Riley's Birthday Party!

Mer, my kinda Aunt, asked me to make cupcakes for her daughter and son's birthday party. They're birthdays fell on the same date. But she asked and I told her I would. She told me I could do whatever with them, just meaning the flavors, the icing. The only thing she asked for was red, white, and blue sprinkles. So I did confetti cake with chocolate and vanilla frosting. There was 24 cupcakes so I made half and half. Then just topped them with sprinkles! Everyone loved them. :D

Mom's Birthday!

I always try to involve my family into what I'm learning...so! I made my mom a birthday cake! I made the cake from scratch along with Wilton's boxed butter cream. It's kinda like cake mix in a box but icing :p. It was good and the cake was moist. The only problem I had, personally, was the icing was soft to make roses. If they look a little droopy...wasn't my fault =(

Today, my Baking instructor decided to take our class on a field trip to a bakery in Landsdale, PA. It's a small bakery called Virago. In their bakery, they use only organic/natural ingredients to make all natural products. They make a lot of, if not only gluten free products. Like, cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, etc. They also make vegan products (not sure if they're the same?). Vegan means very strict vegetarian and they don't like dairy products. They sell only natural products they make in their bakery. The owner of the bakery talked to my class about why she decided to open this type of bakery. She told us that it was "something new on the market" and not you don't see that kinda of bakery everyday. It was an interesting experience and I don't think I've ever really tasted the products before, that I tasted today. She let us taste cupcakes, cookies, and a bite size pieces of a cake. Personally, when I tried the cupcake I bought, which was a peanut butter chocolate cupcake...the cake of the cupcake was a little dry and "crumbly" for my liking. The icing was a peanut butter flavored butter cream and was perfect in my opinion. It seems like you can tell the difference between vegan and gluten free products from desserts that actually have dairy in them. The desserts were tasty and yummy and if you haven't been there, or heard of them their website is: http://viragobakingcompany.com/ I've posted some pics below of some of their products that were on display and the interior of the bakery. Since they use all natural ingredients and make gluten free and vegan products, a lot of things in their bakery are quite expensive. A small cupcake costs $3 and the bigger, muffin sized cupcakes cost $5 each. We also ate lunch there, which wasn't bad at all. Most of my class chose the Buffalo Wrap they had on the menu. It was spicy chicken with blue cheese in a wrap. The only thing I was kind of annoyed about was that, that wrap costs $8.99, I don't know maybe it's just me, but it's a nice little place in Landsdale, PA where they sell coffee, lunch, breakfast, beverages, and especially desserts. If you live near the area you should stop by and check it out!

Gracie's second birthday!

For my cousin's second birthday, my Aunt and I came up with the idea of doing Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes! They were easy and they were yummy! At first I kept thinking the cones would get ruined in the oven, but nope! They were perfectly fine. They didn't get burnt, extra hard, or even mooshy (if that's even a word?) They turned out really good. First, I put the cake batter into the cones. Some people say to fill the cone up to when the cone actually changes its shape, but when I did that, they overflowed, so I just filled them 3/4 of the way. Then after they cooled, I decorated them with icing to look like soft serve, then added the sprinkles! You should try this! They look really good.