The Black and White Collection

It started off with an order I got from a good friend for her sister's 29th birthday - my criteria: chocolate cupcakes, vanilla buttercream, and something that would remind her sister of Paris..Paris is my favourite place on Earth, so I was excited to get crackin' on this project. I immediately started brainstorming and thought..Paris...Fashion...Coco Chanel...BLACK! This is when the black and white collection was born...

I started experimenting with black fondant and ofcourse did a lot of consulting with my good friend, Google...from here, the Chanel cupcake, the classic black bow, and a simple black gerber flower with a gorgeous silver pearl center came to life...This collection is still growing, but take a look at the beginning:

Let me know what you all think of the latest collection!

A final note - we now have a facebook page where you can keep updated with all the cupcakes that come out of Pipedream Bakery's oven and your best place to request orders! "Like" our page today!

Stay Slim, eat cake

Cookies n' Cream!

So last weekend, I decided to test out something that's been on my mind since I started this adventure: Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes! All I have to say is that these babies were a huge hit with both kids AND adults! Here's a look at what it took to get to the finished product:

Step 1 - Place half an oreo - icing side up, in cupcake liners (and crush the rest - that part was fun!)

Step 2 - Make my newly perfected vanilla cupcake batter....and add in the crushed oreo cookies!

Step 3 - watch them bake....and then reveal the surprise inside...

Step 4 - make cookies n' (butter)cream icing and ice 'em...and voila!!

Now the biggest question of the day..what should my next project be?? Any ideas????

Stay Slim, eat cake

Vanilla Cupcakes - my attempt at perfection

So, I've been on this mission to perfect my vanilla cupcake recipe. The taste is definitely not the concern here - my vanilla cupcakes have this intensely delicious "vanilla" taste to them that prevents you from being able to eat just one...My issue with them is finding that happy medium between density and fluffy-ness! So, I ran a trial -

Trial 1: Too Small, Too Dense, SO yummy!

• Although they came out super cute and small and perfect for the easter baskets cupcakes, they were too small to stick to the large cupcake liners!
• They were also on the dense side...onto Trial # 2...

Trial 2: Perfect Size, SO yummy....still too dense - ugh!

• This time, I added a bit more baking powder and mixed my batter for a bit less time (just enough to incorporate the flour)..the result - the perfect sized cupcake! These ones, I topped with a super yummy purple tinted buttercream (did I mention yet how much I LOVE buttercream frosting? I'm pretty sure this will evolve into the Signature Pipedream Cupcake)..mmm
• The verdict from two of my most trusted taste-testers: a dense but yummy cupcake (with great frosting ofcourse). One of the testers prefers a lighter cupcake and the other didn't mind the "heavieness"..onto Trial #3..

Trial 3: Less butter, a bit of oil, and a tad more milk

• Okay, this time, I substituted half of the butter with oil and added an extra splash of milk
• These cupcakes turned out great! They have the perfect balance of density, strength in vanilla, and "fluffyness"!
• This batch also evolved into one of the newest members of the Pipedream Bakery Cupcake Family - Vanilla Chocolate Chip..check it out:

My next mission - Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes...stay tuned!

Stay Slim, eat cake

Introducing...Red Velvet

Well...when I first started on this adventure full of buttercream and cake, I thought I would stick to the basics: chocolate and vanilla...but then..my curiosity got the best of me and i just HAD to attempt making a red velvet cupcake..Now, those of you who know me..know that I'm a perfectionist, so if I was going to do this..I was really going to do this! I needed to have the perfect colour red paired with the most moist (say that ten times fast!) cake ever! After searching through dozens and dozens of red velvet cupcake recipes, I found one that I thought would work out perfectly..I ended up tweeking it - increasing the amount of cocoa and decreasing the amount of oil by a smidge....and voila!



P.S. What's that frosting, you ask? Well...I couldn't do red velvet without the famous vanilla cream cheese frosting from Georgetown Cupcake!

Stay tuned for my fight with the vanilla cupcake...I'm onto my 3rd trial to perfect my yummy recipe later this week!

Stay Slim, eat cake