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Jina's Daisy Cupcakes

Holidaze!

Leaves are falling, the weather changes from mildly cold to confusingly warm daily, and pecan pie and peppermint cupcakes are on the brain... YEP, it must be the holidays! After a quick hiatus Belly's Bake Shop is back and ready to rock-n-roll. I've introduced 3 new flavors, have a few exciting jobs coming up, and of course -I can't wait to test a few new flavors and creations on my family!

New Flavors:
Peppermint Chocolate - Rich chocolate cake with sweet swirl of peppermint frosting, garnished with peppermint candy crumbles.
Vanilla Coconut Snowflake - Not your everyday vanilla! Vanilla bean infused vanilla cake with creamy vanilla-coconut buttercream dusted with a sprinkle of coconut flakes.
Cookies And Cream - Chocolate cake with chocolate cookie chunks folded into buttercream frosting! A new spin on my favorite ice cream!

As usual, I will keep you posted on all my baking adventures (and mishaps!) and I wish everyone a happy start to a wonderful holiday season!

Belly's Bake Shop Experiences Winter Weather Woes

It's quite ironic that cooler weather brings many advantages to the baking world: frostings are more stable, fondant decorations dry in a timely fashion, no fear of carefully crafted treats succumbing to humidity... yet, it can take you completely out of the game in one fail swoop. My sincerest apologies go out to the customers orders I have had to cancel due to falling ill.

Belly's Bake Shop will be taking a (very) short hiatus to get back on it's feet. After which, I will be working double-time cranking out holiday goodies for all to show my appreciation for your support and understanding.

Jessica's 25th Birthday Cake

Wow! I forgot what it was like to have a Saturday morning without waking up at 6:30am to put the finishing touches on a cake! Friday I delivered this uber-cute polka dot cake to Jessica for her 25th birthday. The cake consisted of white cake, strawberry fruit preserves with fresh strawberries filling, and buttercream frosting!


The cake was delivered to Mario Sabino's Mexican/Salvadorian restaurant. Next time I deliver a cake to this kind of establishment, I have to try the food!



Halloween is upon us and lots of spooky sweets are coming out of the bakeshop this week; a ghoulish ghost topped cake and lots of creepy chocolate cupcakes decorated with fun Halloween flair! Also in the works, an out of this world topsy-turvy solar system cake! Preview below:




Stay tuned for the finished product!

Max's Batman & Robin Cake

Whew, what a whirlwind week! Lots of exciting things happened; but two of the MOST exciting things: I saw Where The Wild Things Are and I was summoned to create a Batman & Robin themed cake for Max's 4th birthday. This crime fighting creation consists of buttermilk chocolate cake with choc-O-holic frosting and vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting.




This customer made me remember why I began baking pastries in the first place: to see *THAT* look on people's face when their custom cake is unveiled! (Thanks Ben and Kat!)


This week: Jessica is turning 25 and has dreams a black and pink polka dot 2 tier vanilla cake with fresh strawberry filling! Pictures to follow of this fun and fruity cake next week!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Perfect fall weather calls for perfect fall treats! Pumpkin Spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Tara's Birthday!



More cakes to come soon!

Averie's Princess Cupcake Tower

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of ringing in Averie's 4th Birthday with a magical arrangement of cupcakes and tiara adorned cake topper to compliment her Disney Princess birthday party. The party setup was every girl's dream! All attendees arrived dressed to impress in their elegant princess costumes and then bounced the day away in the princess castle bounce-house! The strawberry buttermilk cupcakes with fluffy light buttercream were a perfect pairing for the plethora of pink and purple party-goers! (try saying that three times fast!) Oh, and there was plenty of sugar in the sweet treats to keep them bouncing all through the day! :)




This week: It's Tara and Cassie's Birthday! Grilled Pineapple-UpsideDown Cake with Rum Whipped Cream as well as Ginger Spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! This cakes seem to coincide with the weather Texas is experiencing lately! We're transitioning from blistering hot summer days that make you crave a tropical treat into crisp fall mornings which remind you that Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Yum! My mouth is watering just thinking about them!

Vidauri/Koelemay Wedding

Another weekend gone by, another wedding celebrated! This weekend I had the pleasure of creating 2 cakes and cupcakes for the newly anointed Theresa Koelemay. Her request was for a wedding cake (that would be shared with an intimate gathering of family only), a reception cake for friends to enjoy as they party the night away, and finally cupcakes for brunch the day after the wedding.

The wedding cake consisted of "bride white" cake with buttercream frosting accented with yellow satin ribbon and elegant embroidery piped designs. I absolutely adore the unconventional dove topper they chose. It complimented the quaint cake beautifully!



The reception cake gave the couple a chance to really let their wild side show! This whimsical creation consisted of red velvet cake with dreamy cream cheese frosting and funky colors to boot! The bride's favorite color is green, and the grooms is blue, with a touch of yellow to reference the wedding cake, this cake came together brilliantly. This isn't your "traditional" wedding cake!



October 3rd is Averie's 4th birthday! This week I am creating a Disney Princess themed cupcake tower for Averie's 4th Birthday party! After the delivery 11:30am, it's off to the CakeWrecks book signing in Dallas. I can't wait!

October 10th marks the birthday's of Tara and Cassie. For this celebration I will be creating a grilled pineapple upside down cake with a lusciously light rum infused whipped cream topping as well as ginger spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to get kick off the fall season!

October 31st is not only Halloween, but this year it's also Kiran's 14th birthday! A chocolate cake with choc-o-holic frosting and a Twilight theme is sure to make this a birthday (and Halloween) to remember!



As always, there will be pictures to follow when these projects are complete. My apologies for the gaps in posts, but things never seem to slow down at Belly's Bake Shop!

xoxo

September Weddings

Wow! It must be wedding season, well at least for me it is! Whether I am reading about my friends getting married this month on Facebook or getting cake orders -September has proven to be a very popular month to get married!

This month is the DuMonthier/Mueller wedding cake. This cake will consist of 3 separated tiers of almond cake with almond frosting, a silver "M" emblem, silver dragees along the top border, royal blue satin ribbon attached to the bottom of each tier and buttercream roses between each "floating" tier. (I can hardly draw a cake, you didn't REALLY expect me to draw roses did you?! Give me a break!)




Also, I have the Vidauri/Koelemay wedding. This order will include a wedding cake, an off-site reception cake, and next-day brunch cupcakes. Wedding cake consists of "bride white"/buttercream cake, 2 separated tiers with fresh calla lily's between the tiers and yellow satin ribbon to adorn the bottom of each cake. The reception cake will be more personal and quirky (My favorite!). The colors are blue and green and may/may not include a humorous cake topper and inside jokes! What we do know for sure is the cake will be a 2 tier stacked red velvet/cream cheese cake! Brunch cupcakes, will be "bride white"/buttercream, with a white circle embellishment! (sketches to come after a meeting with the bride on Thursday 09/10/2009!)

McKinley Jo's 1st Birthday

This week went by FAR too fast! I feel like I hardly stepped foot out of my kitchen, but the hard work paid off and I produced a wonderfully cartoon-y ladybug cake for McKinley Jo's 1st Birthday, complete with a matching "smash cake"! Inside the ladybug is white/chocolate marble cake with choc-o-holic frosting! The smash cake is white cake with vanilla buttercream.










I also had the opportunity to make Nicole an array of neon cupcakes for her 15th Birthday Party. Somehow I managed to deliver these before I was able to take any photos, but take my word for it, they were SO CUTE and Nicole loved them!

It's time for a little break this week! I don't have anything else planned for another week, but I'm sure I'll find some reason to be in the kitchen -and of course I will post all adventures and/or mishaps!

Landon's 5th Birthday

Sometimes it's hard to find the balance between making a cake fun, whimsical, and beautiful; and yet still rough and tough for a boy turning 5 years old! I think this cake nestled nicely between those lines. The bubble letters and the colored fondant bead trim makes the cake appropriate for a child, but not so bubbly that it's feminine. Speaking of color: the green, red, and purple turned out better than I could have hoped for! Usually achieving an extremely vibrant color match is a bit challenging, but in this case it happened almost without effort.

This cake was for my beloved nephew Landon! He's turning 5 (on September 1st) and wanted a cake to compliment his ever-changing interests, and Monster Trucks seem to be the latest "thing" he's into! (Well, that and Transformers, Cars, Wii, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, and everything else known to mankind!)





**Sorry for the lack of better photography, I was slightly pre-occupied assisting with party-setup! :)



This week I have a 1st birthday ladybug cake for McKinley Jo complete with a matching smash cake; as well as neon cupcakes for Nicole's rockin' 15th Birthday party; -AND- (If I have a moment to spare) cupcakes for Landon's Pre-K class to celebrate his birthday!

Ladybug Cake Sketch





That's all for now, I will be back next week with more cake-craziness to post!

Ashton's 4th Birthday Cake

Well, one thing is for sure... Batman will never be lost over the generations. Ashton turned 4 this weekend and decided to celebrate with his favorite superhero in edible form!







I delivered the cake on Saturday morning and only now have I had the chance to post the pictures! I have been so busy with Dona's "girly chocolate" cake (Pictures will be up tonight or tomorrow), planning for the DuMonthier/Mueller wedding cake, my nephew Landon's 5th Birthday Monster Truck cake, sketching a 1st birthday ladybug cake, and researching Skelanimals for a project the first week of September!

Belly's Bake Shop is definitely staying busy! I think I need a bigger kitchen!

A new week.... More projects!

Just when I think I can take a few moments to un-wind, it's back to baking! This week has proven to be a popular week for chocolate! I have a Batman themed cake for Ashton who is turning 4 years old! And a "girly chocolate" cake for Dona, who looooves high heels!


Ashton's 4th Birthday Cake:
3 - 8" round chocolate cakes
Filled and frosted with choc-o-holic frosting.
Covered in yellow fondant, adorned with black batman symbol on top.
Yellow fondant beads at base, number 4 and shooting stars on top.

Dona's Girly Chocolate Birthday Cake:
3 - 8" round chocolate cakes
Filled and frosted with choc-o-holic frosting.
Pink Gumpaste curly letters reading "Dona" on top, brushed with luster dust
Pink fondant bottom border with white chocolate high heels/dragees step-and-repeat on border.
***EDIT: The high heel candy molds are a bit larger than I anticipated, so the plan has changed a bit!!


I will, of course, post pictures once complete. Until next time....!

xoxo

Bakery Rant

Dear local bakers: You CANNOT just put a flavoring oil or extract in your white cake and call it THAT flavor. I.e: white cake + lemon extract = "lemon cake" or white cake + banana flavoring oil = "banana cake" ... PLEASE do everyone's palette a favor and start using fresh ingredients.

Thank you,

Weekend Wrap Up

SUCCESS! The best word to describe this weekend's baking adventures!

I can't believe this is the first chance I have had to share with the world the whirlwind of new experiences and layers of flavor I have endured this weekend! First of all, this was the quince anos cake delivery for Angelica Iraheta. Her ceremony was something that I had never experienced before. In fact, I found myself in tears at several points during her family and friends' speeches. Okay, okay... back to the cake!!!! To my absolute horror, after all the prep work that had been done to ensure my cakes' safe arrival, I was none to please when I opened each of the 6 boxes and EVERY SINGLE CAKE was damaged. Nothing I couldn't handle, right? WRONG! I was frantically adjusting each cake to attempt to restore the once beautiful outer structure, and in a mere 4 hours, all things wrong in the world seemed to be right!

The birthday girl, Angelica...



And the cake!







Despite all the chaos surrounding Angelica's cake, I still managed to produce a few other tasty concoctions!

"Just Because" cupcakes...


Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting


Until next time, I shall leave your mouth salivating.... :)

Quince Progress Report

3 days and counting!! I am so excited! I have been locked up in my house for the past two days (and will be for the next 3 days) cranking out cakes, but hard work shall prevail!

Monday - Bake 4 - 10" Cakes (cool, level, refrigerate)
Tuesday - Bake 4 - 10" Cakes (cool, level, refrigerate)
Wednes - Bake 2 - 12" Cakes, 1 - 8" Cake (cool, level, refrigerate). Make pastry cream.
Thurs - BUTTERCREAM DAY!!! 5 batches!
Friday - Fill, frost, smooth and decorate ALL cakes. Go to reception site for setup prep.
Saturday - Deliver and assemble cakes and attach ribbon! Then it's time to cut loose and party!

After all the planning and prep it will be a bittersweet delivery! This has been a challenging cake, but the payoff will be the sparkle in Angelica's eyes when she sees the dazzling creation that she had only dreamed of before turned into a delicious reality!

Angelica's Quinceanera Cake Plan

Well, we're really getting down to the wire with Angelica's 15 Cake! It's been a long process and the day is FINALLY about to be here! So, if ANYONE plans to contact me next week to see if I can hang out, watch a movie, grab a drink... I will have to decline. My week is booked full with baking prep, and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way! I am accounting for any and everything that can go wrong!

The cake consists of:
8 - 10" Cakes
2 - 12" Cakes
4 - Batches of Buttercream
4 - Pounds of fresh strawberries
2 - Pounds of fruit cocktail
2 - Pounds of almond pastry cream
2 - Sets of stairs to attach
1 - GIGANTIC water fountain
5 - Satin ribbons to adhere to cake
1 - Dazzling Crown (to adorn top tier)
Hundreds of fresh flowers
And all the boring stuff such as cake stands, pillars, serving instruments, and blah blah blah!

Below is a rough sketch (ok, a VERY rough sketch!) of the cake that will be presented next to her Last Doll at the reception site. The cakes will be white and accented with Coral piping, satin ribbon, and white/coral fresh flowers. The top tier as well as the front tiers will be filled with fresh strawberries and strawberry filling. The middle two cakes will be filled with fruit cocktail in an almond pastry cream.





As mentioned before, it is truly an honor to be asked to provide a cake for this type of event. This is what baking is all about people! Doing what you LOVE and having people LOVE what you do!

Deanna's 23rd Birthday Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Well, the good new is: if you're looking for a cake you can prep in under 15 minutes - This is the cake! I wish I could say the same for the baking time. After 25 minutes baking, I began to smell the brown sugar caramelizing -but no cake smell. I opened the oven to test the cake and to my HORROR the cake still had a completely liquid center. The sides were browning nicely, but the center had a LONG way to go. So naturally, the panic set in!

Now, the cake baking unevenly could be one of two factors:
A.) My oven may need to be calibrated. I have misplaced my oven thermometer, so there is a chance that my oven didn't reach the proper cooking temperature.
B.) The cake yielded ALOT of batter. In addition to to the bottom (later to be the top) of pineapple and brown sugar/butter mixture (1/2") the cake filled the 10" pan almost to the brim!

All in all, the cake turned out extremely well, and even though I had my doubts due to the baking woes, this cake was very well received! It was very moist, exploding with flavor, and definitely a crowd pleaser!

I can't say this was one of the most challenging cakes I have ever baked but it's something I would definitely do again if someone requests one... (AKA: Cassie!)

Pineapple Express

Sorry, I just couldn't resist the urge to use that in a sentence! Anyways, on to the matter at hand! PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE!. I have very mixed feelings about this. I like to do things a little more "outside the box", creative, and whimsical.. But I guess you can't tell a friend "Your perfect birthday cake idea isn't MY idea of a wonderful cake, therefore I'm not going to make it. Oh yeah, Happy Birthday!" Never in a million years! Whatever the client wants, is what the client gets. It doesn't matter if your a friend of mine, family, or a complete stranger. I am in the business of making YOU happy! So, Deanna -this one is for you!

I'll post pictures this weekend once the cake is complete; along with a detailed report of the outcome! Will I succeed at a classic cake that is loved by many? Or will I fail because I scoffed at the simplicity of such a cake? Let's hope for Deanna and her family's sake that I succeed!

Soupy Frosting

I am almost ready to give up on baking in the summer. It is entirely too hot. Cakes don't bake correctly, frosting's don't stay firm as they should, and transportation: forget about it.

I was baking all morning, with no anticipation that anything would go wrong, after all this is my go-to: red velvet w/ cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes baked correctly (maybe slightly more dense than usual) and the frosting whipped up beautifully, it wasn't until I arrived at Gern's for the Fourth Festivities that things started to veer slightly off path!

I let the frosting firm up after the car ride and by the time I went to fill my piping bag, my worst fear had come true. It wasn't firm enough yet. And by not firm enough I really mean it was almost like a thick cake batter consistency. Horrified doesn't quite describe the feeling that had overcome me. The refrigerator I had left the bowl of frosting in was the refrigerator that was being used for most of the other dishes that were being served, so it was being opened and closed and things were being taken out every 2 minutes, so a proper cooling temperature could never be reached.



After I rallied up a few people to help me, we sifted a few things in the freezer and my frosting was saved! Well, almost! After I remembered that this was a family affair and they understood the dramatic weather conditions were conspiring against me; I relaxed a bit! Even though the cupcakes were very well received and raved about, I was still disappointed with the presentation. You win some, you lose some... All things considered this was a success!

You cant really go wrong with food, fun, friends and family... even if you have soupy frosting!

Angelica 15 - Shopping

Other than getting off early and having a 3 day weekend, today was awesome for another reason. I met with Jessica again for the next phase of Angelica's Quinceneara cake(s) preparation: shopping. This is a VERY elaborate and exciting production that I am honored to be a part of! After only 2 meetings with the family I have already learned so many things about Mexican culture, traditions, and symbolism.

This cake will challenge my abilities as a cake decorator and I couldn't be more excited! Possible hardships: Texas heat/humidity, long distance transportation, difficult assembly, unusual fillings, buttercream (enough said! LOL), and did I mention I'm doing all this alone?!?! Haha. I've always had an assistant in previous large scale projects, but no one was available for this time slot! (If you're interested please Email Me!!!!!.

Chocolate Frosting

I'm not a fan of chocolate...THERE, I said it. Yes, I know, to utter such words is considered a sin by many, but my palette has refused to be open minded. Chocolate candy bars, chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate fondue, chocolate cake... none of these things have ever sat well with me.

I decided to give in and give myself a nudge, after all... if I am going to pursue this little baking dream of mine, then I might as well bite the bullet and start making some badass chocolate pastries.

I started small; baby steps, you know! Today's mission: chocolate frosting. I wanted a creamy, buttery, but not too rich frosting... boy did I hit the nail on the head. The frosting tastes like chocolate cake batter but with a buttercream texture. It's incredible!

Chocolate Frosting
6 tbsp butter
5-6 tbsp milk
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

The only drawback: To reach the desire texture, you have to whip for 2-3 minutes and this causes the frosting to lose some of it's rich chocolatey color. (I guess I could always cheat and use some brown food color!)



That's all for tonight! Someone please come over and eat these damn things. I've already had 3... =/

Gern's 72nd Birthday

It turns out June 25th was not only my grandmother's birthday, but it was the day that Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passed away. I heard of the news of Michael's passing as I was filling these cupcakes with strawberry preserves and I was in utter shock.

Anyhow, these cupcakes barely withstood a 30minute car ride in 100* weather, even though I used my "sturdy" buttercream recipe. Notice that the strawberries are melting a bit as well as sliding off the icing.

These cupcakes consist of:
Strawberry cake, strawberry fruit preserve filling, strawberry buttercream, and fresh strawberries on top.

Welcome

Well, I have finally created a web home for my baking adventures. Feel free to browse around my Flickr and Twitter pages and please contact me if you have any questions.

So, a few exciting things are happening this that have been getting me inspired to bake! KaboomTown is happening Friday and after a long night of watching fireworks and celebrating what's a girl to do...? Pull an all-night'er baking cupcakes for the celebration at Gern's as well as a birthday! Lots to do!