waiting for the results...

sarah and yvonne assembling cupcakes

1400 cupcakes have been filled, frosted and eaten. just waiting for the results of the cupcake challenge. the awards are for "best overall," "best original," and "best traditional." we submitted tahitian vanilla bean for "best traditional" and chocolate and salted caramel for "best original." you can view more pics on here or on my flickr page.

chocolate and salted caramel cupcakes

we had so much fun at the cupcake challenge! everyone was incredibly nice and it was great to see and taste all the mini cupcakes. the contestants went all out decorating their tables. some had giant custom cupcake towers, videos, and raffles. my favorite display was blue cupcake. it was absolutely adorable. our table was full of mini cupcakes resting on ruffled glass and white ceramic cake stands, stacks of my favorite pastry cookbooks and of course, suzanne's "sunday suppers" was tucked in there too. we made some larger versions of the cupcakes for display which proved to be a real hit with all the little kids that attended. who wants a mini cupcake when you can have a large one piled high with frosting and a cute little macaron hat?

...also nestled on our table

before we started packing up, after the competition was over yvonne, sarah and i celebrated with a little champagne. then we went to palate for an amazing dinner. octavio, jason and francois filled our bellies with foie gras, house-made pasta and more bubbly and vino. it was the perfect way to end our 14 hour day.

thank you so much for everyone who came to support us and cheered us on via twitter, facebook and text messages!

1400 cupcakes....

just a quick update: the cupcake batters are made, the frostings are being made and i'm just starting to bake off 1400 mini cupcakes! no typos here. sorry there are no pictures, its hard to take pictures with frosting on your fingers.

valentine's is just around the corner...

valentine's day treats

before i get started on those cupcake challenge testers, i have some sweet treats for your valentine's day. i finally gave in and made red velvet cupcakes. i topped off my "queen of hearts" cupcakes with traditional cream cheese frosting and red heart sprinkles. the pinkies are tahitian vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting and aptly named "sweethearts." do you have a broken heart this valentine's? i have the perfect cookie! french butter cookies with vanilla frosting. the have been quite popular in the larder.

its sort of ironic, i recently stopped making cupcakes. then, about a month ago, i was asked to take part in a cupcake challenge. this week, i was asked to do a show based on cupcakes. it seems as though i will NEVER stop making cupcakes. i don't have anything against them. i just figured there were enough people doing cupcakes that i didn't need to make them. i have learned that there are never enough people making cupcakes.

cupcake fever!

carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

in a few weeks i will be competing in the nestle cupcake challenge. this will be my first competition....ever. i am full of self doubt and nervous energy...trying to make it go away. for the big day, i will be making a vanilla cupcake (in the "traditional" category) and salted caramel and chocolate ("non-traditional"). wish me luck and come out and support if you get a chance! i will keep you updated on the testing process. i also might submit my application for food network's "cupcake wars"....shhhh....