Happy Birthday America (and Grandpa)!

It was an exciting weekend with the celebration of the 4th of July, Grandpa Green's 94th birthday, and our engagement. It couldn't have been more perfect, since we got to visit both families. First to St. Louis to see my family for fried zucchini and wiffle ball, then to Slater to see his family for barbecue and fireworks. I made two pans of "kupcake kabobs" as my contribution to the delicious food we ate. The red cupcakes are made with red velvet cake, and the blue cupcakes are tinted with food coloring. The fruit was a nice touch-you know, keeps them somewhat healthy. It turns, out all ages enjoyed them. I watched as my 2 year old nephew, 11 year old niece, and 83 year old grandma all scrambled to get their hands on one. It was a memorable day!

Engagement Surprise

Wednesday, June 30 was an exciting and surprising evening. My boyfriend and I came home from the gym, and we cooked dinner together. As we finished eating he began to tell me what a wonderful part of his life I am, and the next thing I knew he was down on his knee next to me. Of course, I said "yes," and he slipped a diamond ring on my finger. It took me a few minutes to stop jumping up and down, and he played some guitar for me before we made phone calls to announce the news. I was eager to show off my new piece of jewelry, and we wanted to share the news with some friends in town. I didn't have the time or the focus to make engagement cupcakes, but I was able to come up with a plan. I made cupcakes for the 4th of July, and I was saving them back. So, I grabbed a few of them and headed to the store. I didn't have time to ice them, but I did manage to find some Ring Pop candy to put on top. When we got to our friend's house it was almost 11:00pm. But, they weren't all that surprised to see me outside the door with a container of cupcakes. I opened the container and looked at a confused face. While I hid my ring finger under the container, I asked my friend what type of candy she saw on top. She screamed, grabbed my hand, and congratulated us both. These might not be my most detailed or creative cupcakes, but they have to be the most special, by far.

Cosmo Cuptails

The girls are back! "Sex and the City 2" was released last week, and I created these chic cupcakes for the midnight showing of the movie. It was a big week for me, considering I don't watch many shows. It was the same week that "Lost" aired the series finale. I guess I could have made island themed cupcakes, but since I had already made beach cupcakes at New Year's, I decided to go with the "Sex and the City" theme. These sweet treats are the cupcake version of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte's favorite cocktail-the Cosmo. Although the movie got terrible reviews, most "Sex and the City" fans will thoroughly enjoy it. It was like a nice visit with old friends, and there are plenty of laughs to be had.

Head of the Class

Last weekend was a double cupcake weekend. My boyfriend's niece graduated from high school, and I couldn't resist a chance to make some cupcakes out of my latest book, "What's New Cupcake." It was fun to be creative with with the hair of these graduates, and I used Fruit Loops, chocolate sprinkles/icing, and Juicy Fruit to create brunettes, redheads, and blonds. Reese's mini peanut butter cups topped with square trimmed cookies created the mortarboard caps. A mini M&M secured the icing tassel. Good luck, graduates!

Happy 2nd birthday!

My nephew's 2nd birthday was last week, and, as promised, I created his birthday cupcakes. I wanted a train theme, but didn't necessarily want "Thomas the Train" themed decorations. It was harder to find generic train themed items than I thought. So, I went to the Internet for ideas and found someone who used tin boxes to make a train. Then, I decided to put some empty tin boxes behind the engine to hold the cupcake cargo. The cupcakes were blue and orange to match the plates, napkins, and balloons. My nephew might not have appreciated the thoughtful decorating, but he sure did love the cake.

Kentucky Derby

Last weekend I gathered with some of my college friends to attend the Kentucky Derby. We went to visit one of our friends who lives in Kentucky, and we took along our decorated Derby hats and our infield tickets for the big show. Everyone brought something to snack on, and I just had to make festive horse cupcakes. "Hello, Cupcake" has a fairly simple design for horses, complete with edible hay. The horse cupcakes went well with our mint juleps, chocolate bourbon balls, and Derby pie. Although it rained during most of the day, we still had a great time tromping around in our cute wellies that were purchased at Target on the way to Kentucky. Best $25 I've ever spent.

Rivals

My boyfriend's 30th birthday was at the end of April. I wanted to make him some special cupcakes. I thought through a list of ideas that matched his interests-guitar, motorcycles, basketball, etc. My friend suggested an idea that shocked me, because it involved making cupcakes that resemble the mascot of our college's biggest rival. You see, he grew up a Kansas Jayhawk fan. I am a Mizzou grad, and a dedicated Tiger fan. But, because it was his big day, I decided to go for it and make Jayhawk cupcakes. If nothing else, I would get pleasure from devouring and destroying them. There weren't any books with directions on how to create a cupcake to resemble this fictitious bird, so my friend and I walked up and down the aisles of the grocery store to find food items for our creation. I left the grocery store $50 poorer with items like mini M&M's, Twinkies, marshmallows, Peeps brand Bunnies, icing, and more. We worked late into the night to create the Jayhawk cupcakes, but finally found success with a small tip of a Twinkie, the yellow ears of the Bunnies, and lot of dyed homemade butter-cream icing. He loved the cupcakes and held back his urge to say...Rock, Chalk...oh, I can't even say it.