You know those teeny candy canes that you never seem to know what to do with? I always seem to have hundreds lying around. If you don’t trim your tree with them, or eat a few every day for the month of December, they just end up in the trash. I decided to put them to good use one year, and I am only getting around to posting a blog about it now. If you’re like me and want to contribute to the holiday-time potlucks but feel pressed for time, this is a neat trick. Here’s how you do it: Preheat the oven to 300F. Line waxed paper or parchment paper on a couple of cookie sheets. Arrange the mini candy canes in the shape of hearts. Place the hearts in the oven for 3 minutes. Depending on your oven you may need to do a couple minutes more or less. It’s […]
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Welcome baby girl cupcakes
Welcome baby girl cupcakes
You might have noticed I have had a sudden flurry of blogs. There are a few reasons for this: my eldest is in kindergarten now so I have a few hours (okay 2) where I am only dealing with one kid; the holidays are fast approaching and baking is synonymous with the holiday season in my mind; I will be returning to work soon and I don’t want my blog posts to pile up even more than they have now. With my maternity leave coming to an end, I am reminded that a dear friend’s maternity leave is also coming to an end. We were pregnant together and I was thrilled to make some cupcakes for her welcome baby party several months ago. She is one of my nearest and dearest friends; I’ve known her since we were 6 and I hope our kids will grow up together too! I […]
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Martha Stewart’s Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
Martha Stewart’s Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
I’m always on the lookout for great-tasting frosting, which pipes well, and isn’t necessarily buttercream. I was in a bind one afternoon when I realized I had to make a quick frosting. I needed to take photos of our Famous ‘Stache Movember cupcake toppers and wrappers for our Etsy shop Frost and Fete (see the entire set here) but I didn’t want to waste all my butter on making buttercream I didn’t even like. I quickly rifled through my well-loved edition of Martha Stewart’s “Cupcakes” and found something I hoped, and prayed would work out. The photo in the book didn’t reveal whether it would pipe beautifully or if it was just one of those slather and smear frostings. Fortunately for me this honey-cinnamon frosting came together just beautifully, piped easily, and to top it all off — it’s delicious. Normally I don’t dedicate an entire post to frosting, […]
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Lemon-kissed buttercream cupcakes
Lemon-kissed buttercream cupcakes
While I tend to fall back on tried-and-true cupcake recipes such as vanilla bean or Devil’s Food, sometimes I yearn for a little lemon. I made these for a springtime party but I’ve also made them since then for a baby shower. I found this recipe online when I wanted something a bit more sophisticated at the last minute and I knew I had lemons in the fridge. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned before but I’m not the biggest fan of buttercream. I love how it looks when you pipe it, but there are certain recipes that just taste much too buttery for my taste. This recipe changed my mind. This has become my favourite buttercream recipe ever. If you don’t like lemon, suck it up and try it out anyway. You will be pleasantly surprised I think. A testament to how much I like this recipe is […]
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Trick or Treat Halloween cupcake toppers and wrappers
Trick or Treat Halloween cupcake toppers and wrappers
Forgive me for bragging a bit, but if you love cupcakes as much as I do (and I’m pretty sure you do) then you’ll see why this is a big deal. As you might know if you’ve been reading my blog, my sister and I have an Etsy shop in which we sell custom-made cupcake toppers and wrappers. The scrumptiously amazing blog, Cupcakes Take The Cake, featured our Halloween cupcake toppers and wrappers in one of their posts this week! They are absolute authorities on cupcakes, and have even been on the Martha Stewart Show. This is what they had to say about us: “These creepy cobweb, grinning jack o’lantern, spooky black cat and bat cupcake toppers are for sale on Etsy by Frost and Fete, 6 wrappers for $10. Fun!” If you want to see what else we’ve been up to, check out our Etsy page.
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Wedding cupcakes class at Le Dolci
Wedding cupcakes class at Le Dolci
It’s no secret that I sometimes find decorating cakes and cupcakes intimidating. Over the years I have attended some classes, and learned some tricks that have helped me decorate cupcakes, cakes and pastries to a much higher standard than what I used to produce. I was able to overcome my fears of working with butter cream and piping tips after taking a cupcake decorating class at the Bonnie Gordon School of Confectionary Arts. But despite the fact we worked with fondant at the class, and I brought a tub home, I rarely decorated with the stuff. So when Lisa, of Le Dolci Cupcakes and Cakes invited me to attend one of their cupcake decorating classes, I eagerly accepted and signed up for the wedding cupcakes class at this fun food education studio. And you can see from the amazing cupcakes I decorated with my own two hands in the photo above that it was a huge success.The […]
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Oh Canada! cupcakes
Oh Canada! cupcakes
Canada Day is creeping up upon us and it’s the perfect occasion for a swanky summer soiree. Not sure what to make? Take the stress out of dessert by making some red velvet cupcakes (heck you can even buy them) and plopping these stunning cupcake toppers on top. Voila. A beautiful sweet table. My sister designed these and they’ve been our biggest hit over at our Etsy shop, we even had sales as far away as Texas and Alabama, and mentions in dozens of hand-picked treasuries from Etsy sellers all over North America. Have a wonderful Canada Day!
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Whimsical daisies, precious hearts, and I do! cupcake toppers
Whimsical daisies, precious hearts, and I do! cupcake toppers
Between a sick baby, royal wedding coverage, and the election campaign, life’s been trotting along at a quick clip. So I haven’t had much time to blog. But I wanted to give you a quick sneak peek at what my sister’s been designing over at Frost and Fete.How precious are these toppers? I wish we had thought of doing these back when I got married, I would have served cupcakes for sure. This is the Whimsical Daisy cupcake topper, I’d serve these with mint butter cream on a plain vanilla sponge cupcake. These are the Sweet Heart cupcake toppers. I’d probably serve them with strawberry butter cream at a tea party. Wearing a fascinator. And these are the ones I wish I had at my wedding, the I Do! modern wedding cupcake toppers, and just maybe my favourite ones so far. My cake was delicious, but the […]
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Hatching Chick Cupcake Toppers
Hatching Chick Cupcake Toppers
This is the latest creation for Frost and Fete, the Etsy shop my sister and I launched recently. When my mother and sister hosted my bridal shower, their hunt for cupcakes became a bit of a family joke as it literally spanned weeks. I wish this solution had presented itself to us – cupcake toppers that would fit the decor and theme of the party. It would have been much easier to top plain old cupcakes than to search for the perfect cupcakes covered in piped flowers. Plus, we could have saved the toppers for another event. No matter though. You live and you learn. So, check out our Hatching Chick Cupcake Toppers, which I will be using when I make a batch of cupcakes for my pregnant friend’s upcoming baby shower at the end of this month. (And, she can also save them and use them for an Easter […]
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Canadian federal election cupcake toppers
Canadian federal election cupcake toppers
It’s already April and if you are Canadian, a federal election is just weeks away. This campaign is all-consuming for me these days, especially with my day job as a news producer. And so when I wanted to bake cupcakes for my colleagues on Budget Day, I wanted to decorate them appropriately. At first, I thought chocolate numbers might make be the ideal cupcake toppers, but then in talking to my sister, the idea of the party leaders came up. I went on the hunt on Etsy and eBay but couldn’t find anything nearly close to what I wanted.And Budget Day came and went, I ran out of time, and I didn’t find any appropriate toppers nor did I make the cupcakes. But my sister – being the more artistic one – made the cupcake toppers anyway. And here they are on our very own Etsy shop, Frost and Fete . If […]
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