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?

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...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.

Pinata Cake & Cupcakes

If you know me really well, you probably know that I get intimidated by making cakes.

I work day in and day out with little cupcakes most of the time. Super cute, mini little, transportable treats with dollops and swirls and fluffs of frosting on top that you can play with like play-dough. ♥  Cakes are intimidating to me because I feel like I have to add an architect/engineer hat to my artist brain.  I have to create a foundation so that the cake won't slide or fall apart. I am way better at creating textured, fancy flouncy frosting swirls on top of adorable little cupcakes than spreading on a perfect sheen of frosting to cake that is so polished it looks like fondant ♥

However...there can be exceptions made.....

When there are pinata cakes involved!!!!!!

A Pinata cake doesn't have to be polished or neat.

It is exploding with fun and celebration from the inside out!

The best thing is that you can fill the cake with any candy or treat you desire.

(I even thought of making a Mountain Dew cake with Doritos coming out of it, maybe I'll do that in the future).

I made matching Pinata Cupcakes to complete a whole "set."

I divided shredded coconut into ziploc bags and added a dot of Americolor Gel Paste to each ziploc bag (colors used here are Electric Pink, Sky Blue, and Electric Yellow). I sealed each baggy shut and danced a little in my kitchen to shake the color into the coconut. I piped frosting onto each cupcake and sprinkled with colored coconut. I piped pretty big fat swirls on top so that the cupcakes would look bigger and more full, but you can put on as much frosting as you desire.

Each Pinata cupcake is filled with Sixlet Pearls as a "SURPRISE"!

And look at how the shredded coconut colors the frosting!

It reminds me of one of those mexican hoodies you can buy at farmers markets.

I use a measuring spoon to scoop a hole out of the center of the cupcake. I keep the cake I scooped out and put it to the side. I fill the hole with pastel Sixlet pearls and cover it again with the the leftover cake from my scooping.

How did I make the pinata cake?

Using my favorite cake recipe, I baked four 8" round layers of cake.

I used a 4" biscuit cutter to cut a hole into the center of 2 out of 4 of my cake layers.

  

Cake Assembly Order:  

A.  Place 1 uncut layer on a cake stand/turntable and spread your favorite frosting on top using a piping bag or a frosting knife.

B.  Top this layer with 1 layer that has the center hole removed. Spread frosting on top but not over or inside the hole.

C.  Top this layer with the other layer that has the center hole removed. Spread frosting on top but not over or inside the hole.

D.  You'll see a big hole in the center of your cake. Fill it with all kinds of goodies! I used Peanut Butter M&Ms, milk chocolate M&Ms, multi-colored gumballs, and chocolate coins in many colors! Can you imagine making a baby reveal cake like this too using pink or blue M&Ms and other colored candies?

E.  Place the final layer on top of the cake.  Using a large frosting knife and your favorite frosting (the more creamy & whipped the better), frost the outside of the cake!

You can even top the pinata cake with another mini sized pinata that is also filled with nummies.

Mind..blown!! ♥

I decorated my pinata cake all fancy schmancy.

Each layer was frosted with a different color before I stacked the cake layers on top of each other!

Just remember, the most fun part of the cake is the inside! Cut a BIG PIECE out of your cake using a large knife..or if you are feeling it, smash the cake.  Either way you'll find something you like, I'm sure of it. My favorite are the chocolate coins. What's yours?

♥♥♥

Baby Reveal Cake ♥

One of my favorite things about creating delicious delights for my friends is that I get to be a VIP part of their events. ♥  Even if I am not invited, my cupcakes always are. I look at my cupcakes at these events as an extension of me, dressed in my most glamorous...that vibrant and magic woman in the corner that lures you.

Kind of Like Lucille Ball here. She is my icon in all of my cupcake-ing.

This last week was pretty memorable.

I had the chance to create something new and completely out of my comfort zone.

A 6 layer....extra tall "Baby" Reveal Cake.

The mommy-to-be (Jess) had the ultrasound technician call to tell me the surprise sex of the baby.  When I got the voicemail, I was jumping up and down in excitement, trying my best to keep my mouth closed.  Nobody else knew, except for the ultrasound technician...and me!

Now I could have stayed within my comfort zone and made a basic fondant cake with 1 shade of blue on the inside.

But....how crazy amazing did it make me feel that Jess had asked me to be the bearer of such special news?!

So I had to give her baby the "red carpet" entrance to the party. Or maybe.. the blue carpet ♥

I used a #104 Tip to make white buttercream frosting ruffles on the outside of the 6 layer cake.  I added a bit of orange extract to the buttercream frosting.  I always add the orange extract to the frosting with my vanilla cakes for a fresh taste. 

To make the reveal extra dramatic, I striped the layers in different shades of blue. 

Jess and her hubby right here in complete and utter joy after the reveal.

Beautiful and breathtaking photography by Chloe Heckman of Life Tree Photography. It is so much fun having talented friends.

"All that I am, or hope to be..I owe to my angel mother."~Abraham Lincoln.