Happy Birthday.... to Corbin

Two weeks ago we had a surprise birthday for Corbin... he just turned 16. Our surprise party wasn't much of a surprise but it was still fun. All his friend came to JesusField and hung out.
I made him Oreo cupcakes with music themed chocolate molds. Starting to experiment with ways to top my cupcakes.










Right now I'm baking sugar cookies and going to try to do some decorating. I'll post pics later.

Craft Fair

Last weekend was the craft fair at Washington Heights. I've been exhausted since. I made over 300 cupcakes and only had a dozen left. The fair was two days long and on the first night I had to go home and make 4 more dozen cupcakes. All I heard was good things. I think the best part of the whole thing was the people I met. Every time someone would try a sample their eyes would get large and then they'd confirm that I made this. The best part is that I've been making cupcakes long enough I've pretty much have my own recipes. There's maybe one or two that I've borrowed off a recipe sharing sites. I had 8 different flavors:
Girls Best Friend: Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream
Daddy's Girl: Oreo cupcake w/oreo vanilla buttercream and a Oreo baked in the center
Autumn Glory: Pumpking cupcake w/ cinnamon buttercream
Winter Breeze: Peppermint candy cane cupcake w/ peppermint buttercream
Southern Beauty: Red Velvet cupcake w/white chocolate cream cheese
Doodle Bug: Snickerdoodle cupcake w/cinnamon buttercream
Ski Patrol: Chocolate mint cupcake w/ mint buttercream
Do the Split: Bananan chocolate chip cupcake w/ vanilla buttercream chopped with choclate sauce and a cherry on top

Craft Fair....

Today is the first day at the Washington Heights Craft Fair... updates and pics coming soon.

Cupcake Names.... what do you think

So I love giving things different names... something unique and a little unusual. I love that my name is different (well outside of Utah it is). I want my cupcakes the same joy I have in being unique. Here's what I have so far:

Girl's Best Friend: Chocolate cupcake w/Chocolate frosting
Pretty in Pink: Vanilla cupcake w/ Pink vanilla frosting
Doodlebug: Snickerdoodle cinnamon cupcake w/Cinnamon frosting
Autumn Glory: Pumpkin Cupcake w/Cinnamon fosting
We all Scream: Banana cupcake w/Vanilla frosting, chocolate sauce w/ a cherry on top
Daddy's Girl: Oreo cupcake w/Vanilla Frosting, oreo in the middle and topped w/oreos
Christmas Greetings: Gingerbread cupcake w/ _______ Frosting (still experimenting)
Southern Beauty: Red Velvet cupcake w/ White Chocolate Frosting
Happy Hour: Lime cupcake w/ Lemon Frosting
Lemon Drop: Lemon Cupcake w/ Lemon Frosting
Island Dreams: Coconut cupcake w/ Coconut Frosting
Summer Days: Strawberry Lemon cupcake w/ Lemon Frosting
Coffee Break: Mocho cupcake w/Mocho Frosting
What's Up Doc: Carrot Coconut cupcake w/Coconut Frosting
Soda Pop: Root Beer Cupcake w/ Root Beer Frosting
Pina Colada: Lemon Pinapple Cupcake w/ Coconut Frosting
I want S'more: Chocolate Graham Cracker cupcake w/ Marshmellow Frosting
Christmas Morning: Peppermint cupcake w/Peppermint Frosting

Here's some that still needs a name... please feel free to suggest.

Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake w/ Peanut Butter Frosting
Chocolate Mint Cupcake w/ Mint Frosting

Cupcake... cupcakes...

Well I have definitely been baking since September. I did a little experimenting and came up with a Pumpkin cake w/Maple Buttercream and Apple cake w/Carmel Buttercream. The Apple cake needs a little work but the Pumpkin- now that's perfection.

I finally have been able to increase some of my recipes to yeild exactly 2 dozen cupcakes... this helps a lot with large orders. I was excited when I finally accomplished this.

Next month is the craft fair at Washington Heights Baptist Church. My dad is making me some really cool cake stands. I plan on making 300 cupcakes. I really hope this isn't over kill. We'll see. I'm sure soon I'll have everyone vote for what flavors they'd like to see.

Here's some recent pics.



Inside an Oreo Cupcake

Daddy's Girl: A White Cake w/oreos and an entire orea baken in the middle w/ Vanilla Orea Buttercream


Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes and Red Velvet Cupcakes




Apple Cake w/Carmel Buttercream


Pumpkin Cake w/Maple Buttercream

Things are looking up

Yesterday I got two... yes two emails for orders. One is for a local church who's doing a fundraising dinner later this month. Potentially this is a 100 qty order. I've done it before so each should be easy. The event is on a Sunday so it'll give me two full days of baking. The second order is for an old friend who's husband owns a government contracting company. They're thinking about doing cupcakes for their holiday party.
In November Washington Heights church is having their Holiday Craft Fair and I plan on going. I sold 100 cupcakes in the spring. I should be able to sell twice that and this time I'm pricing them higher. I really under priced them last time. I should be able to make a really good profit. Keep our fingers crossed.
And... next weekend my good friend Carol is having a wedding reception and I'm making mini cupcakes. How fun is that!!! I think mini's are the cutest things. I'm sure they're going to be a pain. :)
That's the update for now... Oh, I took a pic of the inside of my Oreo cupcake... look for the posting soon.

New Name... Who knows???

So my friends like to come up with names for my cupcake shop... sometimes it involves Cherries, sometimes out space themes. Whatever it is, it always gets me thinking. My mom made a suggestion that I really liked, "Sweet Charity's Cupcakery." If you don't know who Sweet Charity is then you weren't raised in the 70's. There was a musical called Sweet Charity starring Gwen Verdon. It's about a prostitute who has a heart tattoo on her arm. I've never actually seen the musical... it's on my to do list. But I also have a tattoo on my arm but I'm not a prostitute though people pay me for my cupcakes so I could be considered a cupcake whore?? I like the name and it's simple plus it has cupcakery in it... which is such a fun word and has to be in the name somewhere. I'll keep you up to date on the name game.

This weekend is a long weekend... hopefully I can get some fun baking in. :)

How I love Experimenting

Yesterday I did some experimental baking. With working two jobs and volunteering at a youth center I don't have a lot of time for this. So I was pretty excited. Saturday I went to Sur La Table and bought some Rose Water Extract and Lavender Extract that I couldn't wait to use. I also modified my vanilla recipe. I think I may have found my perfect vanilla. I'm pretty excited about that. I made some rose cupcakes and lavender cupcakes. To be honest I didn't know what either tasted like I so didn't add any other extracts- I wanted to be able to taste the flavors on their own. They were both surprisingly good, though need to be in combination of other flavors. Some that we came up was:
Vanilla Rose
Chocolate Lavender
Orange Rose
Lemon Rose
Chocolate Zucchini Lavender

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I can't wait to do more expirementing. I'm also getting ready to do some logo stuff and figure out the whole name thing.

Till next time...

The Name Game

So far no one likes the name "The Cupcake Shop" and I feel "Cherry's Cupcakery" is too much of a mouth full... What do I do... I need a name. Somehow I'd like to have Cupcakery in it... Others are suggesting Rocky Mtn Cupcakery... help... if anyone is reading this and has suggestions... please suggest...I'm sure soon I'll put it to a vote... AGAIN!!!!

Thanks to all my friends for your love and support through all this...I'm sure I'll need it much more here soon.

Business is getting ready to Bloom

I got my mini fridge... now I just need someone to carry it up three flights of stair for me... Standing a four feet eleven inches makes it very difficult to carry large objects- especially up stairs. I'm lucky I can carry grocery bags without dragging them on the ground... no really.
I also received the letter I need from Ogden city saying that I am zoned for a home business. Now all I got to do is submit my recipes and get a health inspector out to my place... should be that easy... hopefully I can get my but in gear.
I'll keep you posted as making my business a reality is soon approaching.

Baking Love

Well I've got the baking bug again... experimenting is so much fun... last week I created a Strawberry Lemonade cupcake. I also did a Banana Split Cupcake and a Cookie Dough... both amazing. I put chocolate chips in both and I think I put to many... next time I won't mix it in the batter but rather sprinkle them into the cupcakes.


I've also been baking with Dark Chocolate... not my favorite. I don't think I'm going to do that anymore. I really do need to find some good chocolate to bake with... the hard part is I don't have a lot of money. I need something that is economical and delious.


Last night I tried my hand at cupcake bites... but with my own twist... no dipping in chocolate here... but rather in my famous cream cheese frosting w/my own special secret ingredient. This frosting is to die for.



It's been a while since I've posted some pics... are you ready???


Vanilla Daisy Cupcakes


Cookie Dough Cupcakes for a pirate and princess party


Little Mermaid Cupcakes

Banana Split Cupcake

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcake

Tequila Lime Cupcake

Carrot Coconut Cupcakes

Oreao Cupcake w/an oreo baked in the middle

Pretty in Pink- for an auction

Chocolate w/cream cheese- for an auction

My famous Red Velvet

Now what??

Haven't done much baking... it's very sad. I do have potential for some major orders next month... hopefully. One would be paying and wouldn't be. It would be very awesome to try to get some more orders out there.
I really want to do more baking but lately I've been focusing on my house (remodeling), school (not really but should be), work (two jobs) and people in my life. It seems like the only time I bake is when I have to get an order done.
It would be so nice to stay home and bake all day... though I don't see that happening any time soon.

I'll keep you up to date. Hopefully I'll get more baking done soon!!

Overwhelmed

Yes, yes I haven't written a blog in forever. Not sure if right now anyone is reading these... but maybe someday. If nothing else I'll be able to look back and see where I came from.
So much to do in so little time. Working two j0bs, going to school, and trying to bake cupcakes... when is a girl suppose to get in some relaxation. So this week I have two, yes two orders for two dozen cupcakes each!!! Whoo, hoo... business is booming (subtle sacrasim). They are both for frieds but their for birthdays and hopefully the word will get out.
I catered a wedding this past weekend. 150 cupcakes w/daisies. They turned out okay. I'm worried that they weren't as fresh as I wanted them to be. I got some awesome new bright pink cupcake boxes but I don't think they keep my cupcakes fresh. Since I'm so busy I have to bake during the week, which I'm not fond of. They had me set out my business cards so hopefully I'll get some calls.
I definitely need to work on getting my home business license and then hopefully I'll get busy enough I can work part time and bake part time... a girl can only hope.

Baking, Baking, Baking

For a while there I didn't have much of a desire to bake. I also just moved into a condo. Well the baking bug is back. I made coconut cupcake to die for... I was really impressed. Last night I made a chocolate peanut butter cupcake with chocolate frosting and a peanut butter cup in the middle. YUMMY!
Here's what I've perfected so far:
Red Velvet
Chocolate
Cookies & Cream
Snickerdoodle
Coconut
Lime w/ lemon frosting
Chocolate Peanut Butter

Hopefully it won't be too long before I can add more to my list. Right now I'm trying to get my home approved for baking. Utah has a new law allowing home business to cook in them without having to have a seperate kitchen. I still need to do a few things and have the health inspector come in. As soon as I get it done then process shouldn't take to long. Well off to work and then more baking.

CUPCAKES

It's been a while since I've posted anything... but that doesn't mean I haven't been baking. For Christmas my parents bought me an Kitchenaid Artisian stand mixer. What an amazing gift. It has made baking so much easier.

So far I've made dozens of upcakes... here's my successes- Lime Cake w/Lemon frosting and Cookies 'n Cream w/oreo crubs. I still need to find that perfect chocolate cake.

I was able to cater for a few birthdays which was fun. It gave me a chance to work on my decorating styles. In March I'm catering a fundraiser for 200 people. I also hope to do a local craft fair.

For now I'm going to keep pushing on getting the word out and maybe someday I'll finally be able to open my cupcakery.

Happy Bakings,
Cherry