Dachshund Cupcake

I made this little guys for Lori's 27th Birthday, Happy Birthday Lori!!! This idea came from the
"What's New Cupcake" book

60th Cupcake Cake

I love making cupcake cakes. I love how they look like a cake on top but are individual cupcakes on the bottom. A co-worker asked me to make a cupcake cake for a 60th birthday and I immediately thought of this but I wasn't sure if it would work. I was so happy to see how it turned out.

Boston Creme Pie

This is my version of the Boston Creme Pie I made for a co-worker's Dad's birthday. As you can see if he really likes old cars and going on cruises.

Tinkerbell

I made this Tinkerbell cake for a little girl's 2nd birthday

Birthday Cake

So I must admit I'm starting to enjoy making and decorating cakes more. Here is my latest creation: Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting.

Vegan Cupcakes

I have a friend at work who became a vegan around the month of May. By vegan, I mean she does not eat anything that has come from an animal or has anything to do with an animal. I wanted to make her some cupcakes for her birthday, so I began searching and searching for recipes for vegan cupcakes. Oh I forgot to mention that she had requested "tiramisu" cupcakes!!!! So more searching and finally I found an easy enough recipe. I ventured out to Whole Foods, a grocery store I adore but can't really afford, and bought the necessary ingredients. I soon figured out I probably could have bought the same ingredients at our local Kroger, oh well I still love going in the store. Some different ingredients that went into the cupcakes were apple cidar vinegar and I used coconut oil instead of butter. I dug small holes out of the center of the cupcakes and pour the amaretto liqueur, espresso powder and vanilla mixture into each cupcake so it could soak in. The frosting also contained the amaretto liqueur and espresso powder. It was a little sweet but still very tasty. These cupcakes were delicious!!!! I might even start eating vegan.................NAH, Just Kidding, but they were really good!!!!!

Mother's Birthday Cake

My mother also turned another year older this past weekend. When I asked what kind of cake she would like for her birthday, she requested a lemon and coconut cake. Interesting, I thought. Below is a 9-inch round lemon cake with vanilla buttercream icing. I spread coconut around the sides of the cake. I tried a different buttercream recipe this time. It was tasting, but I think I'll stick with my usual buttercream recipe next time.

Over The Hill

Stefanie's wonderful mom, Rita, turned the big "5-0" this past weekend. Stefanie wanted a small round cake with black icing. I knew how hard it was to get white icing bright red, so I wondered how hard it would be getting it black. I read if you start with chocolate icing, it makes it a lot easier. So that is exactly what I did and it turned out great! I have learned when coloring frostings, the longer they sit the darker they will great. I saw these "50" candles at party city and thought they would look great stuck in the cake. The cake was french vanilla with chocolate icing.

Watermelon Cupcakes

I love summertime and to me watermelon just screams summertime! Stefanie had her "hoedown" wedding shower this weekend, after searching for "BBQ" theme cupcakes, Lindsey and I decided on the watermelon theme. However, the corn on the cob idea did come in a close second. These cupcakes are white cake tinted pink and the "watermelon seeds" are mini chocolate chips. I coated the chocolate chips in flour to make sure they didn't sink to the bottom. However, I read that as long as you don't use large chocolate chips they won't sink. The large chocolate chips are too heavy for the batter. The icing is my standard vanilla buttercream tinted green. Lindsey found the watermelon candies for me at Candy Craze in Franklin. I thought they were perfect because previous candies I had found were way too small.

Birthday Cake

This is a three layer (chocolate, yellow, chocolate) round cake with caramel frosting. I have to say this was the best frosting I've had in a while. I used buttercream icing for the writing and the daisies are made out of fondant. Granted, it wasn't easy to frost the cake but it tasted wonderful! This cake was so big and heavy, I'm just glad I was able to deliver it in one piece.

30th Anniversary Cake

When my friend Alisha sent me a text to do her parent's 30th anniversary cake, I couldn't believe it. I was so excited! She needed it to feed around 30 people, so I decided to go with the sheet cake since it is the largest I have. I immediately started doing my research for what to put on top of the cake and discovered that the theme for 30th anniversaries is the pearl. I found this picture of what looked like a small cascade of pearls, but it was on top of a round cake. It was perfect but somehow I had to get it to fit on my 11x15 sheet cake.

The first cake I made had a little issue coming out of the pan and decided that it would break. Instead of crying like I wanted to do, I decided that it could still work and I would just make the cake have dimensions with the pearl "fountain" being placed in the second layer. Long story short, half of broken cake got thrown away and the other half eaten. Since this half didn't make it to the second cake I baked, I still had to place the pearl "fountain" somewhere. The pearls are made out of fondant and painted with silver luster dust then placed on floral wire wrapped in floral tape. I wanted to make them appear more like a true fountain, but the pearls ended up being too heavy for the wire. I am still working on my ability to write on cakes. I placed edible pearls around the boarders to give it a "dainty" look. This cake is marble with creamy chocolate frosting

Bow Cupcakes and Cookies

Last week was amazingly hetic and busy but I still managed to bake 5 dozen cupcakes, 2 dozen cookies, two cakes while working 60 hours and loved every minute of it. I have to admit I had no idea what a bow party was when my friend Ashley said she was having one. Nonetheless, Ashley asked if I would make the cupcakes and cookies for this party. Of course, I readily agreed to this task! By the way, a bow party is a party where little hair bows are on display for you to purchase :) These cupcakes took a while, but I wanted them to have a special bow theme. They are chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting. The bows are made out of fondant. I searched for a ribbon cookie cutter, but to my dismay never located one. So I made due with a round cookie cutter and free handed the bow. Here's a couple of pics:

Baby Victoria Cookies

When Ashley was pregnant, we threw her a baby shower. I had asked Ashley what Baby V's colors were so I could decorate these sugar cookies accordingly. My roommate, Kayla, had found the cutest baby shower cookie cut outs. We decided to go with the carriage and baby tee. At the shower, we hung them on little trees by putting holes in the tops of each cookie, it was such an adorable presentation.

Princess Cupcakes

When one of my co-workers announced that her little girl was turning three, I immediately asked if she needed someone to make cupcakes. The birthday was "Princess" theme, so I knew that meant a lot of pink. I decided to go with white and strawberry cake with pink icing. I saw these great princess cupcake wraps that I couldn't wait to try out. These cupcakes were a lot of fun to make.

Nana's Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake

Once again, I was presented with a "first". I get a text from Ashley saying, "Hey can you make a sheet cake for my Nana's birthday." There was no way I was turning this opportunity down! Even though I had never done a sheet cake, I was determined to give it a try. However, I'm not going to lie, this challenge made me a little nervous. I immediately called upon my brother for his advice on how to get it iced perfectly. Then I started panicking thinking what in the world am I going to put on top of it. I started practicing different borders, flowers, etc. Finally I decided on this particular flower, using a paint brush to create the effect. Since this was my first sheet cake and I am still relatively new to decorating, I thought this flower would be easy enough and still look nice. My goal is to do more cakes, so I can continue to practice my decorating skills. But below you will see the final product of Nana's cake. I have to say for my first sheet cake I was proud of it. I promise to start taking better pictures of my work :)

Monogram Wedding Shower

One of my wonderful friends, Kara, got married this past June. Back in May, we threw her a "monogram" wedding shower. I thought, finally a time for me to demonstrate some more of my baking skills! After a lot of begging, my roommate allowed me to do cupcakes!! Once that was settled, I begin to think, "Oh no! How am I going to pull off monogrammed cupcakes?!?" After looking at several examples and wanting to be different, I came up with the idea to make monogrammed suckers to stick down in the cupcakes. I have this fantastic vanilla bean buttercream frosting recipe, and once I made the suckers, I was ready to go! Here is the final product of the monogram shower cupcake:

Elmo and Dorothy

Recently, I received a text from my dear friend, Ashley, asking if I was interested in making a cake for a 2 year old's birthday party. Little did I know at the time, it would be a cupcake pull apart cake. However, I had never made this type of cupcake/cake, so I couldn't wait to begin! The 2 year old absolutely loves Elmo and his fish, Dorothy. I made Elmo's head out of cupcakes and Dorothy cookies to go around. Here's pictures of my very first pull apart cupcake cake. This could possibly be one of my favorite things to make, it was so much fun! I can't wait to make more!

The Beginning

I've always enjoyed baking. Some of my greatest memories growing up are of baking with my granny. We spent countless hours bounding over brownies, cakes, and cupcakes. About 2 years ago, my brother took over a small bakery in my hometown. I started going home on the weekends, to help bake goodies. I loved the freedom of being able to create new desserts and seeing the joy they brought to customers. It was there, I remembered my love of baking. I went out and bought a "tacklebox" full of cake decorating supplies, and I've never looked back!

I love making new creations or simply baking standard cupcakes! If you like the pictures and are interested in any of my desserts, please give me a call at 931-636-0676 or email me at mandipittenger@gmail.com. I make mostly cupcakes, cookies and cakes but I also make pies, speciality bars, etc.

Thanks for taking a look!