotta Cookies, Powder Sugared Pizzelles, Chocolate Hazelnut drop Biscotti Cookies, Amaretti Cookies, Honey Hazelnut Tart, and Mini Chocolate Truffle Cups. I had one extra Truffle cup to taste test- Yum!

The pictures I have are of a mock up display I set out before I delivered the desserts. I didn't get a chance to see them set up at the reception, but if I get any photos I will post an update later.

Special thanks to my two wonderful assistants (Mom and brother Eric!) for helping me pull everything together. You both are awesome!

Business Card Picture?

I've been wanting to make some new business cards but can never decide on a good photo for the backs.... this picture was taken by my awesome brother Eric who got an amazing new camera not too long ago. It could work .. ? Yes? No?

Lilly's Baptism Desserts

I finally got to pull out all the awesome serve ware presents from our wedding! I've been dying to use all the platters and cake plates etc. and fill them up with desserts :) There are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream or chocolate ganache, chocolate honey almond tart, fruit salad, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and the beautiful chocolate cross cake (decorated by my Dad! Can you believe it? He has awesome dotting skills when it comes to cake decorating).

1 Tired Mommy + 1 Cranky 5 Month Old + 1 Bottle of Wine....

Equals these crazy cookies for my husbands birthday. My little brother Sammy, my Mom, and even Brandon helped make some of them! (At 11:30 at night haha). Always a good time!

1st Sheet Cake Experience...

Made this full sheet cake for a graduate of Shaler High School who is going to College at Duquesne University in the fall. The cake had to be baked in pieces (home oven's don't accommodate full sheets) so it was interesting. The cake is chocolate chocolate chip with vanilla buttercream. It was surprisingly challenging to make a cake without fondant and even more challenging dealing with the humidity- caused my buttercream to separate and do weird things. It still tasted good though!

A Very Special Baby Shower Cake

Our good friends Hilary and Alan are expecting a little baby boy in July and I was honored to get to make her Baby Shower cake this past Sunday. The cake itself was an awesome vanilla bean (tinted blue in honor of baby Kyes!) with pastel yellow vanilla bean butter cream. I'm a chocolate girl myself but the cake was delicious! I'm normally not around when my cakes are cut or eaten so this was certainly fun. Her shower was beautiful and everyone had a great time. We can't wait to meet your precious boy Alan and Hil, only a few months left, enjoy them!

Casey's Going Away Party

I decorated this cake for my brother in law, Casey, who will be leaving for the Special Forces (Army) on June 22nd. (Cake says "Good Luck Casey!" -with a paw print for Champ, his dog). Everyone is so proud of Casey but will miss him so much while he's gone! Especially his new little neice, Lilly! All our love and luck to you Casey!

Shoppoholic Birthday Cake

My friend Steph wanted a birthday cake for her sister who loves to shop so I came up with this :) First time making gift cards and shopping bags and it was alot of fun! There's a Coach shoe box, Juicy Couture shopping bag, receipt, Macy's shopping bag, Tiffany & Co. gift box, Starbucks gift card, Gap gift card, Victoria's Secret PINK gift card, PNC bank card and some colorful candy to top it all off. Makes me want to go shopping!!

Bridal Shower Cake Toppers

Loved this idea a returning client, Kristina, asked me to make for a bridal shower: a wedding dress and matching bridesmaid dress cake toppers to go on a cake provided by the venue (venue did not allow outside cakes but ok-ed the toppers). They are 100% edible and I thought they were really cute! Kristina sent me pictures of the brides dress and the bridesmaid dresses so I detailed the toppers to match. Thanks Kristina! Love making cakes for you.

4th Birthday Cake: Dinosaur Train

One of my favorite cakes yet! The inside is vanilla cake with vanilla bean buttercream. The birthday boy's favorite show is a new one called "Dinosaur Train" and those are his two favorite characters- Tiny and Buddy (or is it Shiny?). The show looks really cute, I'll have to keep it in mind for miss Lilly. I have to share this little jingle though. It's really cute and indirectly addresses adoption, and acceptance. I need to find an episode and watch it for myself.

Once upon a time, there was a mom,
Her name was Mrs. Pteranadon.
Sitting in her nest, she heard a scratching
And said, “Oh boy! My eggs are hatching!”
One by one, her kids popped free,
Baby pteranodons one, two, three.
“I’ll name them Tiny, Shiny, and Don.”
But Tiny said, “Wait! There’s one more Mom.”
The last little baby was a different size
With teeth and a tail and big green eyes.
He didn’t look anything like the rest.
“What am I doing in a pteranodon nest?”
But dear old Mrs. Pteranodon said,
“This is your family, and I’m your mom.
You may different, but we’re all creatures.
All dinosaurs have different features.
Come on Buddy, we’ll take a vacation.
I’ll get us a ticket at Pteranodon Station.
We’ll travel the world in sunshine and rain
And meet all the species on the
Dinosaur Train!”

Kristina and Adam's Engagement Party Cake

I made a cake this past weekend for a wonderful girl name Kristina and her fiance Adam. She had a fun idea to start with and the cake came out wondefully! The ring she gave me to use is originally intended as a novelty napkin ring but it worked perfectly in her cake. The inside was vanilla bean cake with vanilla bean frosting. Delicious. I have to share a very sweet note she wrote me after her party:

"Hi Jacqueline,
I just wanted to say thank you so so much for making our engagement party cake, it turned out fabulous and we really couldn't have been happier. We got soooo many compliments on the cake (both on how it looked and tasted). My wedding isn't until next May and the venue provides us with a wedding cake- but I will absolutely be in touch with you to make all of the cakes I need for any other occasion
(birthdays, bridal shower, etc)! You are extreamly talented and should be very proud of your work.
Thanks again,
Kristina & Adam"

Salted Chocolate Truffles

Not the greatest picture ever, but these were so good! The salt with the dark chocolate was amazing. I think they were slightly too chocolatey for Brandon (if that's even possible), but for a true chocoholic like myself they were absolutely perfect.