LA Adventure

Vegas dosen't have too many cake decorating supply stores, so I made sure to hit one up this weekend.  I Yelped for cake decorating stores, found a few, and ended up going to Gloria's Cake and Candy Supply Store in Culver City, LA. They have every kind of cupcake liner colors you can image, tons of sprinkles and toppings, and every size of cake and cupcake boxes you would ever need.  I like to buy what the professionals are buying, and they sold a variety of non-commercial brands.  Items were fairly priced, I spent a lot there but it was because I'm stocking up on supplies I can't find in Vegas! :P 

My girlfriend Julie and I made these mini cupcakes for her USC instructor.  I got the silver sheen sanding sugar (sprinkles) at Gloria's, I love how the metallic color just pops out!  I wrote 'thank you' with a black CK candy writer that I got at Gloria's as well.  CK makes candy writer's in every possible color you can image, the candy is made out of chocolate and dries hard!  I also made mixed berry low fat muffins.  The recipe is similar to the blueberry muffins I posted earlier, but I used splenda for baking instead of sugar.   

Happy Easter

Holidays are a lot of fun because you can get really cute decorations at your local grocery store. I made Blue and Brown Mini Cupcakes and regular sized Bunny and Nest Cupcakes with my ultimate fav, cream cheese frosting. This is the first time I replaced vegetable oil with butter and the yellow batter tasted buttery, moist, and delicious. Next time I won't put as much butter because the cupcake liners were separating from the cupcakes the next day. Most folks don't favor the taste of Peeps marshmallows, but they add a great look, I use it all the time. I baked coconuts flakes at 350 degrees for a few minutes to brown and add texture. Top with jelly beans and M&M's. Happy Easter everyone, God bless!

My's Bridal Shower

I had the pleasure to make sweet treats for a friend's bridal shower in Las Vegas. I met My through my sister, Hannah. I made Decadent Chocolate with Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting Mini Cupcakes and they were a hit. Everyone loved them. I matched the frosting accordingly to her wedding colors which are avocado green, brown, and cream by using Wilton icing colors.

I also made Hazelnut Chocolate Dipped Cookies as bridal favors. You can add any type of nuts in any batter to jazz up a cookie. For dipping, I mixed 1/2 semi sweet and 1/2 milk chocolate morsels with vegetable shortening. Add 2-3 tablespoons of shortening for every 12 oz bag of morsels. The consistency was thin and cooled perfectly. My sister, Cindy who lives in LA made the labels on the cookies as well as the tents for all the food items. She makes fabulous print items from invitations, cards, flyers and stationary. All the guests loved the food, deserts, decor, and company. Shout out to my sister, Hannah who planned this day all the way from LA. She has a keen eye for organizing events and her specialty is 'day of' wedding planning, check out her events at simplyhannah.com. I had a great time working with my 2 sisters, everything came out really well! Bravo, we make a good team!