Martha Stewart 2010 Cutest Cupcakes Contest...Sweet Marvel's a Winner!

I am proud to announce that Sweet Marvel’s was a grand prize winner (one of 20) in Martha Stewart’s 2010 Cutest Cupcakes Contest!

It was my butterfly beauties that won the prize… so cute and adorable! I so love the detail.

You can access my original post about these cupcakes by clicking here.

The winners are not yet announced on the site, but soon will be. Until then, you can view my winning submission.

What’s the prize you ask… well, I am soon to be the owner of a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. A great book for any baker’s book shelf. I am hoping this book will allow me to take my cupcake game to a whole new level.

Thanks to Martha Stewart.com and thanks to everyone who loves my cupcakes as much as I do!

Yum!

Princess Tiana and Naveen- Double Hearts Cake

The other week, I promised a special cake project using a double hearts cake pan and Cuisipro decorating pen, courtesy of CSN stores. I decided to create a male/female duo, using each heart as the bust of the figure. I originally wanted to do a bride and a groom, then later thought a princess and a prince was a little more original. When thinking of a princess and prince duo, it just had to be Disney Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. Who doesn't love a Princess Tiana cake?

The cake was a simple yellow cake with vanilla buttercream. I decided to make a double layer cake, for height. "Tiana" is covered in chocolate buttercream. All accents are made of marshmallow fondant.

I used the Cuisipro pen to pipe the cornelli lace on Tiana's dress. A little departure from her dress, but I wanted to try the pen out on a flat surface. It only took a second to get used to it, and it was a lot easier than the piping bag I usually use. I also tried piping some letters on the side. The Cuisipro pen will definitely be a tool that I use in my future projects. It's just like writing with a ballpoint pen.

I was really happy with how the cake turned out, I thought it was too cute. When it was complete, I put it on display on my dining room table for my family to enjoy and I think they liked it just as much as I did. I am looking forward to using the pan again and maybe next time I'll just make a simple heart.

Jumbo Cupcake Cake- Sweet Chocolate

I made this cake in late June, but still wanted to share. I really LOVE the jumbo cupcake so I was very excited to make another one.

This cake is chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, chocolate buttercream icing and milk chocolate cupcake liner. I sprinkled jumbo pink sprinkles and mini chocolate chips on top.

I thought this cupcake was cute and super yummy-looking. Hope it made for a happy birthday celebration!

Double Hearts Cake Coming!

Rarely do I get to announce a project in advance, but there is something exciting on the horizon.

The great folks at CSN have given me the chance to review some of their products and I have selected a Frieling Double Heart Shaped Pan and a Cuisipro decorating pen. I have not used many shaped pans to date, so this is a new area for me, but one I am sure to enjoy. I have challenged myself to create a cake that doesn’t look extra corny and romantic (like most heart cakes) and has fabulous buttercream writing (something I do struggle with time to time). Something sure to look impressive, and tasty, in any dining room. I can’t wait!

Remember to check back to see how this Sweet Marvel will turn out.

Jumbo Cupcake Cake- 1st Birthday Celebration

For my daughter's first birthday I could not skimp... full-time job and all. I had to do something fabulous and cute... but most of all, extra special. The theme of the birthday party was simply a cupcake. And while having cupcakes at the party was a given, we needed something special.... a jumbo cupcake.

The bottom cake as a 10" vanilla cake with Italian meringue buttercream. The jumbo cupcake was chocolate chocolate chip cake with Italian meringue buttercream. The letters and cherry were fondant. The cupcake liner was tinted white chocolate (I LOVED how it turned out) and the jumbo sprinkles were store-bought. The jumbo cupcake is SO my favorite thing to make right now.

Here is the inside of that fabulous giant jumbo cupcake. Lots of chocolate cake and icing!

I also made a 4" vanilla smash cake, also iced in Italian meringue buttercream. It had a half cupcake on top that also had a tinted chocolate liner and it's own real cherry. All ready for little fingers to dig in!

And lastly, we had 18 vanilla cupcakes iced in buttercream with sprinkles and cherries. Yum!

Here's our birthday girl! She opted out of the smash and went for a big bite of the cake instead! Happy Birthday Keyah!

Sesame Street Birthday

Kids love, love, love Sesame Street.. so this Sesame Street cake (with Elmo as hero) was perfect for a 2nd birthday party. There was a 10" and 8" cake, both vanilla butter with strawberry buttercream filling... so yummy.

The cake came with one single cupcake, complete with a huge Elmo topper. See.. while the party was on Saturday, the birthday girl's actual birthday was Sunday. So this cute cupcake was saved to enjoy on her actual birthday.

I really enjoyed making the cake and there is so much to love about it.

It looked jazzy from the front AND jazzy from the back. The "clouds" and "trees" were made from vanilla buttercream.

Here is a close-up of those lovely buttercream trees. I loved how they turned out.

Our hero Elmo!

Here's Elmo again, this time hanging out with the birthday girl's name

Cookie Monster! I love his bitten cookie and cookie bits in his mouth.

Big Bird! There is no Sesame Street without this friendly foul.

Out friend Bert...owner of the unibrow... Al B, sorry, he got you beat!

Ernie! Smiling and sunny, as usual.

And Dorothy...you can't have Elmo without Dororthy.  She was dusted in gold and even had tiny scales.

It all made for a perfect Sesame Street birthday!

iCarly Rocks Birthday Style

iCarly is all the rage and perfect for a sweet and fun birthday celebration. This 8" 2-layer vanilla cake with fresh strawberry filling helped celebrate a precious 8-year-old's birthday. All accents were made of fondant and everything was edible.

I loved the duo-toned frosting. My first attempt and I must admit....I LOVE how it turned out. I also loved the fun iCarly letters used for the birthday girl's name.

Here's our laptop and mouse, so you can just zoom on over to iCarly.com for more fun.

I hope our birthday girl loved her iCarly cake. She can just take a slice, switch on Nickelodeon, curl up and enjoy!

Baby, Are You Ready for Some Football?

A football-themed baby shower needed the perfect game-time treats and cupcakes with matching topper cake fit the bill. The 3 and a half dozen cupcakes came in three flavors... chocolate with vanilla icing, vanilla with vanilla icing and lemon with lemon icing. Yum. The topper was a 5" 2 layer cookies and cream cake with cookies and cream filling topped with vanilla icing. Footballs, blanket and oh-so-adorable baby boy were all made of fondant and edible!

The football on top of the cake was actually a molded rice krispie treat covered in buttercream and fondant. Don't miss the blue football helmet on his blanket...you just gotta cover that baby's head.

Up close and personal with the cupcakes. I love the "grass" and our little pigskins even have dimpling.

The sweet little baby boy. There is so much to love about him... his cute diaper, his precious curls, his adorable belly button.

NFL... eat your heart out.

Abracadabra... It's Abby Cadabby!

Sesame Street's Abby Cadabby brought birthday happiness. With the wave of a wand, this cake magically appeared for a 3rd birthday celebration. There were two layers of vanilla butter goodness with strawberry filling. One 10" and one 8" both covered in vanilla buttercream with fondant accents.

Magical stars and colorful flowers wrapped around the cake.

Here's our pecious Abby with her magic wand.

Up close on Abby's face. Too cute! I love her freckles and those tiny eye lashes.

Here's Abby from the back. Sweet little wings and I just loved how her hair turned out.

Another Sweet Marvel bringing birthday magic! Poof!

1st Birthday Princess

Another first birthday celebration... this one for a precious princess! I love the sweet simplicity of this cake and smash cake combo. The "1" was a 10" x 15" 2-layer vanilla butter cake with 1/2 strawberry filling. The  smash cake was a 5" single layer. Both cakes were covered in vanilla buttercream and all of the accents (tiaras, wands, flowers) were made of fondant and edible!

Up close with that fabulous tiara. Fit for any princess.

Here is the tiara and the wand on the smash cake. Identical to the main cake. A princess has got to smash her precious fingers into something fabulous.

Pink, purple, tiara and wands... perfect for a first birthday princess!

A Princess Party!

Every little girl just loves a princess party and there is no better cake for a princess party than a Disney Princess castle cake! This cake was a 2 layer 8" and a 2 layer 6" cookies and cream cake with cookies and cream filling (yum) covered in vanilla buttercream. All accents are marshmallow fondant and everything is edible.

Cinderella

Belle

Aurora

And you can't have a princess cake, or party, without a tiara!

Organic 1st Birthday

These cakes were for a sweet little guy's first birthday. And they weren't just any cakes... oh no, they were organic vanilla butter with vanilla buttercream icing, chocolate buttercream borders and chocolate fondant accents. The main cake was a 12" 2 layer and the smash cake was 6" single layer.

This cake was like a first birthday for me too... my first organic cake! 

Roller Skating Fun!

Roller skating must be all the rage now, because I recieved another request for a roller skating cake, but this time for a roller-skating little boy. This was a 12" vanilla butter cake with vanilla butter cream icing and filling.

The groovy skate was made of fondant and completely edible.

I got word from the mom after the party and she let me know that the cake was the hit of the party!

Twilight Book Cake

Although I have not yet read one of the books, I have heard that Twilight is awesome. And for a fan of the series...a Twilight book design makes for the perfect cake. This 6" x 8" chocolate cake with chocolate filling was covered in vanilla buttercream and partially covered with fondant.  'Twilight" and "Arika" was piped in vanilla buttercream. The hands and apple were hand-painted fondant and everything was edible.

I was really happy with how the "pages" turned out. You almost want to reach out and lift a page.

Well, the birthday girl loved it. Part of her didn't want to cut it, but the part that really wanted chocolate cake won that battle.

Roller Boogie Birthday

Roller birthday skating parties can be so cool. And a cool party deserves a cool cake. This 1/2 sheet cake was the perfect centerpiece for a sweet 9-year-old's birthday skating party. The cake was chocolate with vanilla buttercream and all accents, including the little roller skate girl, were fondant and edible.

I just love this little girl, modeled after the birthday girl. From her sweet smile to her jazzy jeans...so adorable! Looks like she took a tumble on the roller rink.

Let's hope that the birthday girl had a great 9th birthday and stayed on her feet while skating!