Saturday, September 18, 2010

Fancy Banana Cupcakes

My husband's birthday is very close to my daughter's. So right after her celebration it was time to make him a personalized treat. I asked him what he wanted and he said banana cupcakes. I had just found an online blog of an Australian baker who did personalized cakes and cupcakes for clients. Her cupcakes were amazing! She would personalize them by doing a basic flavored cupcake, topped with icing and then garnished with goodies and sauces! I was inspired! So I baked Josh some banana cupcakes (a homemade recipe from a cupcake cookbook my grandmother got me as an early birthday gift) and then I made some homemade banana buttercream icing to top them with. Then I got the creative juices going and decided to use crumbled vanilla wafers as a garnish and finally topped it all off with a banana chip! They were a huge hit with the entire family! I hope to try a lot more of these experimental fancy cupcakes in the future. Super fun and extra yummy!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Lana's 1st Birthday Cake!

My daughter turns one today! So of course I had to make her an extra-special birthday cake. I had a really hard time deciding on a theme for her first birthday creation. The theme of her first birthday party was "A Year of Firsts" so it pretty much left me with endless possibilities. At the last minute I remembered an ice cream themed cake from one of the first cake decorating books I received and since Lana loves ice cream we had a cake idea! Here is the main cake, mainly for the party-goers:


And here is Lana's personal matching "smash" cake:


The inside of the main cake was done checker-board style - which was a huge hit but not the easiest thing in the world to do. Thank goodness for helping husbands. My sister got a good picture of the inside:


Lana's personal cake was purple and white swirled on the inside (compliments of her Daddy). I don't have a picture of that but I have this one of her enjoying it (compliments of Aunt Ashleigh):


All in all a very successful first birthday party with one very happy (and completely worn out) one year old. Welcome to toddlerhood Lana Brooke! Mommy and Daddy love you tons!