Cupcakes for an Architect!

The one thing about moving back to Wisconsin is that I have reunited with a lot of people from my past..through my cupcake creations!

This order was a cupcake reunion. For Nathan.
The last time I saw him, I was in high school.
And I never actually saw him, but my cupcakes did. His mom delivered them to him upon his return visit home from Minneapolis.  I hope he loved them.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Nathan is an architect now.

I think it is kind of neat that he took a break from building..while I built him swirls & swirls of deliciousness on top of cupcakes.

I used his architect background as inspiration for the cupcakes.  These are red velvet cupcakes, topped with brown/red frosting to look like cherry colored wood.  The "wood chip" sculptures are made out of layered white/dark chocolate. 

Dark Cherry Wood with a Cherry On Top!

Nathan also requested carrot cupcakes.

For the carrot cupcakes, I created classy looking chocolate wood "tabletops". I thought I'd go the extra mile and add a birthday candle on top!

His name is balancing on a cupcake skyscraper. ♥ It's all yummy. Imagine...your name written in the sky with chocolate?  That's something out of a daydream.

I made the contemporary wood grain table sculptures by using a paintbrush to paint  a thin block of melted dark chocolate onto parchment paper, then freezing the 1st layer of chocolate.  (The brush will create the rough woodgrain texture).

Once the dark chocolate was frozen, I poured a thin layer of white chocolate over the dark chocolate and froze the layers of chocolate again.

Once I froze the chocolate, I used a round cookie cutter to cut my wooden table tops.. and this is how they ended up! I broke some of them up into moon shapes and wave shapes for the chocolate wooden cupcake toppers!

So..Nathan is an architect for buildings.

And I guess I am an architect for cupcakes.

..and perhaps a frosting architect?

♥

For Maeve.

Maeve is a bright eyed, sweet baby girl.
The first time I met her she smiled at me, and the entire room lit up. I fell in love!

I was so honored that her mom (my friend Kelly-we go alllll the way back to the days of high school).. asked me to make cupcakes for Maeve's very 1st birthday celebration this past 4th of July weekend.

Kelly really wanted the cupcakes to be patriotic.  But she knew that Maeve had to have pink.
That was easy. I just switched out the red with pink.
I love that Kelly also asked me to create a "Chef's selection" for Maeve.

I really take advantage of the moment when people give me a few ideas, and then just let me go crazy with my own inspiration.  For me,  this freedom is when most of my cupcake magic takes place. I can let the Amanda love just pour out into whatever it is that I am baking..and swirling, sprinkling, or sparkling.

Maeve's cupcakes were truly magical.  Not because I created them. But because Maeve has this brand new sweet energy that I bottled up when I met her. (Don't we all try to bottle up some of that energy we used to have as babies?)   I knew I could feed that energy right back to her in cupcake form. And I am sure she played with the cake and frosting.  Just what these cupcakes were meant for! ♥ A 1st birthday.

These are the true "Amanda Cupcake" style cupcakes. Stacks and textures of yummy frosting.

Swirls & Twirls and Endless Dollops of Frosting.
Lots of Frosting to play with ♥

I striped some of the cupcakes pink, white & blue. They looked really pretty from the outside of the white cupcake liner.  To do this, it's really simple. You just color your cake batter in three different fave colors and stack each color on top of each other into your cupcake liner before baking.  (Use a pastry bag for each color-it is easier to pipe into the cupcake liner).

Part of enjoying life (which Maeve already learned on her first birthday!) is getting to eat the fancy frills. ♥

Amazing: Eating a cupcake with perfect little swirls on top for dinner. Double the amazing: Eating the chocolate #1 off a stick for dessert.

Baby, you're a firework. Come on let your colors burst.

I added a pink swirl to the peanut butter frosting.

I call this the cupcake that wants to be a birthday cake.



Stacks and stacks of love.
An Oreo cookie on the inside bottom of the cupcake.  The Cupcake itself. Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. Buttercream. Another Oreo. And a non-pareil dot.



This is what a firework would look like if it was made out of sugar.

Per Kelly's request, the "Chef's Selection."

Way better than what you can buy at the grocery store in the box.



I am all about using lollypop sticks to make my own cupcake toppers.  This time the cupcake toppers were Maeve ♥