Thanks Cara

  11-30-10

  Well tomorrow is December.  One month left to 2011.  Where did the year go?

  After bringing the blueberry orange cupcakes to work, Cara another coworker, ordered some for the kids at her daycare & their parents.  Again I struggled to get a "strong" blueberry flavor.  I guess the orange is always going to overpower the blueberry flavor since it's such a strong flavor.  I mean really, look at all the household cleaners that use orange or citrus in them.  You NEVER see cleaners in blueberry do ya huh?  I did get the blue darker though....can you say blue food gel.  I asked Cara if I could put little chocolate footballs on top since these were originally made for the Chicago Bears.  I'm still working on getting specific sports teams but it's hard to find when it involves "licensed" items.  NFL, NBA, LOONEY TOONS, etc., will be a challenge if at all possible!?  So here they are for all you Chicago Bears fans....

Since I wasn't filling these cupcakes and I like tall / big cupcakes,
I made some baby cupcakes first.

You wouldn't know it was so tiny from this shot.
It looks like a regular sized cupcake but .....

 It's actually teeny tiny.

I iced the tiny cupcake so it would stay firm on top of the regular one.
The key to making this step successful isn't so much about attaching
the other cupcake but REMOVING THE LINER  

Now for round 1.

I didn't take shots of every round of icing piped.
I figured it was already seen in the previous post.

Now to "kick it off" with a chocolate football

I would have prefered a 3D football topper but they haven't arrived yet in the last order I placed.

And here's the whole gang.

 What a team huh?  

 If you look really close at the tip of the football on the right you can see a little speck of peanut.
I made half plain & half peanut.

Thank you berry much Cara
orange you the greatest.
I know it was stupid ...
GO BEARS .....  

Chicago Bears fan

11-25-10 
  Happy Thanksgiving...one and all.  
I'm not a big sports fan but I have been a "sports hostage" in previous relationships so I do know a little something about basketball and football.  Lee, a coworker of mine, and I had been talking a while back about doing some cupcakes in a Chicago Bears design.  Instead of just doing regular cupcakes in blue and orange, like I did for the Greeen Bay Packers, I wanted to also add different flavors as well.  So I thought what would blue & orange flavors taste like...blueberries & orange.  I kept promising to make these cupcakes for months but I just couldn't figure out how to make blueberry cupcakes without them tasting like muffins.  Then I decided why not orange cupcakes instead?  Then it was time for the icing....blueberry.  I added the coloring and it was too light.  Then I added the blueberries and realized blueberries are more purple than blue.  I kept tasting the blueberry icing and it just didn't seem to have enough blueberry flavor.  The orange, in my opinion, seemed to over power the blueberry flavor. 
  I didn't want to keep adding blueberries to the icing because I was afraid eventually I wouldn't be able to pipe the icing through the bag.  So in order to get a stronger blueberry taste, I filled the middle with a blueberry filling.  Then off to work I went to give them to my "taste testers".



First the blueberry filling



Then to cap it off

Now to seal the top down and keep the filling inside.
The orange icing had the perfect orange taste & color.

Round 1 of the blueberry icing.
You can see a little blueberry trying to sneak out on the right side.
Every so often I had to remove a whole blueberry in order
to continue piping the design.

Then for the 2nd round of blueberry & orange rings.
Topped off with what else..... a blueberry

One big happy family.

You can see blueberries trying to peek out of the icing

Here's to you Nick

11-24-10 
  So my little brother woke me up early this morning 2:15am.  I decided since I was getting up at 3:00 that I might as well get up.  As usual I checked my emails and then I thought I could do a quick little post for the day.
  I mentioned that the next time I made the Cakebites that I was going to use baby M&Ms because I don't like sprinkles.  Sprinkles are cute but they're actually nothing but colored tasteless WAX.  After bringing in samples last week of Cakebites and Maple truffles, Nick wanted a dozen, 6 of each.  This time I got to make the ones with the baby M&Ms because I had some extra after making Latissa & Dominique's orders.  I threw in an extra Cakebite topped with the mini chocolate chips since I wasn't sure which one of the 3 types Nick had eaten.

I guess maybe I should've made Nick 3 extras
for a perfect fit and camera shot huh?

So so so much better than sprinkles!

The end....told ya it was going to be quick

 

A Real Sweetheart

11-23-10  
  Ok I know I've done a couple of the chocolate heart boxes filled with M&Ms in past posts but every time a do one it's been a little different each time.  This one may have looked similar to the chocolate toffee one I did but I actually molded this one in peanuts & chocolate.  It sort of tasted like a Mr Goodbar because I chopped up the peanuts.  I also added some HUGS "O" and KISSES "X" done in cookies & cream for that extra special sweetheart touch.  I have to say though that you would think every time I make a chocolate heart that it would get easier and easier but not so with this one.  I was getting super frustrated at how long it was taking me to make this one because I had to remelt and remold this one 5 times.  Yes I said 5 times.  I kept having trouble getting it to come out of the mold and then it would break!!!  But I finally got the 5th one to cooperate and Dominique I'm so glad you loved it (from what I heard).  Knowing somebody really likes what I make, makes me happy.  I may not be in business "yet" but I like to treat my customers like I would want to be treated.  I hope your girl knows how special she is to you because this heart wasn't for any special occasion other than to show her you love her.  See hearts aren't just for Valentine's day but they're for every day.
  

I know it looks just like the toffee one.

But look at the bottom ... it's all chopped peanuts.

Yes, gotta love the baby M&Ms

Ok, other than the chocolate being different...
this one had the cookies & cream hugs & kisses.

Just trying some different arrangements.

I actually didn't place the Xs & Os in any of these arrangements if you look in the heart.

Oh so sweet.
I can just see Dominique feeding these little hugs & kisses to his girl.

And while he's feeding the hugs & kisses to her
I could also see him feeding her little baby M&Ms too.
I know I need to stop.

Ok...ready to go.

And don't forget the lid ... I mean lids.

This one had pink and clear stones added to the box. 
The 1st one didn't have any
and the 2nd one only had pink.



I thought it showed up better on a black background.
THE END
SWEET DREAMS
DOMINIQUE
  



Happy Birthday Edward

11-22-10EDWARD
  So many little birthdays this week.  I think we need to get all these little people together and make it one big party. 
  So...Sir Edward is a great big 7 now and Mom (Latissa) wanted something special for the little man in her life.  Creating things for little girls is easy but it's a bit harder coming up with stuff for the guys....regardless whether they're younger or older.  I'm getting better at it though.  For Edward I had it covered.  I had already purchased a chocolate mold of a gym shoe so I was ready to run with it...yes pun intended.  When Latissa asked for something made with cookies & cream I knew just what to make...a cookies & cream gym shoe.  I was going to be making another baby M&M filled heart for another coworker and so we decided to fill the gym shoe with baby M&Ms as well.  It was a challenge but I think I pulled it off.  The seams weren't as smooth as I would have liked but it's almost impossible to get a seam not to show.  Molding the chocolate in cookies & cream made it even harder because when there are other ingredients in the chocolate like toffee, cookies or nuts then the seams can't be smoothed out.  What the heck......it's just going to be chomped down anyway.....
  So here it is and don't ask me what size shoe it was or ask me where the other shoe is 



A pair of half shoes? 
I guess this would be considered "a half priced pair of shoe"



Talk about a hole in your shoe!





So would you consider this a "pair" of shoe or shoes?



I think this gives a whole new meaning to "open toe shoes"



There was a reason why I put the hole on top of the shoe
instead of at the bottom where it wouldn't be as noticeable.

Look it's a toe... no it's a wart... no it's a baby M&M 

                                         

                                 I interrupted myself when the M&Ms started to spill out. 

                                 I was going to say that I thought a video would be better than

                                 pictures for this stage of making the M&M filled shoe.

  

Latissa said one of Edward's favorite colors was blue... so blue it was.

One day I'm going to have my own printed packages.....



Let's see if the shoe fits Mr Cinderella Man



So would this qualify as a candy box or a shoe box ... hum?  



So if the shoe fits does Edward get to marry a Princess?

I wish I could watch Edward eat his shoe.  It would give a whole new meaning to
"putting your foot in your mouth"
I know it was lame