About a couple of years ago, inspired by Cheryl Porro of Cupcake Bakeshop, I started making cupcakes as an outlet for all the pent up energy I have, LOL! I asked my family and friends to be my frosting biotches, I mean tasters, and not long after that, I was known as the cupcake lady to family and friends.
I got my first paying gig/break when Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) ordered 300 cupcakes for their monthly employees birthday celebration. Before I know it, I was making cupcakes (and cakes and brownies) for Graduations, Birthdays, Baptismals, Corporate meetings & events, Product Launching, Valentines, Showers and other occasions. But let me tell you, when I fill an order for 450 cupcakes to be delivered at noon on a Friday, that would transpose to almost 36 hours of non-stop baking, no sleep and pots after pots of Ethiopian single-estate coffee; not to mention zero social life. It was all fun and good at first, plus a great way to augment my income. But thousands of cupcakes later, I was burned out. You see, I was single handedly making these cupcakes -- me, myself and I. Thus I decided to stopped taking orders. Of late, I have been getting inquiries and not-quite-so-large orders of cupcakes, and slowly but surely, I can feel the excitement building up again. The rush I get when I make these bad boys is euphoric!
I wish I had a blog then, so I could have kept pictures of all the cupcakes I made. But I did get a few, so here is what I was able to take pictures of. Enjoy!
Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes -- Valrhona Chocolate cupcakes with port infused dried cherries,
whipped cream and port reduction glaze
Neapolitan Cupcakes --
Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting
Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting --
ICE CEO's 2009 birthday cupcakes
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Marshmallow Mascarpone Frosting
Neiman Marcus Cupcakes -- Pineapple-coconut cupcakes infused with Jamaican Rum, filled with
Pineapple-coconut-rum custard with Coconut-rum Swiss meringue frosting and
homemade candied coconut strips.
I made these bad boys for my carribean-tiki-crazy friend JJ on his graduation from Oregon State University.
Classic Yellow cupcakes with Chocolate Italian Meringue Frosting
Strawberry cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting
Cardamom Carrot cupcakes with Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting and
Homemade Candied Carrot Strips-- my personal favorite!
Flourless Valrhona Chocolate cupcakes with Rum infused dried strawberries, Cardamom frosting and Cabernet Sauvignon glaze -- an ORIGINAL creation and another personal favorite.
Lemon cupcakes filled with Lemon Custard and Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting 
Pink Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate-Mascarpone Frosting -- another ORIGINAL creation
Valrhona Chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting --
I made these cupcakes for my my friend Nichelle and her hubby's first Valentine. Photo courtesy of Nichelle.
Rose Cupcakes filled with Rose Petal jam and Rose Turkish delights with White Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting topped with crystallized rose petals - another one of my ORIGINAL creations.
Lavender cream filled cupcakes with Fennel frosting 
Cookies and Cream cupcakes
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes -- Vanilla cupcakes filled with homemade Raspberry jelly and Peanut butter frosting 
Chocolate and Peanut butter cupcakes topped with the WWF bear -- an earth day cupcake
Wow, those are really beautiful cupcakes! How did you think up all the different flavor combinations? The fennel frosting sounds intriguing. They're just stunning and people are going to be soo lucky to have you back baking cupcakes again! =)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lori. The fennel frosting is good. That's something I picked up from Chery Porro. I am, however, doing a lot of recipe developing these days, and I will post as I go. And hey, email me or something if you need any of the recipes if I don't post them.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And oh, you make me miss LA...
Of course I am biased and think that everything Chef Bon Bon makes is absolutely FABULOUS!!!
ReplyDeleteMy personal fave (and my Hubs too) is:
Valrhona Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting...