Baby Shower Cupcakes

My friend Ashley asked me to make cupcakes for a baby shower she was hosting for her sister. Her sister loves giraffes, so we decided the cupcakes would be decorated with baby giraffes and some cute pink bows in honor of her new baby girl.

Pink Lemonade Giraffe Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling. Topped with Ganache and a Fondant Bow.

I can't take credit for the beautiful photography. Natalie Eisen (the talented photographer and owner of Memories by Natalie) took the photos. You can see more of her work here:

Memories by Natalie on Facebook

On to more gorgeous photos by Natalie!

The beautiful table display.

I love the little frames and cards they used to write the names of the desserts!

Don't you just love the slices of lemons and limes in the flower jar? What a great center piece!

 The beautiful pink table...

 Homemade fans - perfect for an outdoor tea party/baby shower!

You are going to die from the amount of cuteness in this last photo.

I told you! Cuteness overload, right? I can't think of a better way to display tiny baby clothes than on a clothesline with wooden clothes pins. Genius!

Ashley and her mother Penny did an amazing job creating a beautiful baby shower.

Happy caking, everyone!

STATS:

Chocolate chip cookie dough filling
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-icingfilling

Ganache
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/master-ganache-recipe/index.html

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
http://realmomkitchen.com/6745/pink-lemonade-cupcakes/

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Baby Shoes and Pink Flowers

I made this cake for my wonderful friend, Kristi. She just had a beautiful baby girl.

Everything on the cake is edible, except for the pink ribbons around the bottom. The cake is covered in homemade fondant mixed with white modeling chocolate. Yum!

Here's a closeup of the flower, which is made out of fondant and sugar pearls.

And a closeup of the little baby shoes. I'll include a link to the template I used to make the shoes in the STATS section.

Congratulations, Josh and Kristi!

STATS:

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Modeling Chocolate
http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-make-modeling-chocolate.html

Baby Shoes Template
http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/gumpaste-baby-shoes

Pink Polka Dot Baby Shower

I made a black cherry filling for the inside. Whenever you use a filling, you'll need a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake. The dam prevents the filling from leaking out the sides of the cake.



I used fondant mixed with modeling chocolate for the bow. This helped the bow dry faster, so it would keep its shape.



Here's a closeup of the bow. I used a Wilton embossing tool to decorate the bow.



The fondant gift tag:



All done! Congratulations, Lindsay!



STATS:

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Modeling Chocolate Tutorial
http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-make-modeling-chocolate.html

Baby Shower Cake

My friend Lesley hosted a baby shower recently and asked me to make the cake. The colors and theme for this cake were so fun, and I loved every minute of creating it!

I used chocolate fondant to cover the cake.


All of the decorations are made from homemade fondant.


Here's a closeup of the bear. I think making the blanket was my favorite part!


I wish I had a photo of the inside of the cake - it's a zebra cake. A zebra cake is made by separating your cake batter into two bowls. Then, you color only half the batter with chocolate. Then, you alternate the brown and white batter when you put it in the pan before baking. When it's sliced, you'll see a zebra stripe pattern. Here's a link to the zebra cake recipe I used:

http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/

STATS:

Rhonda's Ultimate Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3193/rhondas-ultimate-chocolate-mmf

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Zebra Cake
http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/

Pink and Brown Cookies

Spillage

I used too much white icing as the base on this one. Once I started adding the stripes, the icing flooded over my border.

Salvaged...sort of

Once the icing set, I used a sharp knife to cut away the spilled icing. Then I piped dots around the edge to cover up the mess.

Swirls


Plaid and Hearts


Flower


Chocolate Swirl


STATS:

Khalstead's Modified No Fail Sugar Cookies (using butterscotch flavored pudding)
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/15218/khalsteads-modified-nfsc

Glace icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar : 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup : 1 Tbsp. milk
(Adjust amount of milk to achieve desired consistency in icing.)
(I added a little cocoa powder along with brown food coloring to make the brown icing.)