beautydetermined

Happy 60th Birthday Mom Dean!

What a wonderful few days of celebrating the birthday of my awesome Mother-in-law, Mom Dean!  

We spent the afternoon in Wilson with the family and were able to even have some time with our ridiculously cute, nephew Bryson who was trying out his new bike carrier…

… TELL me this baby doesn’t look like Tyler!  Precious… and of course, you know what I brought as part of Mom’s birthday gift…

… A lovely mixed cupcake dozen!  Nothing says a birthday like a little cake.  

As our main present to Mom Dean turning the BIG 60, we surprised her with an evening stay in a King Suite at the Umstead Hotel accompanied by her special sidekick and handsome beau, Tyler’s Dad.  

We treated her to an awesome dinner at Herons and even set-up a Swedish massage at the Umstead’s Spa for the morning after.  We really wanted her to have a day off!  She does so much for the family and really deserved and needed a few hours for JUST HER.

A happy and satisfied family… full of amazing appetizers, food combos, wines, and desserts!

Happy Birthday Mom Dean!  We love you very much.  Thank you for your patience, grace, selfless acts of kindness, love, support, homemade cards and photo albums :), and everything single thing you do to make our family complete.  

XOXO

A Typical Awesome Saturday Cupcake Morning…

Looks a little like this…

Yumminess… that usually starts around 3am!  Ouch!

Sometimes a little later if I’m lucky.  I’m still baking the morning of the event to ensure the greatest quality baked good.  I want my cakes and cupcakes fresh, moist, and smelling AMAZING.  

I’ll continue to bake the “day of” as best as I can until I can’t humanly wake up earlier or legitimately don’t have enough hours in a Saturday to get cupcakes finished. 

I want fluffy frosting and soft, moist cake!  Plus, folks always have a few cupcakes left over and I want them to have an extra day of freshness.  The only things I’ll make in advance are the fillers and marshmallow fondant toppers.  Fillers store great as long as they are sealed and keep in the fridge and if sealed carefully, marshmallow fondant toppers can last for weeks!  Just don’t put those in the fridge, because condensation will leave watermarks on your toppers.

Jaime Martini’s sister just celebrated her engagement the other weekend.  The happy couple had a color-theme of bright pink and a summery orange.  Jaime needed flowers and “E”s!  

I made little mini roses out of rolled fondant for the chocolate with dark chocolate frosting cupcakes…

Piped pretty, bright pink “E”s on the vanilla and vanilla cupcakes…

You know I love these “E”s.  My favorite letter besides “M”.  I added a little flower or two to each cupcake which really soften the “E”s and brought everything together.  

Super cute!  I don’t have a chance to pipe very often, but LOVE it when I have an order that needs it.  

Piping is so much fun!

And, I couldn’t have forgotten a few sweet “e” monogram toppers in pink…

… and orange for the fresh strawberry puree cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting!  You can’t really tell in these pictures, but the bottom piece was also embossed in a flowery pattern just to emphasis Jaime’s party theme.

Ekk, more flowers!  Not only are there little flowers on top of the cupcakes below, but the piped frosting also looks like big flowers.  Jaime also wanted a new flavor combination!  I recommended a dozen of my Guinness chocolate cupcakes with Jameson ganache filling and Bailey’s buttercream.  

Perfectly fitting since I met Jaime through our mutual fabulous friend, Heather who works for Southern Wine and Spirits and who attended Jaime’s sister’s engagement party as well.

I decided to add a few more roses here and there.  I wanted the cupcakes to look like ever-growing gardens… and alive.

So sweet!  Jaime, I’m super happy for your sister and family.  Weddings are so much fun and you guys must be thrilled.  Thank you again for inviting me to be a part of your special day… as always!  You’re the best!

XOXO 

Comic Book Fanatic! Batman and Spiderman Cupcakes!

Most of you that have known me for years have a pretty good understanding of my outward personality.  I also have a hidden-hippie side AND a nerdy side.  Sometimes they come out from time to time, but only if you’re lucky.

I love art and all types of music.  Tyler and I attend every concert (indoor/outdoor/small/big) as often as we possibly can.  I draw and paint.  I love Phish.  I love tie-dyed shirts, dresses, and onsies.  I love dirty dirty dirty hippie hair on myself.  

Can’t get those curls to look like that with product!  

I’m obsessed with Star Trek.  Not to the point where I have 100 replicas of Captain James Kirk, but enough to where I still practice the Vulcan salute and ask Scotty to beam me up on bad days.  I love Star Wars and besides Art, my favorite subject in school was Math.  Coming from two English major parents, I’m not sure if this ever made sense, but I love numbers and probably why I love sales reports.  I am also infatuated with comic books, graphic novels, and the movies inspired by these stories.

I had a huge collection of Archie, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spiderman, Hulk… whatever, I had it growing up.  My siblings also read lots of them and believe it or not, we actually shared each others’ comic books without having to steal them or rip them a part.

So, when my two co-workers Amy and David asked for Batman and Spiderman cupcakes for their son, Noah’s 4th Birthday.  I jumped all over it!

Just a sneak peek of Spiddy!

And, the Dark Crusader!

Spiderman!  Boom.

Batman!  Boom.

What’s a Spiderman topper to do without a little blue frosting to bring out his colors?  Or a little dark chocolate buttercream to bring out Batman’s Bat-Signal of distress?

Amy and David requested Cookies and Cream with marshmallow filling topped with a Cookies and Cream frosting, Vanilla cupcakes with a Dark Chocolate frosting, Vanilla cupcakes with Chocolate frosting, and Chocolate cupcakes with Almond/Vanilla buttercream and then some with Dark Chocolate buttercream.  Perfect for a party full of adults and kids!

Little “4”s just for Mister Noah!

Happy Birthday Noah!  Hope you had a wonderful day celebrating with Mom, Dad, and your family and friends.  Keep loving comics and enjoying the stories… you’ll never forget them!

Now, who wants some hippie cupcakes?  Tie-dye anyone?

XOXO

Gluten-Free… What?!

These are cupcakes without gluten my friends.  Yes!  They can look amazing and taste delicious too!  My gluten-free Mom better watch out.

I was terrified to take on this project for our friends Todd and Katie, who needed cupcakes for a friend who just had twins.  A little boy and girl!  

Todd called asking about gluten-free cupcakes for their friend’s shower and I explained that I’d love to make them, I just can’t technically call them gluten-free.  I use wheat in my baking area!

Todd said that as long as the ingredients were gluten-free, I would be just fine.  Just to cover my bases and take it an extra step… I also bought new measuring cups, measuring spoons, pastry tips, mixing bowls, spatulas, and mixers just to ensure that they were as gluten-free as possible.  

Let’s talk about shopping for the recipes.  I had such a tough time finding all of my ingredients.  Luckily enough, Walmart and Earth Fare had the most ingredients that I needed.  Whole Foods only had the King Arthur Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour that I actually found at Earth Fare for a little cheaper.  Score Tyler!  Score!  

Surprised about Walmart?  Yeah, me too!  They had a HUGE selection of gluten-free baking ingredients and products.  At midnight the Friday before I needed to bake, I was very thankful that Walmart saved the day.

Onto baking!  Todd and Katie wanted chocolate and vanilla cupcakes mixed and matched with different buttercreams topped with Winnie the Pooh theme toppers.

I baked a dark chocolate cupcake and topped half of them with an almond/vanilla buttercream frosting and the other half with a dark cocoa buttercream frosting… then took an extra few chocolate and chocolate cupcakes filled them with a marshmallow filling and decorated the tops with a drizzle of marshmallow yumminess.

The rest of the cupcakes had a vanilla cake base with vanilla frosting and then some with a dark cocoa buttercream frosting.

Side note, you have to use the best unsweetened cocoa to make sure there isn’t gluten.  I was also sure to carefully read every label and research every product I was using in my recipes.  An extremely long process, but what a great learning experience for me!

Now for the toppers!

Just wait… my favorite toppers to date!

<insert squeal here>  LITTLE BEES!  Do you see those wings?!

And a HUNNY (honey) pot!  Where is Pooh Bear?

And you can’t forget Piglet!  We needed a little pink in there.

Thank you again Katie and Todd for thinking about me when ordering cupcakes.  I’m so glad they were such a success!  I didn’t even know that Todd actually knew where the exclamation point WAS on his phone… until I received this text:

“Home run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thank you sooooooooooo much!!!!!!!”

Followed by this sweet text from Katie:  ”Your cupcakes are amazing and a huge hit!”

Yay, little did they know that I was on the edge of my seat that whole afternoon waiting for feedback.  It took every little bone in my body to NOT text them to find out what everyone thought.  I had eaten a chocolate cupcake for breakfast that morning and LOVED them, but I was really looking for feedback from their gluten-free friends.  Todd’s text was clutch!

Todd and Katie, hope your friends had a very special day.  Many hugs and kisses to their little ones.  I can’t wait to hear when they come home to Mom and Dad.

XOXO

Delta Zeta Cupcakes!

Dozens of cupcakes for hungry Delta Zeta - Charlotte sorority girls the weekend of April 20th! Lea, my youngest sister requested basic flavor combos; vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with vanilla/almond frosting, cookies and cream with a marshmallow filling topped with a cookies and cream frosting, and red velvet for her DZ event.  150 cupcakes in total!  

Pink and Green are their colors… can you tell? 

Yes, yes… I know.  I told you this was one of my favorite topper designs right now.  You’ll see more designs soon… I just LOVE this one though!  

A little vanilla buttercream dyed light green!  Love it.

Yum yum yum!  I was EXHAUSTED after this baking event.  What a huge day full of tons of orders.  I was definitely very thankful to have my favorite new personal assistant, Lea… 

Don’t worry, Tyler’s okay with it.  Lea was the best ever.  She was the personal assistant and employee you hope for in any professional setting.  She was eager for new projects, things to create, or anything for that matter.  She just kept asking “what else?” “how can I do this?” “let me do that”… and I only had to show her ONCE. 

ONCE.

Something tells me, I need to grab her before some other company does… and I’ll actually pay her.  

Sorry Tyler.  You get free smooches.  That’s WAY better.

And, what do Delta Zeta cupcake fiend lovers look like after eating a scrumptious cupcake baked and decorated by myself and my trusty future awesome personal assistant?

And, no… alcohol was not part of this event.

Not at all.

XOXO

Happy 30th Birthday Becca Boo!

The owls are back folks! Just in time for a special lady’s 30th birthday… Becca Brown!  One of my very best friends and high school buddy celebrated her birthday lots of days this month… that a girl. I’m totally down with a birthday week or even a month of celebrations.

She had a Surprise Dinner with friends!  Oak Island Beach vacay with family!  Camping (that unfortunately we missed out on)!  Way to bring in your 30th year!

Last week Becca’s hubby, Aaron wanted to surprise her with birthday cupcakes on their way out of town to Oak Island, so the little owls were a must.

Why owls? Well, Becca is a Chi Omega and the owl is their mascot… she’s obsessed.

And you know I love a light pink and green combo.  So sweet!

Red Velvet and Cookies and Cream requested by her hubby for the lovely birthday girl! I don’t know anyone that loves Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting as much as Becca.  

Hope you had a wonderful birthday week and a blast camping this weekend. We’re so happy to have spent surprise birthday dinner with you the other weekend even though I went home with a margarita in my purse… and on my pants… and in my shoes.

Thank you for being a wonderful friend all these years. Many more margaritas (not on my pants) in our future.

Haha, love you Becca!

XOXO

Martini - Customer of the Month!

Scrumptious.  A mix of chocolate cupcakes with different frostings; chocolate, strawberry, chocolate with marshmallow creme drizzle, and cookies & cream.  Amazing idea Jaime Martini aka my best customer to date!  

Don’t be jealous of my fondness for Jaime… this girl knows a good cupcake folks.  Luckily enough, they’re my creations!  Jaime thinks of me for any special occasion on her books.  Good friend coming into town, Birthday cupcakes, Baby Shower cupcakes, Happy Engagement cupcakes… I am very thankful for her friendship and support!

She lets me be as creative as possible and completely lets go!  The popularity with my Salted Caramel Chocolate cupcakes would not have come to fruition without her.  She was my first cupcake fiend to request them and I’ll be forever grateful to her for my first stab at that recipe.  Hands down… one of my favorites!

Can’t wait to blog about the cupcakes I baked and decorated for her sister’s engagement party this past weekend weekend!  Thanks again Jaime for thinking about me for your special celebrations!  Lots of hugs and kisses to you!

XOXO

Happy Wedding Cupcakes for the Office!

I love weddings.  There’s something so innocent about them… those happy couples have no idea what they’re getting themselves into or if you’re like us… you totally do and sign up for craziness anyway!  :)  

Just kidding, you know I couldn’t live without Tyler.  Surely, he may want to strangle me some days, but he also really goes into depression without his crazy haired, blue-eyed sidekick.  At least, I like to tell myself this… 

I am also very cognizant of the fact that even though I have a jam-packed busy work and personal life right now that Tyler is the absolute most important thing in my life.  At the end of the day… he’s all that matters.

Welcome to marriage my friends.  Don’t take each other for granted and be sure to work on your relationship everyday… marriage will be one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences of your life.  

With that being said, wedding season is upon us!  My mom needed cupcakes for one of her co-workers whose engaged to be married.  I am obviously obsessed with the monogram design below and decided to use a nude color as the center for a traditional wedding theme.

Mom requested basic flavors; chocolates and vanillas, so I mixed and matched cakes with buttercreams…

… and ta-da!  A nice combination of tasty treats.  I also included a few chocolate cupcakes with a fresh strawberry puree buttercream frosting.

How could you not?!  Strawberries are in season people!

Of course, I had a few extras… Earth Fare employees were the lucky tasters of these sweet babies.

Happy Wedding Season everyone!  XOXO

Guess Who’s Back?!

Ekk, monkeys and giraffes!  This time for a little boy!

Hailey Klepcyk works with me at Wisdom Beverage and discovered my love for baking through my blog.  One of her best friends had an upcoming baby shower that she and her family were hosting… and they needed cupcakes!

At first when Hailey asked me if I could bake the cupcakes for her friend’s shower, I said… no. Whoa, my first NO!

Why?  Well, I was running my half marathon that morning and didn’t think I’d really be able to take on this cupcake project.  

Obviously, Hailey is quite the sales woman people.  Somehow she talked me into baking cupcakes before my half marathon then having to decorate them as soon as I got home.  Talk about Cupcake Wars in the Dean House that morning!

Luckily enough, Hailey had simple requests - monkeys, giraffes, vanilla, and strawberry cupcakes!  She had even found this super cute flower cupcake liner for me to use to match their party theme… and as you can see, the cupcakes made their way to the baby shower!

Nom Nom Nom!

Love the adorable paper cupcake liners without the toppers.  The blue and pink are too cute together!

The only difference in these little marshmallow fondant creatures from Carmen’s cupcakes in February is with the toppers, I decided to leave the little bow off the animals…  1.) They were very girlie even though the bows were light blue and 2.) the overall look was almost too much with the pretty flower liners…

… And check out the last minute dozen request that Hailey needed just a few hours before the party.  She had a few people RSVP that morning!  Shocker!  What happened to RSVP’ing people?  Do it.  Make it a New Year’s Resolution.

I even busted out some simple brown hearts to match the color theme and bring together all of the cupcakes. 

Yummers!  I’m happy to hear that the shower was a success.  Sending well wishes and hugs to Hailey’s friend during this special time.  Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your celebrations!

XOXO

Bring Cupcakes Everywhere You Go!

It’s my motto in life!  95% of the time, I arrive at parties, get-togethers, dinners, etc. with a cupcake carrier in hand full of sugary butter love.  I usually have a few extra cupcakes after a marathon baking weekend or maybe if someone just needs a half dozen.  Wisdom and Earth Fare always get a fair share of them, but it always is nice to surprise others too!

Michelle and Alex Baldwin just welcomed their little girl Lila into this world.  She’s as precious as she can be and cute as a button.  If you remember, I was sure to get this baby girl hooked on cupcakes from a very early stage… in utero of course.  I figured this is really the best selling technique and my most efficient way to ensure customers for decades.

Before Sweet Lila was here… I had made little “L”s for another upcoming cupcake project and decided to make a dozen extra.  I had made a comment to Tyler, while creating them…

Me: “Wouldn’t it be cool if Alex and Michelle named their girl with an L name?”

Tyler:  ”Yea it would, but it’s not going to happen”

Me:  ”Well, I’m going to go ahead and make extras in case” 

Days later, we receive a little text from Mama Michelle…

“Lila Alexander Baldwin, born April 5 2012” with a picture of the most beautiful baby girl you’ve ever seen.  

Her name was Lila and we were already in love.

“L”s and cupcakes ready for the Baldwin family and our first visit with Lila.

Now of course that Little “L” may have been a coincidence, but I believe and like to think that we all have a level of intuition and sometimes we need to just be quiet and listen…

That weekend was a big baby weekend for us!  We also spent several hours with Penny and Bryson in WakeMed Hospital.  Poor Bryson has been having troubles with colds, pneumonia, coughing, wheezing… you name it… he’s struggling.  His little lungs are trying to catch-up with his daily activities; crawling, trying to walk, laughing, crying, playing, but aren’t strong enough to keep up with him.  He usually has several breathing treatments a day, but a few weekends ago was one of his worst.  

Penny took Bryson to the ER on Friday evening because his wheezing had hit an all-time peak of scariness.  WakeMed admitted him and they spent the next 24 hours in the hospital, so they could watch him overnight.  I think Penny was at her wits end and really didn’t know how to make him feel better and since she’s a nurse, she probably felt safest at the hospital.  Tyler and I took shifts spending time with her to make sure she had the most support possible.  

On Saturday morning, I woke up super early to bake several dozen cupcakes then called her to see what I could bring to the hospital on my way.  

Poor girl needed clothing, a toothbrush, and undies!  I packed a little care bag with lots of goodies and put together a little plate of cupcakes…

Definitely would brighten my day!  Luckily enough, Bryson came home that evening after his lungs cleared a bit and his poor little nose was suctioned.  Breaks your heart when the little guys are so sick.  They smile through anything!  I’ll never forget that big Dean smile Bryson gave me as I walked into the hospital room.  Just precious.  Melts your heart.

I hear some more cupcakes are in my future this weekend!  Extras anyone?

XOXO

Happy Birthday DeAnn Cupcakes! You’re 30!

Ahh, I took a little hiatus from blogging.  I’ve actually really missed blabbing about cupcakes and my busy, crazy life.  With the amount of events, happenings, and STUFF going on it’s nice to sort it out on paper and recap my efforts.  

The cool thing is that I have LOTS of cupcake blogs to post!  I’m still making my way through cupcake orders from the weekend of April 14th… and haven’t even touched last weekend’s baking marathon just yet.

Joe and Alexis Wyatt are some of my biggest supporters and best friends.  I had the pleasure of meeting Joe through Wisdom Beverage a few months after I started in May 2008.  We became friends fast and eventually our families intertwined and became bosom buddies.  Hayden, Alexis, Tyler, Joe, Me… then little Xavier!  Joe also has an entrepreneurial spirit, so we try to pull each other out of the trenches, encourage, and motivate each other to push forward.  

Joe and Alexis were one of the first baby shower cupcake orders I had last year after Rachel and Chris’ wedding.  Little Xavier was on his way!  I hooked Joe and Alexis’ family and friends on my favorite recipes and they became some of my favorite cupcake fiend lovers.  

DeAnna, one of Alexis’ fabulous buddies just turned 30, so as a surprise the Wyatts brought her cupcakes to share with family and friends for her birthday shindig.

Yay, Happy Birthday chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Gorgeous girl!  Hope it was the best one yet!

XOXO

Happy Engagement Cupcakes!

I love baking cupcakes for showers and parties!  I get to share my sugary butter love with lots of new folks and am part of someone’s special celebration.  

My friend, Cathy B… Cathy Hinek, but I still like to say Cathy B… ordered cupcakes for a cousin’s engagement party this past weekend.  Together their initials will be “MAR” with “A” as their last name initial when they are married.  

I had a blast trying out different triple monograms, but eventually feel in love with this one…

So, elegant yet modern with a little traditional flare.  

And, yes a cupcake topper can be ALL of those things.

Aren’t those blues pretty?  The darker color is the same color as the bridesmaid dresses… and you want to know what else is cool?  Prepare for my artsy weird mind and Spanish language and literature degree…

MAR in Spanish means SEA or MARINE… and their colors happen to be the colors of water.  Not sure if they meant that, but pretty neat coincidence, right?

Cathy ordered vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet cupcakes… and I actually had a few extra apple cider spice cupcakes left over from Kristin’s order earlier in the day, so Cathy had a few of those mixed in as well.  Yum!  What a selection!

And, you definitely need hearts for an engagement party!  You know I love hearts… and these had little MARs on the top!

Thanks again Cathy for thinking about me for your family’s special day!  I am very grateful for the support.  I wish the happy couple a wonderful marriage and that they enjoy every minute of their engagement… and of course, lots more cupcakes to come!

XOXO

A Baker’s Life for Me! Baby Book Theme Cupcakes!

What a wild and crazy weekend!  I baked over 14 dozen cupcakes, ran a half marathon, spent time with Penny and our nephew at the hospital because poor Bryson was having trouble breathing, meet Lila Baldwin (our awesome friends, Michelle and Alex’s gorgeous newborn girl), cleaned our kitchen 4 or 5 times, caught up with our boos, Kristy and Bart, and slept a few hours.  NUTS!

I’m so thankful for all of the cupcake orders!  I am booked solid with orders until the last week in May.  I could probably squeeze in a few more special orders, but I think samplers are out of the question.  Boo!  I always love those mornings.  Always a great chance to try out some new flavor combinations and recipes.

I definitely need more spare time to make cupcake toppers!  Good thing I’m backing down mileage-wise in regards to running.  I have to cut-in some where.  I’m starting to get some cool challenges, which if you know me… I love a good challenge, but these require more work.

Check out these super cute Baby BOOK Baby Shower cupcakes and toppers that I made for a special lady, Kristin one of my co-workers at Wisdom this weekend for her cousin’s Baby Shower: 

Winnie the Pooh and the Lorax?  Shut your mouth!  I actually love the BABY monogram toppers too!  How sweet and delicate… almost like lace.

I loved using my edible marker for these toppers.  Many children’s books are very “sketchy” (not like shady), but in a pencil/marker sketchy… you know?

See… sketchy like this:

So, I thought the marker would create this effect better than anything else.  Now, I didn’t just make little Lorax and Winnie the Pooh toppers…

What about Curious George and HORTON?  

Again, I love that BOY monogram, but Horton Hears a Who definitely stole the show!

All together now!

Yay, so much fun to make!  I loved every minute of making these cupcakes and toppers.  Thanks Kristin for inviting me to be part of your family’s special occasion.  Hope the weekend in South Carolina was great!

XOXO

My First Half Marathon! Run Raleigh 2012

I feel like writing a story just like a 3rd or 4th grade assignment.  My scribbled stories never had an ending.  They were always over the page limit and I never finished them.  I made sure my illustrations were awesome though!  I have so much to tell and gab about with this huge event in my life that I promise to make this as short and sweet as possible… with an ending.

I’m pretty stinking proud of myself.  I didn’t finish my half in the time frame as originally planned, but I ran 13.1 miles today and am thrilled.  I actually ran the first 6 miles in less than an hour, which was the fastest my huge little feet had taken me…  I’m even already contemplating my next one!  

So, the main reasons why this was quite the emotional day for me…

1.)  I was told by a friend’s dad in college that I didn’t have the body-type to run a half marathon.  BOOM!  How do you like that?!  Don’t ever let someone tell you can’t do something.

2.)  I used to play basketball and softball, but I was never much of a runner and had to train myself over the years to become a runner.  Slow, but I now have a regular running schedule every week!  I especially have Tracie Talbert Rodriguez (my main inspiration and dear friend, who will be running the Boston Marathon today), my family and friends, CapRunWalk, Tim Clark, and Margaret Cooper to thank for their consistent guidance and encouragement… and most importantly, my incredible husband Tyler.  He has been there every step of the way as I have given all of my extra spare time to greenways, pavement, trails, and sweat.  I love you babe.

3.)  I busted my ankle in October and was in a airboot for a week.  You would have thought someone had killed one of our furbabies.  I was depressed for 2 weeks and couldn’t even shower by myself.  Pretty crazy what the body can do!  I still have issues with jumping and side-to-side, but it stayed strong for 13.1 miles of running today.  

As I ran today, I wanted to stop several times because I had baked 12 dozen cupcakes the day before and was extremely exhausted.  Haha, absolutely NO cupcakes on my next race weekend!  As I thought about stopping often as the lovely hills (Welcome to Raleigh!) picked up after mile 6, I continued to think about all of these things that had motivated me over the year.  I thought about the young girl with a prosthetic leg that I saw running the Umstead 100 Ultra Race… I thought about Adam Bender… I thought about the LACK of sleep I’d gotten over the past few months and just. kept. running.  

2 hours and 37 minutes later.  I had run my first half marathon.  I’ve never wanted oranges and a gatorade so badly in my life.  Check that off my invisible bucket list!

Good luck to all of the Boston Marathon runners today.  Good luck TTR, run like the wind!  I’m cheering you on the WHOLE time!  Have so much fun, you’ll do great.

Thank you everyone for your support and love.  Happy Monday!

XOXO

Sampler Part III : Hot Cross Buns Cupcakes!

Today, one of my co-workers and friends, Tina said that these were her absolute new favorites.  (Grandma, close your ears and eyes) She also called me a b*tch, because she ate cupcakes ALL weekend, while she tried her hardest to get back on a diet before her birthday next week.

Tina is hot.  She’s crazy.  Tell her to eat as many cupcakes as she’d like.

Sooo, let’s talk about these Hot Cross Buns cupcakes.

Awesome.  One word basically sums them up.

Simple vanilla cake with cinnamon and raisins topped with a cinnamon buttercream frosting with a light icing glaze cross piped on top.  I took a complete stab at this recipe.  I used my classic vanillla recipe, added a cup of raisins, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.  Bam!  Check these lovelies out!

How did I get the buttercream so smooth?  VIVA paper towels!  Pipe a nice pile of frosting on your cupcake - wait at least 10 minutes until your frosting starts to harden/crust - lightly smooth our your frosting like this:

Nice and smooth!  Only use VIVA!  Other paper towels leave fuzzies behind and stick to your frosting.

Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top for an extra spicy warm bite…

…And there you have HOT CROSS BUNS!  Just don’t forget those cute carrot toppers!

Also, the little duckies were an inspiration from the Cake Journal.  Great blog!  Check it out when you can.

Happy Happy Easter folks!

What did the Easter Bunny bring you this year?

XOXO