How to Host A #NAILEDIT Party!

I am so sorry to all of those who have been reading my blog.

It has literally been over a year since I have written here.

But it's never too late to start over again, right?

I have had so many things happen. Like this:

With a Rebel yell...

My little Rebel Rose Rudd. Born on 6/1/17.

It took awhile for me to adjust to motherhood. I took a break from being a cupcake queen and solely focused on being a mom for a little bit.  This little Rebel has been the one preventing me from sitting on my computer and sharing my life in blog format ♥. 

In the meantime, something AMAZING happened in the state of Wisconsin. A law was passed saying that I could bake out of my home kitchen for profit. So as of 2018, I gradually started to bake out of my home kitchen again and it has been a blur ever since.

I know, I know a lot of people say that you have to sacrifice everything you want for your kids. But I don't believe in that. I believe the opposite. I think you should make dreams happen for your little ones, so that you can be a happy parent, and a strong wonderful role model for your babies!  So even though it is challenging sometimes, I will not give up on this baking dream. I would love to have Rebel standing side by side with me in the kitchen, if its something she'd enjoy doing!

My big goal in my comeback as cupcake queen was to host themed cupcake decorating parties. I've made that vision come true! 

Last week, I partnered with Winemakers Daughter out of Manawa and we hosted a #NAILEDIT Party! I love that show on Netflix. I will never be as funny as Nicole Byer (the hostess of the Netflix show) so I told everyone that this was definitely the AMANDA CUPCAKE version INSPIRED by Nailed It on Netflix! So I put my own spin on it. 

My husband Kyrik joined me for this one, and he definitely stole the limelight with his charm and sense of humor (he is also wayyyy funnier than me!) He stood in as a judge and the photographer.

My friend Jamie who owns Winemakers Daughter also stood in as a judge!

The Winemakers Daughter and Cupcake Queen = Good friends to have!!!

I've really been into making unicorn cakes.

If you have been following me, I've been doing the unicorn thing since before it was super trendy. So I feel like I have an advantage, having natural glittery rainbow unicorn brains! I've been booked with a different unicorn cake almost every week since I've been back as Amanda Cupcake.

So for this NAILED IT Party... The theme was Fantasy UNICORN CAKES!

In preparation I made 50 mini rainbow cake layers for the 15 contestants, each one 4" round (so each contestant could bring home their own 3 layer rainbow cake).

My little Rebel helper. ♥

I also made this fabulous giant edible golden unicorn NAILED IT Cupcake Trophy for the WINNER!

♥

And wore my gold glitter combat boots for the occasion!

..And since I had done all the prep at home, it was everyone else's turn to "work"! I sprinkled some glitter in my wine and off I went to host and judge my first NAILED IT-Amanda Cupcake party!

The Rules. Some written by my husband, just to make it more interesting.

The thing I love most about NAILED IT on Netflix is that it is different from other reality shows. Everyone is laughing. No one gets all serious and cries. It is intense, but intensely funny. Everyone has a good time. That's what I wanted to create in our atmosphere at the winery.

The big reveal.. The unicorn cake..hidden underneath that box.

(We hid it until right before the decorating started!)

I bought these little unicorn horn suckers at the party store to try and keep it simple. I typically use fondant to sculpt my unicorn horns, but I wanted the contestants to be able to recreate their own version as easily as possible since they were paying to attend and I wanted them to go home with something they could be proud of! I also used marshmallows dipped in sugar sprinkles for the ears.

Each table was filled with frosting and palettes of sprinkles, piping bags, and all sorts of tools you could use to successfully create a mini unicorn cake!

This guy doesn't know it yet, but he won! 

We challenged this talented lady to add a rainbow mustache to her unicorn cake, just to throw her off since she seemed to have advanced unicorn cake making skills!

Clapping out of pure joy.

After an hour of decorating, each contestant showed off their creation.

And I was amazed at what they created!

It was a very tough decision.

I noticed each and every person there poured their heart and soul into their creation. Laughter filled the winery. It reminded me a lot of my times in the kitchen and what I do when I make cakes for people.

♥

 

How creative is this?!?!!? Check out that MANE! 

  A unicorn with a glittering UNIBROW!

 

2 cakes created without fancy tools...I told these ladies they were "scrappy" like Amanda Cupcake!

 She definitely has some skills! The purple hair was my fave.

....there's that rainbow mustache!!

A view of her creation close up:

 A Halloweeny unicorn! OoooH!

..And sadly this one fell apart before we got a picture of it, but it was STILL fabulous, and edible!:

The winner:

The BEARICORN!

This guy came in asking me not to put glitter in his wine. But I did it anyway. I explained that she or HE who leaves a trail of glitter behind is never forgotten! And he left with a glittery golden edible cupcake trophy. We chose the BEARICORN because our rules never said that you had to make your unicorn cake look just like mine. We said that it had to come from your heart, and we asked the contestants to create what your spirit animal unicorn cake is?

The Bearicorn spoke to my heart because it had the same kind of spirit as my husband and my little Rebel girl. My little Rebel has this furrowed eyebrow, she got it from my husband. And honestly... so did the Bearicorn. My husband and I agreed, this cake captured our hearts.

I am not really sure what everyone thought about this new side of Amanda Cupcake..

The judgey quirky side....

But I hope all of the contestants had as much fun as I did.

This will go down in history as one of my most favorite memories as a Cupcake Queen!

 A Glittery Cheers, and onto the next #NAILEDIT Party!!

What Miracles Taste Like ♥

Did you know that a herd of unicorns is called a *Miracle*?
This blog entry is dedicated to what I think *miracles* should taste like.

If you didn't already know this...
I've been this crazy unicorn loving tutu wearing woman for years now. 

(photo by Maison Meredith Photography)

♥

So, of course when I saw that Starbucks came out with a Unicorn Frappe this last week, I may have been the only person who was sad seeing articles about it! ...Because more than drinking the drink..I would have loved to be a part of that product development team! After all, I have years of expertise in the tasting of glitter & unicorn rainbows. 

Starbucks...why didn't you call me?

I am pretty sure that I would have suggested the unicorn frappe taste a little something like this though:

Cotton Candy ♥ (my cupcake recipe/tutorial for these here)

Fantasy vanilla rainbow with a hint of glitter almond ♥ (my cupcake recipe/tutorial for these here)

My Blue Moon Ice Cream Cupcakes ♥ 

My White Chocolate Unicorn Bark

....Swirled with Rainbows, bedazzled with Sprinkles & Sixlets!

See the video on how I made it on Fox 11 Living with Amy here!

Make your own little edible *miracles*:

White chocolate candy melts (12 oz bag)
Hot pink candy melts (12 oz bag)
Yellow candy melts (12 oz bag)
Purple candy melts (12 oz bag)
Sky blue candy melts (12 oz bag)
Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
5 medium sized microwaveable bowls

Have prepared in small bowls on the side:
-Confetti sprinkles
-Bugles (for unicorn horns)
-Silver dragees
-Edible glitter
-Edible sixlet pearls

Directions:
Bowl 1: Fill with white chocolate candy melts
Bowl 2: Fill with hot pink candy melts
Bowl 3: Fill with yellow candy melts
Bowl 4: Fill with purple candy melts
Bowl 5: Fill with sky blue candy melts

1. Microwave each bowl separately in 30 second increments until candy melts are smooth and melted.

2. Pour white chocolate candy melts onto the parchment paper lined pan, smoothing it out with a spatula until it is about 1/4-1/2” thick. 

3. Immediately start to pour each color of melted candy melts onto top of the white chocolate in little colored blobs.

4. Using a toothpick or a lollipop stick, create a swirling pattern of all the colors. Do not over mix or the colors will turn brown. I know it is fun to swirl, but the less you swirl the colors together, the better “swirly rainbow unicorn” look you will get.

5. Immediately sprinkle the confetti sprinkles, bugles, silver dragees, sixlets and edible glitter on top of your artistic creation. (Don’t wait too long or the unicorn bark will harden quickly and the sprinkles will not stick). 

6. Put your unicorn bark in the fridge & let it cool/harden for 15 minutes. After it hardens, break up into little pieces and enjoy filling your tummy with rainbows & joy!

What the unicorn bark looks like before you break it up!

Sweet with a little bit of crunch.
It's a miracle!


♥♥♥

I wonder what's next after Starbucks' Unicorn Frappe...

Chocolate Emoji Poo Frappes?! ♥

.....Recipe for this guy coming up on my next blog entry!

Baby Cupcake!

SURPRISE! I'm having a little cupcake.

My Mister Cupcake and I had a magical enchanted fairytale wedding (see my previous blog here). The wedding day was so magical in fact, that we conceived our first baby on our wedding night!

..And it's a girl.

Since I love all things glitter and I still have plans for the revamping of my cupcake brand, I am super excited that my first baby will be a girl. She can follow me and my sparkly glitter filled trail of adventures. (Which include baking and making people happy and many other things!)

Now maybe I'll have someone to wear tutus and throw fantastical joint birthday parties with. (She is due on my birthday, June 12th!!!!)

Here she is. At 21 weeks ♥

She has my cheekbones.

Looks like she has her dad's hair!

Isn't it amazing what they can do with ultrasound pictures?

.

...And wow, does she move around in my belly a lot!

She is photogenic & loves pop music, sweets, milk, potatoes, and orange juice.

I am thinking she'll be a big fan of dancing?! No matter what she wants to be..I want to be the best example to her that she can do anything she dreams of. The sky is the limit. 

♥

Here I am at 25 weeks, baby cupcake is growing quickly now. (This picture was taken this week!)

♥

Since my pregnancy is considered "geriatric" now that I am over 35 (sigh that word, geriatric, though), Kyrik and I found out the gender very early (around 9 weeks). A DNA test revealed she was a very healthy baby, no genetic problems. .....And it also revealed her gender!

♥

...On a very snowy day in December we  threw a mini gender reveal party for several of our closest friends & family. Mister Cupcake & I already knew the gender. But our families and close friends did not.It was really fun to surprise them!

I made this cake (with a very gender reveal appropriate pun as the message):

When we cut the cake open....

it exploded with shiny girly pink glitter!

Our closest friends and family signed this adorable onesie ♥

We are going to frame it and hang it in the nursery.

(buy it on Etsy from BugnBun's shop!)

We served unicorn Fur! (Cotton Candy)

My little niece and nephew truly believed this was unicorn fur. I might tell my little girl that there was magical unicorn fur at one of her very first celebratory parties!

......After all, wouldn't unicorn fur taste like cotton candy?

Since we are going to be a bigger family, we also bought our first new home. We officially closed at the end of January. This is our kitchen.

♥

I am going to bake my heart into art here.