Archive for July, 2011

Daphne’s Cupcakes

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Yesterday I made cupcakes for a little girl’s 2nd birthday. Remember the girly Under the Sea cupcakes I made a few weeks back? Those were her cousin’s – oh to be two again and not worry about the amount of sugar content in my food. I miss those days.


Like my iTouch? That’s how they look like right?? I don’t have one :(


I love cupcakes because you can personalize them in any and every way. You can choose the colours, designs, sizes… anything! I love how they’re so versatile and can say a WORD or have a CHARACTER on it. Love love it!

My acrylic boxes arrived today (aka my dad picked them up) so I designed a simple insert for them and drove downtown to meet my clients. They loved it :) (which is always, always a good thing to hear) I got an M&M caramel apple as big as my head which I was excited to share. I don’t even like chocolate or caramel (or M&Ms) but when it’s 3am and you’re editing photo after photo of caramel apples (with nuts, coated in red candy, with sprinkles… ), you get brainwashed in thinking you want one. My plan was to keep the apple next to my laptop as an accessory as I edit photos. Sort of like a paperweight but without the paper. I then cut the apple up and shared it with 9 other people. I can’t imagine finishing one by myself… it would probably take a month! And you know, sharing is caring! ;)

What do you get to “treat” yourself? Drinks? Massage? Cupcake? All of the above?

In any case, have a wonderful long weekend and spend lots of time outside! :)

Cake Competition Designs

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

There’s a cake competition called Threadcakes that has been shaking the (online) cake world. Its origins can be traced back to a t-shirt company called Threadless, where ordinary people like you and I design shirts and accessories and upload them for others to purchase. Threadcakes’ concept is simple. Pick a t-shirt design, make it into cake form and win money. Easy! :)

I was up all night picking and choosing the design I should replicate into cake form. Seeing last year’s winners and their cakes, I knew I had to up my game. I can’t stick to my regular cutesy designs and expect to win unless I put flashing lights, a rotating disco ball and a pump that dispenses sprinkles in the air in 30-second intervals.
… however, I can’t help but gravitate towards these designs!

Take a guess – which one did I choose?




















I Love My Job

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. And when I see these photographs below, four words come to mind…









I love my job.

Stitchie’s Birthday

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

PET NAMES. Do you have one? I think it’s cute when couples give each other pet names but I’m not sure if I’m that type of person. It’s way too sappy for me! :P This weekend was a friend’s birthday whom I met at A Sweets Affair back in February. Her boyfriend contacted me and wanted custom designed cupcakes for her birthday. He wanted the theme to be purple and pink and the rest was up to me – hooray! :)




The best part was when my dad saw the cupcakes and asked if Stitchie was a boy or a girl cause he’s never heard that name before! Jokes! :)

Chocolatey Contest Alert

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Have you met anyone who didn’t like chocolate? I hope you’re not one of those people cause I have an awesome contest coming your way. I recently started working at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory as a marketing consultant which means coming up with crazy fun giveaways. Fun, huh? :)

This giveaway contest is easy. It is so extremely easy to win. You just have to “LIKE” their Facebook page and ta-da! It takes literally 2 clicks from your mouse and you are entered to win a basket of wonderful, delicious chocolatey products from RMCF.

I am running this promotion at TWO locations. Brookfield Place and First Canadian Place. Draws will take place every other week at each location. If you “LIKE” both BP and FCP’s Facebook pages, you can double your chances of winning. If you want to TRIPLE your chances of winning, visit BP/FCP’s location and drop your business card off.

Is it me or is it getting easier to win stuff these days?

Visit the Facebook pages below and click “LIKE”… the contest will run until further notice.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, First Canadian Place

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Brookfield Place

See you all in the winner’s circle! :)

Boomie + the Angry Birds

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Have you ever had one of those days where you’re so physically and mentally exhausted that all you can think about is getting into your PJs and crawling in bed? That was me today! It’s been a long, long day. We took Aiden out to lunch and the mall and although it was fun, it was stressful at the same time! Did he eat enough at lunch? Is the sun in his eyes when I’m driving and he’s in the backseat? Did he drink enough water to stay hydrated? Is he tired? Does he need to nap? OH MY. Thank God he’s not potty trained yet or else that’d be another can of worms to deal with :P

Since I won’t be a nanny/childcare giver anytime soon, I’ll stick to my day job… CAKES! This was another Angry Birds-themed weekend. This time, a lucky 6-year-old boy named CAMERON celebrated his special day with these temperamental birds.


His own cake. It’s approximately 4” (diameter) x 5” (height)



Pig in a party hat. Classic.



Piggy butt. Lots of sparkles. (FDA-approved, of course!)



I feel like they’re going to attack me.


I received a very nice “thank you” e-mail from Cameron’s father with a picture of the cake +30 cupcakes strategically arranged together tonight. Cameron’s favourite character is the green one–Boomerang Bird–whom I have affectionately nicknamed “Boomie”. Do they all have names? Maybe I should look that up! In the meantime, keep those AB cake/cupcake orders coming! This girl has got to catch her zzz’s. More posts coming soon! Have a wonderful week! :)

Meet my Colleagues

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

The weekend hasn’t even begun yet and I’m exhausted already. Sigh. Just have a lot of stuff on my mind and a lot of orders to design + process. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong! But I’m just overwhelmed at the moment. I went to a Friday wedding yesterday… THAT is definitely something new! It was really fun :)

I have an Angry Birds cupcakes order tomorrow and thought I’d do something fun with these guys. Speech bubbles are so addictive because you can make them say anything.

Sadly to admit, these are my colleagues. For now, at least. The pigs are busy rolling in the mud. Or eating eggs, sunnyside up :) Will post my weekend orders next week. OH… I booked my flight to Asia yesterday. Any guesses where I’m off to? :) Have a wonderful weekend!

Purple, purple EVERYTHING!

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of making another FASHION/MAKE-UP/GIRLY GIRL-inspired cake. Remember the red shoe cake a few weeks ago? It was for another family member in that clan. It says, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY PINK!” on the cake so I asked if I should use pink fondant to cover the cake and she said, “No, use purple”. I wasn’t arguing… I love purple :)




Then something peculiar happened. The cake was for a Saturday afternoon delivery and when I covered the cake on Friday night, the colour was purple (a bit lighter than the pillow from the red shoe cake). In the morning when I woke up, the colour FADED and looked more periwinkle than purple. I realized that I had been putting the details on at a table next to a window with lots of sunlight streaming in and that’s why it faded. YES, it fades really, really quickly. I sprayed a layer of pearl luster on to give it a finished look and ta-DA! Pretty, huh?

I had a cup of periwinkle-ish frosting leftover and get this… coloured frosting INTENSIFIES over time. So here I have fondant that fades in the sunlight and frosting that intensifies/darkens with time. It’s like a really bad math problem. “If fondant fades at a rate of one shade per hour and frosting intensifies by two shades every half hour… how long will it take Jenn to lose her marbles?” umm…

WHY does purple fondant fade, you ask? It’s because purple is a combination of red and blue (knowledge from 1st grade arts+crafts class is coming in handy) and the FDA-approved RED gels are UV tolerant making it fade in bright lights. In order to stabilize it, you’ll have to add about 50% MORE red to the fondant (thus changing the hue of the purple) which doesn’t work if you want a royal purple colour. When the red of the purple fondant fades, all you’re left with is… *drum roll*… periwinkle (light purple/blue). Make sense? So in conclusion, I’m a nerd with a (formerly purple) periwinkle-coloured cake.

Hmmm…

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Who knew I would make a career from playing with Play-doh fondant? :) Discovering my passion was one of the greatest things that has ever happened in my life. I wake up every day LOVING what I do. My passion is the fuel that drives me. It makes my soul content and puts my heart at peace. If you haven’t found your passion yet, I genuinely wish this for you. It’ll be the greatest thing to happen to you.

Take it from someone who’s experiencing it. Join me on this side! :)


Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Happy Monday, everyone! TGIM? Maybe not… I’m starting to think that I’m the only one who enjoys Mondays! Why, you ask? Monday is the beginning of the work-week, so full of new opportunities, new cakes, new creations… I just love the promises that Mondays bring. Also, I have COMBAT classes on Monday nights and it is an excellent hour of cardio/punching/kicking/stress-relieving fun! I. cannot. wait! :)

I’ve started a string of new experiments which I like to call “Projects”. On Iron Chef, they have featured ingredients such as “BATTLE FISH”… and the chefs have to make their meals centred around fish. Mine isn’t so much of a “battle” than a “project”… like my first task: PROJECT RHUBARB.

I’ve never used rhubarb in any baked goods before so this was definitely a treat! I’ve heard of strawberry rhubarb pies for the longest time but I’ve never been a fan of pies. Too flaky for me. I decided to search for STRAWBERRY RHUARB CRISP recipes because the thought of crunchy sweet oatmeal streusel combined with the sweet/tartness of strawberry/rhubarb makes my tastebuds excited with glee!


via 17 and Baking


I made this recipe one night and was ecstatic at the thought of tasting it. I was so anxious that I took it out of the oven prematurely because I just couldn’t wait. With one (piping hot) spoonful of this beautiful combination of flavours on my tongue, my tastebuds floated straight to cloud 9. It was heavenly. I altered the recipe a little and cut the sugar down by half because I wanted the natural flavours of the strawberry and rhubarb to come through. And come through, it did! Mmmm!! :)

For the recipe, visit 17 and Baking’s blog here.

Coming up: Project BBQ Pork Buns :)