Take as needed.

One of my good friends recently underwent surgery. I wanted to send her something to keep her spirits up during recovery. As I was looking at different flower bouquets, I remember she once told me that when she starts dating a guy, she explains that if he ever needs to apologize, he should do so with food, not flowers.

So I began looking at the cookie bouquets from the flower companies.  Really just because I didn't want to bug Lindsay, I just wanted to let her know I was thinking of her and thought delivery was the way to go. But seriously, they were charging $5 a cookie before delivery. That's twice the price I charge for cookies! It became clear I would be making some homemade treats instead, which I'm sure will be more appreciated!

I had seen some cute ideas on Pinterest of pill-shaped cookies for a get well gift. I went with two styles in 4 colors. Caplets and capsules. I put sphere sprinkles on the capsules to look like they were filled. 

They turned out pretty adorable! I also got a nice large jar that most resembled a precipiton bottle to fill.

A nice kitschy label, and the get well gift was complete! I dropped them at her doorstep so I wouldn't disturb her and let her boyfriend know they were there. He has been patiently waiting for her to wake so he can have a dose. 

Stay sweet!

 

CUPCAKE GIVEAWAY!!

Today, the Pretty Sweet blog reached 1,000 views!!! In order to celebrate, we are having a FLAVOR SHOWDOWN cupcake giveaway. 

The rules are simple: 

1. "Like" Pretty Sweet Events Facebook page

2. Comment on the FLAVOR SHOWDOWN photo with your favorite flavor. 

3. Share the FLAVOR SHOWDOWN photo. 

At 5:00 pm on Friday February 7th, a random winner will be chosen to get a free dozen cupcakes in their chosen flavor. 

May the best flavor win!!! 

Stay Sweet!

This giveaway is only applicable to individuals in the central Ohio area. Cupcake order must be picked up at Pretty Sweet in Lewis Center. 

Pretty Peacock

One of my former co-workers sent me a picture on Thursday of a very intricate jumbo peacock cupcake for her mother's birthday.  Admittedly, this thing was so intricate, I thought she was joking for a second.  Regardless, I (of course) told her "no problem! see you Sunday!"

The longer I stared at the photo, the less intimidating it became, and I finally figured out the logistics of this.  Despite wanting to charge punitive damages for the emotional distress {bad lawyer quip}, it actually was far less daunting.  It turned out so beautiful, and Sandy's mom said it was the prettiest cake she had ever seen.  {blushing a little!}

It was just a simple white cake in the jumbo mold. Instead of fondant, the peacock is covered in modeling chocolate for a better taste.  The tail feathers are also made of modeling chocolate.  Although the pictures don't display it, the feathers are painted with a gold luster dust.

Stay Sweet!

Oh What Fun! Dylan is One!

 

 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of making a host of sweets for a sweet little one-year-old's very first birthday.  My friend Samantha had an all out party planned for her little girl Dylan and needed plenty of pink treats to go with.  She sent a photo of a two-tiered pink cake with ribbons and spirals galore.  The cake resembled a present adorned with ribbons and bows, and matched the theme "Oh What Fun" so well.

 

 

The bottom tier was a 9-inch vanilla cake; the top, a giant chocolate cupcake.  Instead of fondant, since this was a child's birthday and most don't like the taste, the cakes were covered in modeling chocolate.

But for sweet Dylan's party, even a fun cake like this wasn't enough... obviously, matching cut-out cookies was a must!.

Finally, a first birthday wouldn't be complete without a smash cake!  We kept it simple and just used a rose-style frosting--in bright pink of course.

 and from the photos, it looked like little Dylan enjoyed her first smash!

 

Stay Sweet!

Bigger. Is. Better.

My husband's secretary's birthday was today, so he requested I make a special treat for the office. Christine loves my cookie dough stuffed cupcakes with cookie dough frosting. Instead of reinventing the wheel and turning it into a traditional layer cake, I figured I'd just make a giant cupcake. Plus, I was excited to try out my new pan. 

This is what the traditional sized Dough! cupcakes look like:

Let me tell you, this cupcake was HUGE. Of course I don't use boxed cakes, but the instructions on the box call for 1-2 box mixes, depending on how big you want the cake. 

The cupcake is cooked in two pieces, top and bottom. I didn't want to use fondant for the "wrapper," because I've been enjoying my recent experiments with modeling chocolate. That's what I used and it turned out great. The flavor is much much better as well. 

The center was then hollowed out and filled with a cup and a half of jumbo chocolate chip cookie dough. 

Here's the giant cupcake next to a traditional wrapper for comparison:

That's a BIG cupcake! After the frosting was added, it topped out at about 7" tall.  My husband and his coworkers enjoyed some for lunch and sent this...

Everyone was pleased. And ready to close the office for nap time. 

Stay sweet!!

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Oink!!

Yesterday I finished a cake for one of my husband's coworkers. Her daughter was turning 8 and absolutely loves pigs. I knew there were several options for a pig cake, but I wanted a pig shaped cake, not just a pig decorated cake.

I had found this recipe for a pig shaped cake. I liked the basic idea if this cake, but didn't want to do a cherry cake, as that's not what the client asked for. Instead I just used my traditional yellow cake recipe. 

This was the first time is ever baked a cake in a glass bowl. I reduced the temperature by 50 degrees: 25 because the batter was much thicker and 25 because glass conducts heat quicker than metal pans. 

This is want the cake looked like out of the oven:

My husband loves shaped cakes...there's so much more extras when it's leveled. So he got a bowl of cake top and a dollop of frosting. Happy camper!

The above recipe also didn't call for any layers. I thought it was going to be too much cake, not enough frosting. So I used my leveler and cut three layers to fill with vanilla buttercream. Lastly, the client didn't want fondant and I don't recommend it for kids anyway. Instead, I used modeling chocolate to get the same clean look with a better flavor.  The eyes, ears, nose, tail, and hooves were done in a matching marshmallow fondant.  And of course some dark chocolate frosting to get the little guy all muddy!

I was very impressed with the result!

Stay sweet!

Gucci. Michael Kors. Tiffany's. A girl's gotta eat her birthday cake in style!

One of my nearest and dearest friends turned the big 3-0 on Saturday (even though she looks 16 still-- bitch).  Paula is a very lucky girl.  She has four of the best friends in the world, and I'm not just saying that because I'm one of them.  Although we occasionally get together with all of us, we're not a group of five best girl friends; we are instead each a devoted best friend to Paula.

Paula is a lot of things besides being a great friend.  She is also wonderfully high maintenance and a total designer snob.  And I love it.  Naturally, I decided it was necessary to do a 3-tiered fondant covered cake.  The bottom tier: Gucci; the middle tier: Michael Kors; the top tier: Tiffany's.

Although I spent time making a Gucci stencil to make this part go quicker, the stencil was stubborn.  Instead, I hand painted the entire first tier.

Of course, the only acceptable flavor:  PINK.  VELVET.

Getting the right Tiffany blue was much easier with the Tiffany bag in front of me-- the other girls and I had already gotten Paula a necklace for a gift.

 And... voila!!  She loved the cake, and so did everyone else.