Halloween Comes Early

Halloween is quite possibly my favourite holiday that isn't a holiday. I don't know why- I don't like candy, scary movies make me cry, and fake blood is one of two things on the planet that I'm really allergic to. For some reason though, I love everything about it and have been getting into the spirit by filling some Halloween cupcake orders.


Even though Halloween itself is a full week away, my current plans include being 3000 miles away on the east coast. So as far as my kitchen is concerned, Halloween is coming early this year and the product of my excitement is three new treats:

1. Death-by-Chocolate Ghosts (I know, I'm hilarious)
2. Caramel Candy Corn Cupcakes.....and last but not least,
3. Black Cherry Truffle Cupcakes with Eyeballs (I couldn't think of a clever name for these obviously)

White Chocolate Buttercream Ghosts on top of Double-Chocolate Cake

oh hai!

Caramel Cake topped with Butterscotch Frosting

rows of ghosts!

Gumpaste, food colouring, piping gel and a paintbrush: success

Black Cherry Cupcakes, Dark Chocolate Ganache Topping

mmm...eyeballs.

Just for fun- chocolate ghost family!

Mama ghost is a little fat, but she is made of butter I suppose.

Cupcakes for days...

Two Girls, One Cupcake

As promised....What's better than baking cupcakes? Baking cupcakes with your beautiful bestie! What, were you expecting anything else? A certain little 6 year old who may have already been featured in this blog made a special request the other day and the lovely Deihdra came to help fill the order. At first I was hesitant to tackle Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes...mostly because I was afraid they would taste like mouthwash. Having said that, after way more taste-testing than our stomachs would have liked, we've created something that's pretty damn delicious. Oh, and I've managed to lose my camera somewhere so please excuse the iPhone photos!

Batter that looks like mint-choc-chip ice cream = on the right track.

Hilariously bad chocolate toppers...

Dark chocolate buttercream = total win.

Yeah, that happened.

:)

Yes, we do have matching aprons.

Be jealous.

OMNOMNOM

Green! 

Happy Birthday Chantel!

Twenty-two years ago today, a little tiny version of one of my favourite people was born. In celebration of her birthday a few things are going down: 

1. She's wearing the dress all your dresses wish they looked like.
2. Tanqueray and Absolut will be making special appearances at her festivities this evening.
3. Her super helpful hubby will be surprising her with these little gems!

Chocolate cheesecake-flavoured cakes

The original plan for these was just chocolate cakes with white chocolate icing. I had spare cream cheese kicking around though, so they became chocolate cheesecake flavoured. Then I got distracted by facebook and incinerated my white chocolate, so the icing became ''only slight white-chocolate(because I could only salvage about a tablespoon) & sortof-cream-cheese(because I ran out) buttercream''. As a side note, it was about half past midnight at this point, so the fact that there's even icing on these things is kindof a big deal. Despite everything though, they do actually taste like chocolate cheesecake, and the shiny silver nonpareils are my new favourite thing. :)

So Happy Birthday to a very special lady, and enjoy! <3 

With vanilla cheesecake buttercream!

I hate the flash, but it does show the icing colour better...

These little silver nonpareils make my life.

shoooo cute :)

1 Broke Girl re:2 Broke Girls

This Fall, there is a shocking amount of good television on. Well, maybe not 'good' television- but shows that I will happily and shamelessly watch every week without any concern for their intellectual quality or substance. One of my new favourites is the new CBS offering 2 Broke Girls. If you haven't been watching, I suggest you hop on the bandwagon as soon as humanly possible- I'll catch you up: One always-poor girl meets one former rich girl. Finding a common thread in their lack of money they start living together in Brooklyn. How are they planning to survive? Oh yes, a cupcake business. Maybe I like this show because of the sometimes too trigger-happy one liners and hipster jokes. More likely though, I like it because I really identify with the main character for two reasons: 1)She makes cupcakes for extra cash, and 2)She has trouble fitting her boobs into her work clothes. AND they have a horse called Chestnut that lives in their back yard and hangs out in the kitchen. Bravo, CBS, Bravo.

Fall Is In the Air (and the oven)

 One of the things I associate most with the weather changing is the onset of the Starbucks cold weather flavours...I know there are hipsters rolling over in their ironic graves right now, but I don't care. If you live in North America, you know what I'm talking about. Even if you boycott Starbucks, you know what I'm talking about. So, inspired by everyone's favourite coffee conglomerate: Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Light coffee cake with cinnamon, cloves and allspice...

...Topped with a white chocolate coffee buttercream

and fondant leaves :)

He only really loves me for the cupcakes. <3 

Oh Hai!

Welcome to MeowCakes! As much as I'd like to say I'm inspired and creative and all of those lovely things, in reality this is my latest way of avoiding writing my papers. I would LOVE to have a cupcake business, but unfortunately my student loan has other ideas. So for now, sharing my cupcake adventures here is the best I can do! My goal is to create something new every week and share it here- whether it's a huge success or a massive failure. Here goes...

So it's officially the middle of October. That means fall colours, fabulous selection of tights and sweaters in stores, and unfortunately for Southwestern BC, the beginning of the 8 million gallons of rain we're going to get between now and March. So, in an effort to stop pining for the East Coast Autumn I'll be spending the next month or so coming up with cupcakes inspired by the changing leaves, and crisp cold days of Fall. Since I haven't actually made any of those yet, you're going to have to make do with taking a look at some of this past summer's creations!

Back in May, I thought I'd give decorating a go...

This beast was created for a very special 6 year old.

My giant star tip is the best thing that's come into my life
since the  DD selection at LaSenza got expanded. Fact.

I hate the "Wilton Rose" with a passion-- I much prefer this.

These are fresh Strawberries & Cream flavoured. I curdled the  buttercream slightly so it would look more like whipped cream...unfortunately then the yellow flower middles were also curdled.
Thinking ahead:1 , Mel:0.

I seriously think everything looks better pink. There's a teensy bit of food colouring
 in this batter, but mostly just a pile of fresh summer strawberry puree!

On the day I made red velvets, I forgot to buy cream cheese first for
the frosting. I figured fondant flowers would make amends!

In any case, cream cheese frosting is the only way to go with red velvets!

Owen is one of my most dedicated taste testers- he approves.

What do you make for a 10 year old birthday girl with Bieber Fever?

Cupcakes are cute enough, but then there's mini cupcakes.

Raspberry Almond Swirl Minis!

Blueberry Vanilla Cupcakes for a Summer 50th Birthday!

Blueberry cake topped with fresh blueberry coulis
and vanilla buttercream = success!

Cherry Almond Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream & Candied Almonds

Omnomnom <3