beautydetermined

On Saturday morning around 5 am, my kitchen smelled of Oreo’s, baking cupcakes, and peanut butter frosting.  Perfect sides for coffee of course!  I skipped my 6 mile run (my down week), which completely disheartened me, but deep down knew that I would make it up this week and of course, I had a very important afternoon date…  Olivia’s 1st Birthday Party! 

On a side note, I’m struggling with my personal time right now… trying and desperately wanting to make time for family and friends, my husband, running, reading, errands, cleaning, WHILE baking every weekend and working a full-time job (that is underway one of the busiest months of the year).  The lack of sleep is catching up, especially on the weekends now that I’m really starting to log longer running distances and take on bigger bakery projects.  

Oh well!  Baked goods are awesome and I love every minute!  Too bad I can’t have another day in the week.

So, let’s talk about all the yummy creations from Saturday!  Besides making my favorite thing… ganache… I was able to make another cake this month!  Everyone orders cupcakes, so I never really have the opportunity to put together a full cake.  

Luckily enough, Amanda wanted a small one for Olivia and I was super excited to decorate a WHOLE cake.  Originally, we had planned for her to SMASH her cake, but everyone decided at the party it was too pretty for an adorable 1 year-old to destroy within seconds.

For the cupcakes, I made dark chocolate cake with a dark chocolate raspberry ganache filling topped with a dark chocolate raspberry frosting, chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting sprinkled with salted peanuts, and cookies & cream cupcakes with marshmallow filling topped with a cookies & cream buttercream frosting.  Valentine’s Day samplers were KEY for future orders!  Crazy, right?

I’m loving bubbles right now and thought that they would go nicely with The Little Mermaid cake for Olivia!  I cut out different sizes and delicately placed them on the cookies and cream cupcakes.  I really wanted the little Oreo’s on top as well. They become perfectly mushy after a few hours of sitting on the buttercream and are an absolute necessity in the success of this cupcake.

I also wanted a few little “1”s for the birthday girl!  You can’t have a 1 year-old’s celebration without them.  The colors and bubbles matched Ariel and her cake perfectly!

Ekk, so cute!  I loved being able to set up the cake and cupcakes for the party.  I was able to get a GREAT picture and put it together as imagined.  It’s funny… most times when people order cupcakes, I never see them put together and just hope for the best!

As most of you probably know… I’m a little OCD when it comes to merchandising and visual things.

Olivia’s cake was a cookies and cream cake as well!  Sweet birthday girl was apprehensive at first, but as soon as Grandpa gave her a taste of the icing…

GAME ON!  

Ohh, we got it now!  So cute.  Cupcakes for life!  Here comes another future pro!

Happy Birthday to one of the sweetest little babies out there!  Thank you for giving me baby fever… even when you pout that bottom lip.

I love you and your mama very much.  Thank you for inviting me to part of your special day!

xoxo

Wouldn’t this be fun to make?  And, doesn’t this get you excited for SUN?  I’ve been craving 95 degree sunny days all week and I think I actually have Winter blues for the first time in my life.  

I know… I’m crazy, but I love Summer as I get older!  I used to despise sweat… but NOT anymore.  

Yum, I would devour this cake just because it looks so pretty.  

Source: marthastewart.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

Ekk, and I definitely know someone who would LOVE an Owl Cupcake Cake…

Source: familyfun.go.com via Jenifer on Pinterest

I’m dying over the baby owls surrounding the big cake!

And check this one out?  Perfect for a little boy’s birthday and you know I’m loving the detail.

Source: flickr.com via Sherry on Pinterest

I love the colors on this cupcake cake!  Reminds me of my Rainbow-Brite and My Little Pony days.

Source: karenscakeshoppe.com via Susan on Pinterest

Alrighty, so who is ordering one?  I need to make a Cupcake Cake PRONTO.

Sweet dreams, I think I have my Pinterest fix for the week… xoxo

CAKE!  Birthday cake… birthday cake… 

People, get your minds out of the gutter.

Scary.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Tyler James!  On top of baking Cookies and Cream cupcakes with Cars toppers… I also had a special BIRTHDAY CAKE to make for my hubby!  We had a few friends coming over to watch the Duke and Carolina game, while celebrating over food, cake, and drinks with Tyler.

Everyone’s requesting Cookies and Cream cake with marshmallow filling these days, so why not make it into a yummy cake for Tyler?

First, after my two layers were baked and cooled - I sliced off one of the mounds of my two layers, so I could put the top on…

Which Tyler promptly ate…

Nom Nom!

For a second, I was very excited that I had a little extra cake to make CAKE POPS.  

I thought wrong.  Silly me.

Ok, back to the real cake!  I piped a border on my bottom layer and filled it with marshmallow filling.

I literally had seconds to decorate the cake after I filled it to somehow surprise him.  I sent Tyler to the grocery store for the hundredth time that morning, so I could get this bad boy iced.  

Yes, I know… bad wife… it was his birthday… but NOT really… it was his birthday-eve.

And, of course I really wasn’t ready to put down the piping bag, so I quickly drew some fun spirals on the side of the cake…

Yummers!  Poor cake didn’t have a chance!  It was gone by midnight.  

Happy Birthday Tyler!  Hope you had a great day!  Love you!

xoxo

I did it! I survived only having one evening and a wee-early morning to make Cars theme-cupcake toppers. Work was super busy this week leaving me extra paperwork in the evenings and no extra time for cupcake creativity. Tyler’s birthday weekend plans were also under way and we had a whole house to clean before Saturday.

So before I reveal these ROCKING Cars cupcakes, let me say that… I LOVE TOWMATER! We used to have a love/hate relationship since my first interaction with him last summer when I made a cake for one of Mom’s work friends:

… and despite the fact that this cake looked fantastic when finished it almost made me break down!

Not being a Mom OR even a regular babysitter results in me having NO CLUE what exactly Dora is… Cars… Bubble Guppies, etc. So, on top of me always saying YES to things that I may not realize what I’m getting myself into… can easily cause me great stress. I know I create my own problems, however I like to think that I come from a PLACE of YES and that “I’ll figure it out!”, but…

Who cares!

I’m going to continue saying YES like a crazy person, because this cake turned out amazing! Granted, I needed my Mom to save the day and help me with his mouth. I was ready to leave tear-stains on the blue fondant as I desperately tried to figure out his teeth. Mom came in with a fresh look and applied his smile perfectly.

Little can I say, Towmater and I were very happy to be re-united on top of fabulous Cookies and Cream cupcakes with marshmallow filling this weekend.  Jeff Piper one of my awesome softball team members from my first co-ed Cary league messaged me earlier last week about making these cupcakes for his daughter, Halle turning 4! I was SO excited to take on this project and loved being part of his family’s special celebration. 

I knew these had to be awesome and I couldn’t disappoint the Piper Family, so I put my heart and sleep into them!

Friday night’s work! Route 66 signs, tires with treads, McQueen, and her thunder bolts underway!

YAWN! After going to bed super late on Friday… I was up before the sun on Saturday finishing the rest of my Cars toppers and baking 2 dozen cupcakes.

Towmater has arrived at the Dean House!  I created a tie-dye fondant for him to create the rusted blue tow-truck appearance.

Ekk, those tires are ridiculous! I need tread like that on my Civic tires… then maybe I wouldn’t have flats all the time.

McQueen is ready to go! After I hit a good stopping point with my marshmallow fondant creations, I baked some yummy cupcakes filled with a marshmallow filling. Smack your Mama good Cookies and Cream cupcakes with an Oreo buttercream icing that is surprisingly NOT too sweet.

ALL TOGETHER NOW! 

Still obsessed with the tie-dye fondant, I made little “4” toppers just for the birthday girl.

I may love the tires more than Towmater.  Don’t tell him, it’s our secret.

I received the sweetest text message this morning from Jeff saying the cupcakes were a huge hit with the kids and adults!  Yay, Happy Birthday Halle!  I’m thankful to be a part of your special day and that Towmater and McQueen could be there with you.

XOXO… What’s next?

24 Cars-theme cupcakes coming up for tomorrow afternoon! Somehow I knew Towmater would return in my life. I’m super excited to start working on these tonight.  

To be continued…

XOXO

Sounds heavenly.  I’ll take 3 of each.  

Yay, for cupcake orders this week! I had another super early morning on Wednesday baking away like a crazy person. I had to be at the office by 8 am… meaning… 3 am wasn’t early enough. I won’t even tell you what time I started, but I had lots of orders waiting their eager customers’ mouths that evening.

I made my strawberry cupcakes with fresh strawberry buttercream icing and let me tell you… I can’t wait until May in North Carolina. Strawberry season! Those cupcakes are even more ridiculous with fresh berries. The flavor is incredible! I think this Spring I’ll buy a few extra cartons and freeze them, so I have super delicious berries all year.

Don’t you love the natural pink color of these strawberry cupcakes?

Chocolate with fluffy peanut butter frosting and sprinkled with salted peanuts was my other dozen ordered. Thankfully, I have a little frosting left that I plan to smear on chocolate graham crackers throughout the next few nights.  

Don’t judge people! I ran tonight and have a 10 mile run planned for Saturday morning. I eat salad, vegetables, fruit, and protein on a daily basis, but am not an advocate for cutting foods entirely out of your diet.  

It’s all about moderation and exercise!

I also baked Apple Cider Spice cupcakes! I perfected my recipe, filled the cake with a sweet apple filling (basically, I made applesauce from scratch and added a little extra sugar), then topped it with an apple buttercream spiked with cider and spices. THESE CUPCAKES ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD!

And, wanna know a secret? I used unsweetened applesauce in the cake instead of butter making them lower in fat too!

All together now! Cupcakes ready to go!

Yummers!  I can smell the peanut butter frosting now. 

Now the real question is… whose coming to clean my dishes?

Tracie and Kristy, I know you’re both DYING right now.

Sweet dreams everyone!

xoxo

So, I lied a little bit on Sunday… I wasn’t an absolute complete bum! I cleaned out my craft closet, started to organized my craft room from when the holidays took over, and made TRUFFLES! Yum!

Remember that dark chocolate raspberry ganache that I made for the Valentine’s Day Cupcake samplers? Delicious… pure heaven, right? I had a ridiculous amount left and since ganache freezes beautifully or if tightly sealed, lasts a couple of weeks in the fridge… I saved it for a rainy day.  

WELL, you can also turn extra ganache into chocolate TRUFFLES! I didn’t realize that it was the same basic recipe until I read someone’s baking blog this weekend. After a little research, I found tons of versions online and since mine was pretty simple (bittersweet chocolate, raspberry jam, heavy cream, pinch of salt) I rolled mine into little balls and dipped them into whatever I found in my kitchen.

Then I thought it would be fun to toast unsalted pistachios and melt a little white chocolate to try that combination together…

Ta-da! Truffles dipped in white chocolate, covered in pistachios and dried cranberries. The texture was addictive. Crunchy, salty bite on the outside… creamy chocolate in the middle. I ate 3 of those too.

And to cap it off… I made a few more dark cocoa truffles, which were so simple, but ridiculously good… and of course, why not dunk a few in crushed oreos?

I ate 2 of those… and made sure to leave Tyler 1.  

I’m not sure if he got any others.  Oops.

This is why I run.

Love you all… sleep night. 

Yes, I have to do this too.  Sometimes when my back has had enough and I’m all out of energy… I take an evening off, which leads to another day of laziness, then day of depression until I snap myself out of it.  

I think this is one of the many reasons I enjoy a busy day, week, month… year and a jam-packed schedule. I AM SERIOUSLY DEPRESSED when I don’t do anything for even a few hours. Why can’t I just be?   

I managed to run errands this weekend, feed the furbabies, eat a lot, and submit blog posts. I barely did the dishes or even changed clothing. UGH. I don’t like couch weekends in PJs, but once in a blue moon I slip into this mode. I told Tyler that I was “off” this weekend and proceeded to (some what) disconnect cell phone wise, didn’t really want to do more than one thing at a time, and actually took several NAPS!

What’s a NAP?!

This past week was especially busy for me… a HUGE busy baking the weekend before… two 3 am mornings (Tuesday and Thursday) and a super busy week at Wisdom training a new manager, while trying to keep up with my daily responsibilities.  I was able to get in about a 6.5 mile speed/hill run where my Boston Marathon friend, Tracie cheered meon. Without her… I would have walked around mile 4. Thank you TTR for being there for me!  <3

Here here to a productive week! I’m looking forward to a good cup of coffee tomorrow morning with some protein and vitamins. SUN and 95 degree days… where are you??? 

xoxo

Cupcakes awaiting their AMAZING Bubble Guppies toppers!  Funny story first… this is how I took on this project…  I would like to think I said “Yes, I’ll figure it out” like a true entrepreneur… or crazy person…

One of my bosses, Charlie Suiter asked last week: “So would you make cupcakes for my daughter’s 2nd birthday?”

Me: “YES!  When do you need them?”

Charlie: “February 23rd.”

Me: “Sure!”

Charlie: “But it’s a Thursday and you have to work.”

Me: “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll get up at 3 or 4 am and rock it out all day. I promise.”

Charlie: “You’re crazy.”

Me: “I know… Sooo what do you want as toppers? Does Lila have a favorite show she watches? Cartoon characters?”

Charlie: “Bubber Guppies! Oh my God… could you make those? It’s actually Bubble Guppies on Nickelodeon, but that’s how she says it”

Me: “YES! What’s a Bubber Guppy??”

Of course I had NO clue what I was getting myself into until I went home that evening and started googling Bubber Guppies… Bubble Guppies…

and there they were…

I almost cried… 

but then, you KNOW I love a good challenge.

BAM!

After 2 evenings and 1 early wee-morning of working on these characters, I was pretty stinking proud of myself.

And, please don’t excuse this for cockiness!  I really was very amazed with myself that I still have this creativity in me.  I don’t create art pieces and custom work like I used to before a full-time job, bills, mortgage, awesome husband, working out (because I have to now), college, dogs, life… AND was so excited to be able to make these with my own huge little hands out of marshmallow fondant. Who said it was hard to work with?

Get out of town! 

Tyler’s text message that morning at 7:45am:  ”Babe! how did your cupcakes turn out?”

Me: “F*ing amazing!  I’ll email you.”

(and I even used a * in my text, so I didn’t break my New Year’s resolution)

How cute is that purple hair and pink star?  I love this show already!  I was like a kid on Christmas Day when I showed Charlie.  I was so excited to show him Lila’s cupcakes!

Charlie: “Damn Emily! I knew you would come through with them, but I wasn’t expecting THIS! Lila’s going to flip! You’re like a professional.”

:)

Happy Birthday Lila!  Hope she had a wonderful day… thank you Suiter Family for asking me to be part of her special celebration! I loved every minute!

xoxo

Now, you can’t host a Baby Shower at Patsy Aiken Designs for their fabulous moms-to-be without including hues of green and pink buttons, colorful flowers, single monograms, and awesome ric-rac!  

Only the Patsy Aiken Designs’ staff would understand.  :)  

Score! I was able to make cupcakes for Michelle Baldwin AGAIN.

Surprise Michelle (and Baby Girl Baldwin)! Wendy (PAD’s Senior Designer) and Patsy (owner) are awesome for thinking about me on their special day for Michelle. I was so excited to bake these for the PAD crew ANNND to work with a green and pink color combo.  MY FAVORITE!

Some of you may not know, but I had the pleasure of working for PAD from 2006 - 2008… and met some of the most incredible people of my life. Be sure to check out their Spring 2012 Children’s Apparel Collection available now! Amazing clothing, unique designs, and great customer service.

Ok, so back to cupcake toppers!  Some of you may be thinking…. well, how in the world did she get put those on cupcakes???

Shut up! Look at those BUTTONS! Doesn’t it look like someone was working on a project and just perfectly dropped their supplies on amazing vanilla buttercream frosted cupcakes? 

Yes it does.  Don’t lie.

So cute!  Cupcakes ready to go!

… and we can’t forget the chocolate ones with the flowers!  So excited for Spring!

Phewww… so as I type… I’m thinking…

I made it through this week somehow.  I was up at 4am on Tuesday (and Thursday for another order) baking these cupcakes before a full-day’s work and after a long weekend…

And it was worth every minute of tiredness. I had a great day at work on Tuesday; opened several Red Bull accounts and was able to deliver cupcakes to Patsy Aiken Designs before the crack of dawn.  

Yay, Happy Baby Shower Michelle!  And, PAD… you know I love you all.  XOXO

This past Saturday was another baking morning!  My family-in-law was here to witness the first few early hours. I could hear Bryson, our 9 month old nephew at an early hour… maybe around 6 am. He was actually my alarm clock! Mom Dean was trying to settle him down while Penny, my sister-in-law slept a little longer. Poor Bryson had kept poor Mama Penny up ALL night.  

My Dad Dean… who is recovering well, had major back surgery at Rex Hospital Thursday night for two herniated disks.  Tyler’s family spent a few nights with us, so that they were nearby and could easily spend time at the hospital. I enjoyed the quality time with my family even though it was under rough circumstances with Tyler’s dad in a lot of pain. Rex took good care of Dad Dean and he’s on the road to recovery!

I loved having little interested viewers that morning! Penny and Bryson watched as I mixed colorful icing and Mom Dean was very curious of the marshmallow fondant toppers I was making. I think I need to make her a few colorful batches for her birthday.  :)  My Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer broke the night before… and my hand mixer broke that week.  Not sure why these things happen on an evening or morning when I’m short of time and have a full kitchen of warm-bodies, but I managed to get everything baked, iced, and decorated on time.

Tyler’s family left around 10 am, I packaged up cupcakes for Jaime and my friend, Megan for her husband, Griffin’s birthday. Some how I managed to get everything done! I dropped the cupcakes off at the host house for the Baby Shower then met Megan in Durham to help her prospect businesses for sponsorships with Girls on the Run.

Jaime and her friends LOVED the cupcakes! They were definitely a hit at the Baby Shower. She just wanted a mix of chocolate and vanilla with a girly theme that matched the shower.  

And, I can’t really figure out what Megan thought of her cupcakes… maybe you could decipher her text?  

“What the eff is in that icing? That ish is amazing”  

;)… this is one of many reasons why she’s one of my best friends.  

Here are Griffin’s Birthday cupcakes!  No toppers needed…  Happy Birthday G-Money!

Sweet dreams everyone!  More to come this weekend!

xoxo

Benjamin Franklin… one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, who also formed the first public lending library in America (which I am very thankful for since I probably couldn’t afford to be in two book clubs this year otherwise)… discussed in his autobiography 13 virtues to practice for the rest of his life. He admits that he didn’t always follow those life lessons that he preached himself, but ultimately they would attempt to make him a better man contributing to his happiness and success.  

Two of the 13 virtues stick in my head every morning when I fight to wake up at 3 or 4am to bake before a full-day’s work or weekend activities.  Frugality and Industry…

WASTE NOTHING

LOSE NO TIME

Plus, a good cup of coffee or a sugar free Red Bull gets me going with a few hard-boiled eggs and B-Complex gummy vitamins.  I’m really trying to use as many hours of the day that my body can handle right now.  We were given daylight AND light-bulbs for a reason, right?

Last Tuesday was another early baking morning!  I received more orders for Valentine’s Day from the sampler success.  I was SO excited to bake more cupcakes topped with little hearts.  I charged a little less than the Valentine’s Day Samplers, since I only used 3 recipes versus 6 - Dark Chocolate Raspberry with Raspberry Ganache filling, Cookies and Cream with Marshmallow filling, and Dark Chocolate with Peanut Butter frosting.   I also had less time to bake, so I wanted to use “no-fail” “already tested” recipes.  I had to meet a co-worker earlier than usual that morning to call on UNC-Greensboro and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, so I didn’t have time to dilly-dally.  Monday night prep and a perfect assembly line was key!

Excuse the fuzzy pictures… I just had my blackberry that morning:

… Guess what?  I sold them ALL!  I was only left with a few cupcakes perfect for Tyler’s and my dessert that night.

SCORE!  Pretty awesome stuff.  My co-workers bought most of the half dozen orders, since I offered to drop them off on my way to Greensboro first thing that morning.  I also had a few friends stop by when Tyler got off work to pick up their orders.  I love my family, friends, and co-workers!  I’m so grateful for such incredible people in my life.

Tyler and I made it to Valentine’s Day dinner around 7pm when I got back from Winston-Salem and then sold the last half dozen to a friend around 9pm… and goodness… did I sleep well that night.

Hugs and kisses to you all… I’m already looking forward to February 14, 2013.

xoxo

These are some of my favorite cupcake toppers EVER!  Carmen, one of my dental hygienist from Stansell Dentistry ordered strawberry and vanilla cupcakes for a baby shower the same weekend as the Valentine’s Day Samplers.  She needed 3 dozen and wanted animal toppers.

Carmen asked for monkeys and giraffes, but wanted something a little different than the monkeys my sister and I made for the Wyatt’s Baby Shower last year:

And, Carmen wanted a little pink bow for the top!  So, as always I was excited for a challenge and spend several evenings making the cutest monkeys and giraffes possible.  Check out the final product…

LOVE LOVE LOVE those bows!  And don’t be afraid of the “mouthless” monkeys… EEK, look at them on the vanilla cupcakes…

They had hands!  I wanted them to look like they were eating the cupcake.  So much fun!

Ahh, and I can’t forget about the giraffes!?

Just missing their little pink bows!

And, have I mentioned that I can’t wait for strawberry season?  I love my strawberry cupcake recipe the best during the Spring and Summer months… nothing beats fresh, ripe strawberries from Raleigh’s Farmers market during May!  What a blast of flavor when baked and pureed!

As I finished baking hundreds of other cupcakes for my Valentine’s Day Samplers… Carmen picked her cupcake order up with her fiance from my house and headed to Greensboro for the Baby Shower she was co-hosting!

Cupcakes ready to go!

Thanks again Carmen for inviting me to apart of your friend’s special day!  I hope everyone enjoyed the cupcakes.

Yay for babies!

xoxo

Some of you have asked how my free bakery assistant has been holding up with these busy weekends…

That’s a nice wifey, right?  Tyler slept in the last few baking mornings!

XOXO

What a hit!  I’m doing this again FOR SURE!  I loved trying out some new recipes: Cookies and Cream with a marshmallow filling, Dark Chocolate Raspberry with ganache filling, and a classic Lemon cupcake… as well as sharing some of my classics; dark chocolate with peanut butter icing, fresh strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting, and vanilla with pink tinted buttercream!

I didn’t get much sleep last weekend because of two back-to-back 3am mornings on Saturday and Sunday, but the rave reviews have been amazing, so every grumpy moment was worth it!  I was able to get 8 more orders out on VALENTINE’S DAY because of the feedback I received on Sunday, Feb 12th for my sampler day.

Check out my assembly line this past Sunday for the Valentine’s Day Samplers:

This was just a start!  I also had 2 dozen more cupcakes for a baby shower baking that morning as well.  More details coming soon!  Wait until you see those toppers!

Quite the hit!  Dark Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes with a raspberry ganache filling!  So popular that I made more on actual Valentine’s Day for additional orders.  Lucky for me, I used my classic dark chocolate cupcake recipe, added raspberry puree to my “go-to” dark chocolate buttercream icing as well as the ganache.  YUM!

Cookies and Cream with a marshmallow filling!  What can I say?  

Amazing.  

I used my basic vanilla cake recipe, added about a 1.5 cups of cookies and cream (for 2.5 dozen), then filled with a marshmallow filling after the cakes cooled.  For the frosting, I made my “go-to” vanilla buttercream recipe and added a TON of crushed cookies.  Be sure to crush your cookies to fine powder if you’re planning to pipe the frosting.  Trust me.  

Make these!  They’ll become a family regular!  I had several more folks order this recipe for Valentine’s Day.

The first Valentine’s Day Sampler ready to go!  So sweet!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  Get your cupcakes on!

XOXO

Wow!  What a fantastic last week of baking!  I’m SO thankful for all of the cupcake orders and support from family, friends, and NEW friends.

Last week started off with cupcakes for Mr. Jake Denton!  This adorable little man just turned 1 and he celebrated it by eating LOTS of cake.  His mom, Mary (also one of my first managers in retail) and dad, Jeff (one of our best friend’s best friend) had Jake dive into a Carvel cake on his real birthday and then my Mickey Mouse theme cupcakes on his birthday party day!  This kiddo is a professional folks - watch out.  

Mary trusted my creativity and simply wanted vanilla and chocolate cupcakes that matched her party theme:  

I am a huge Mickey fan, so I was thrilled!  M.I.C… K.E.Y… MOUSEEEEE!  Mickey Mouse!

I made the marshmallow fondant toppers on Friday night because I knew 3 am would come early on Saturday.  I usually like to have the fondant toppers made earlier in the week, but life’s been busy and I had a TON of prep-work every evening the week beforehand for the marathon baking weekend that was about to begin!

Finished #1 toppers and the first steps to the Mickey Mouse toppers are to the right.

And then… here they are the Mickey Mouse toppers on chocolate cupcakes!  LOVE THEM!

So cute!  I want Mickey Mouse cupcake toppers for my birthday!

And check out the #1 toppers on the vanilla cupcakes!

All together now!

Mickey Mouse chocolate cupcakes ready to go!

Look how cute together!

#1 vanilla cupcakes ready to go!

And, do you see that JUMBO cupcake?  That was a special surprise for Jake!  Mary wanted a special cupcake for Jake and I did too!

HE ATE THE WHOLE THING!  Granted there were crumbs behind his ears and in his hair, but I was extremely impressed.  I’ll have to ask Mary for a picture to share with you!

Yay!  Happy 1st Birthday Jake!  You’re adorable!

xoxo