Cupcakes!!!

Someone I know wanted me to make cupcakes for their birthday. The request was for a dozen, 6 chocolate and 6 vanilla. The vanilla was to be this glittery purple and I'm so against putting anything that's not edible on pastries so I had to improvise. And the chocolate was my scotch-whiskey cupcakes. I'm going to post a pic of my cupcakes and then the one I attempted to duplicate. 

My design

What I tried to duplicate 

My scotch-whiskey cupcakes 

All Butter Buttercream?!?!

I'm a researcher, that is probably why I use to be, and loved being an Anaylst until I got laid off in June 2012. Forever now I've noticed that my buttercream looks...slightly grainy? Not beat well? Not enough liquid? Regardless of what it was I knew it wasn't my fault. I remember reading about high ratio shortening but never took time to really understand what it was. But yesterday I did, I read and I understood. And I made the decision to purchase a $25 container of CK high ratio shortening. In simple terms, regular vegetable shortening has no trans fats and another word that begins with the letter "E". And guess what, that's what buttercream needs to be smooth, creamy, fluffy and awesome. Yesterday I baked a cake for someone and used only butter in the buttercream. The pic will show the shininess from the butter, it was still a little warm in my place from the oven but the cake was completely cooled. Either way I enjoyed the creaminess and will stop using vegetable shortening until I get the one that I ordered. But I'll have to wait until my place has completely cooled down before decorating. My roses look a little tired...lol. 

It's been a long time coming...

I was looking for some information on my flash drive and noticed that I had a document saved under the name Pastry Business, dated May 2011. I paused and said to myself, wow! Have I really been trying to start my pastry business for that long? I had no idea! Well I knew, but it's different when you actually see a date. It's been about 4 years, as I'm sure I was trying before May. Well all in all, through God, faith and persistence, it's finally happening, I'm on my way to fulfilling my dream! I'm so thankful to God for everything, without God none of this would be possible.

Guess What?!?!?!

I HAVE A LOGO!

Well enough said, check it out on my website at www.tastypastriesshop.com

And a big thanks to Anita at Anita's Designs & Events (www.anitasdesigns-events.com) for designing the perfect logo for me!

Trying Something New

My kids (more so my daughter) wanted more chocolate covered strawberries (I gave both kids some for Valentine's Day), so I made more since we had extra long-stem strawberries sitting in the fridge. I was feeling so inspired I decided to make gourmet chocolate covered graham crackers and marshmallows. I love being creative and I love when the ideas start flowing. I thank God for placing me along this patch, it feels good to do what you enjoy the most.

My Valentine's Day gifts!

This is why I have to stay fit! But it was very much appreciated!

Chocolate covered strawberries and fixes from Fannie May and 1/2 dozen roses!

Happy Valentine's Day

I've been busy all day long, and this is why... 

Oh, and I didn't get an opportunity to take a pic of my very first order. 

Now the family and I have settled down for a bite to eat...

Heart shaped deep dish from Giordano's!

Final Class - Wilton Course 2 Cake & Flower Designs

So today (2/13/15) marked the last day of a four week course. I really like course 2 because I loved working with royal icing. Well I love working with buttercream (even though I dislike the taste, but I dislike the taste of royal icing...so oh well), but royal icing is more challenging because it dries much faster than buttercream. And when it dries, it dries very hard. It is also nice to make designs with because of the drying aspect of it. Well enough babbling, here's my cake (first 2 pics) and the next four pics after are cakes that my two students made! They did an awesome job :-)

My First Vendor Show (sort of)

Tasty Pastries Shop, LLC. will be at the One Stop Pop Up Shop event in Villa Park, Ill. on Sunday, February, 22nd, from 11am to 4pm. The event is being held at the Villa Park VFW Hall @ 29 E. St. Charles Rd.

I will have my signature Keylime and Rocky Road cupcakes, and will also offer basic chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. Be there or be tasteless!

Oh, and I said first vendor show sort of because I use to be an Independent Mary Kay beauty consultant and did vendor shows for that business.

Cupcakes and Cakes, oh my!

I had a request for my scotch-whiskey cupcakes and this past Saturday was the last class for the Wilton Course 1 that I teach. This group was so awesome and the largest group I've ever taught. It's always great to have a nice size group, it makes the class so fun and time always flies by when you're having fun! The first 3 pics are my creations and the other pics are my students cakes. One student is a cake decorator at a well known grocery store, can you guess which cake belongs to her?!?! Lol

And yes, my buttrrcream was melting 😡

My First Airbrush Machine

Whooo hoooo! Who's super excited? Yep, this girl right here! I'm so ready to start airbrushing...like right at this very minute. But...I'm working from home so I can't, plus I have nothing to airbrush :-( But come this weekend, I will airbrush away, I can't wait until Saturday because I'm going to airbrush the demo cake that I will take to my Wilton course 1 class. Actually it's the last class... :-( Wow, how 4 weeks have blown by! Well hopefully my students will sign up for course 2, they're such a fun and awesome group!

Turtles Cupcake

Someone asked me to make turtle cupcakes for their son's b-day, she wanted 6 chocolate and 6 yellow. It took me much longer than I thought it would, but this was also my first time molding fondant. I could have molded the heads like a round circle, which would have made things so much faster, but I wanted to see what I was capable of. I also decided last minute to add sewer tops (which she's not expecting!), and I sprayed them with the pearl colored Wilton color mist, I love this product! I should have added gumpaste to harden the tops which would allow them to stand, but I was pressing for time. But all in all I'm really happy with the finish product!

Class Cake

Back in October I officially became a Wilton Method Instructor, in order to successfully teach my students the Wilton way, I have to bring pastries to class to demo on. This week I taught them how to properly level, torte, fill and frost a cake. In additional I taught them how to do a gel transfer. Once the buttercream on the cake/pastry has a crust, you trace a pic on parchment paper, outline with decorating gel on the non ink or pencil side, place the gel side down on your pastry, take a paint brush and lightly press the gel outline so the design can transfer to your pastry, gently pull up the parchment paper and decorate the pic. Yhew (sp?), that was a mouth full...lol. And here's my cake...