Bella Cupcakes

For Denise & Danilo

2012-02-08T02:47:00.000-08:00

I love wedding season and I especially love it when I get to create a tiered wedding cake!! I so wish I could do more of them!!

Anyhow I am this for a wonderful couple who married over the weekend. Denise and Danilo wanted a wedding cake that was elegant with clean lines. They wanted each tier to have a special feel and really loved the lace embossing that I had done on my previous cakes.

I just absolutely fell in love with this cake!! I loved everything about it. I wish I could get married again {to my hubby of course} It would be so much fun making my own wedding cake!!

Introducing Mr & Mrs Salvador's 4 tier wedding cake.

Handcrafted large fondant roses in dusky pink & ivory.

The wedding reception was held at the gorgeous Heritage grand tea room. If you haven't been there, it really is beautiful! I absolutely loved the ceiling!! Such amazing details.

I'm so happy that Denise & Danilo loved their wedding cake as much as me. I had such a fantastic time making it for them!!

Congratulations D&D!! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness together!

Isabella turns 4!

2012-01-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

My little munchkin turned 4 years old over the holidays! We celebrated with a quiet dinner with my best friends who also are Isabella's godparents and Isabella's best friend Katherine and her mummy & daddy. I didn't get the chance to make her a "fancy" cake because of the hectic week of prepping for our friends wedding. I felt so bad!! The best I could do was make her a super tasty cake and OMG it tasted so good! The best thing was Isabella got to help me make it. I always love spending time in the kitchen with her. We get up to some pretty cool stuff.

I decided I would make her a vanilla sponge cake filled with jam, strawberries and cream! It went down a treat with everyone and Isabella thought it was the best cake ever!! I guest sometimes it's nice to keep it simple and if the smile on Isabella's face says anything ... I think she was pretty happy too.

Happy Birthday Isabella!

I'm so excited to see what this year holds for Miss B ... I sure there will be alot of fun adventures, a few tears and a whole lot of giggles! It's going to be an awesome year for being FOUR!

Happy Baking!

Welcome to Isabella's Place!

2012-01-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we decided that we would build Isabella her very own outdoor playhouse! A very excited me just couldn't wait to get started!! My mind went into overdrive with all the ideas of what I could do on the inside, what colours I wanted to paint it, all the cute and pretty things I could get for the house. I was just willing December to come around. My next mission was to some how keep it a secret from my little munchkin! Hmmm .... Thanks to my lovely mother inlaw, the munchkin was ship to nan's for a extended sleep over. We ended up having only 2 days to put the house up, paint the inside and out and also furbishing it. Gosh, thinking back now I don't know how we managed to get everything done!! Hubby and I was working like little crazy people!!

Anyhow, after months & months of waiting building day FINALLY arrived!! Yippee!! As I said we worked like crazy and got it all done and really for the munchkin to get the biggest surprise of her life on Christmas morning. And what a fantastic Christmas morning it was!! She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing and she was almost to scared to go inside, it was so super cute.

Welcome to Isabella's Place.

I decided that painting it a neutral gender colour would be best, just incase our next munchkin is a boy {I don't think he would too be impress with playing in a pink house!} So what other colours then my favourite teal and yellow. On the inside we painted it white and gave it a rough paint as I wanted that shabby chic look. It also really brightened up the inside.

I had lots of fun shopping for all the furniture and little pretty things. The weekend markets and Trademe became my best friend! My brother brought her a new mixer and cupcake set for her christmas present and fitted perfectly in her new house.

Isabella's kitchen with all her bits and pieces.

Upstairs I created a relaxing and pretty space where she can take time out and read her books or play with her toys.

The quilt I had brought for Isabella before she was born. I was in an antique store when I saw it and I knew it was going to be prefect for my little munchkin. I'm so happy that it has now found a place in her little house.

A pretty bunting hangs from the ceiling & a piece of vintage fabric framed hangs above the door way.

A cute little blackboard for her doodles and you can't have a playhouse without a sweet broom and dustpan set. I also brought a cute little ironing board and give it a new lease of life by recovering it in some shabby chic fabric.

Isabella's aprons hanging waiting for her .... I wonder what she will be cooking? Maybe some cupcakes?

There are still a few things we need to finish like painting the support beams, but all in all it is the perfect little house for our munchkin. I'm so looking forward to watching her play in her house with all her friends. Using their imaginations and creating their own little world.

Happy Baking!

Sweet Princess!

2012-01-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

I do love a girly girly cake and was very excited about creating this cake for a little cutie who turned the big FIVE!! Her mummy wanted something very special, that was super pretty and fit for her little princess. What better way then to create a princess cake for her princess.

I've never been big on the whole dolly varden cakes which have the barbies in them, but I really wanted to make one!! hehe So this is my take on a dolly varden cake and is as close to a 3D cake that I'm going to get. {If you know me ... 3D cakes scare me!! =)}

I adored creating this cake and just loved how it turned out. I love the gorgeous pastel tones, which just made for an even more pretty cake. So here she is a cake fit for a princess!

Sweet Princess

I also create some princess theme cupcakes. Cute pillows with a sweet crown and ribbon roses.

Dusky pink roses with a sprinkle of magical sugar crystals.

I love how the whole tower came together.

Cakes and cupcakes like these just make me feel so happy on the inside and out!! I love that I can create these cakes for such special little cuties and know that somehow, I've been apart of their lives celebrating these big milestones!! Yippee!

Happy Baking!

Mr & Mrs Luong Vintage inspired dessert table

2012-01-08T03:27:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it is 2012!! I firstly want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!! How did you lovelies celebrate?

We had a huge party!! Well kind of .. {hehe} Some very good friends of ours got married on New Year Eves, so it was a fantastic way to celebrate their wedding and also bring in the new year.

I had the great honor of styling Mr & Mrs Luong's dessert table and also designing their wedding cake and cupcakes. Oh and I almost forgot I also got to make macaron favors too. As you can imagine it was a crazy busy week leading up to the wedding { with Christmas, hubby and I - 8 year wedding anniversary and our gorgeous lil munchkins 4th birthday} I don't think I got much sleep at all. I have to say that it was all worth it tho. The dessert table turned out amazing and Mr & Mrs Luong love what I came up with.

Mr & Mrs Luong's Dessert Table

The wedding had a vintage inspired theme with gorgeous bird cages and teacup and pearl center pieces. For the dessert table we followed that theme with gorgeous shabby chic furniture, hanging bird cages, lots of gorgeous teacups & saucers, beautiful cake stands, vintage napkins and table clothes and the most amazing white hydrangeas and roses.

Their wedding colours were teal & pink, so we decided to have a teal fondant ruffle cake with a pretty dusky pink flower as the topper. The flower was inspired by a fabric flower that I have in my studio.

I especially loved this dresser that I source, it was the perfect canvas for our the pretties to be displayed on.

These were absolutely delicious!! Mini trifles in a shot glass and on the cut glass cake stand yummy opera cake and of course our mini cupcakes in white chocolate raspberry and tangy lemon poppy.

Also on the menu mini fruit tarts, macarons, the most delish chocolate mousse!!

Lace embossed fondant covered cupcakes with ruffle inspired fondant flowers

I loved the hanging bird cages with the back drop of fairy lights.

Oh and how can anyone resist the mini creme brulee? They were just to dye for!

Out of all the tables this would have to be my favourite!!! I just loved everything about it!!

Beautiful teacups & sauces and gorgeous hydrangeas in vintage glass jars {LOVE}

The wedding was just amazing and we all had a fabulous time!!! An amazing new years eve!!

Congratulations to my very good friend Viv & Mike!! May you have many years of joy and happiness together!!

Happy New Years Lovelies!

Cake & Cupcakes by Bella Cupcakes

Dessert by SKYCITY Grand

Vintage china hire by Vintage Simiplicity

Bird Cages & jars by Centrepieces

Styling & Photography by Bella Cupcakes

Miss Li's French chic inspired bridal shower

2011-11-08T02:10:00.000-08:00

I had the great honor of styling this bridal shower for a very good friend of mine. Miss Li will be getting married in December. It was quite a funny journey coming up with the concept for her bridal shower. She really thought that I was going to throw her a hen's night with strippers etc... and well let's just say that she didn't get much sleep for the last 5 weeks!! I know all along what I wanted to do but hey there's no harm in teasing her with ideas of what we might do!!

Anyhow back to Miss Li's bridal shower. I decided on a french chic inspired theme with gorgeous teal and pink tones. {which Miss Li will also be using for her wedding day}

I was so super excited to meet up with my florist and ask if he could get me peonies { I had all my fingers and toes crossed} you should have seen my face when he said YES!!! I was like a little kid in a candy store!! Yay! Yay! Yay!! The peonies would be the perfect touch to the bridal shower.

We served up some delicious sweet and savory treats to the guest. On the menu were:

Chocolate & Raspberry macarons

Lemon meringue tartlets

Chocolate raspberry tartlets

Chocolate orange & white chocolate raspberry cupcakes

Caramel cake pops

Cannelloni bean & salmon canapes

Prawn & cucumber canapes

Chicken & avocado canapes

Homemade pink lemonade

Pink bubbles

The sweets table

The beverages table

Love!

French chic inspired cake

There is nothing more gorgeous then a cup of roses

It's all in the details

Peony love!

Miss Li knew that we were throwing her a "hen's party" but she had not idea what she was in for. She was gobsmacked when she saw everything - her words "I'm so excited I'm hyperventilating!!" We all had a wonderful afternoon, drinking, eating and being merry. We played the toliet bridal dress game amongst others. Alot of laughing through out the day.

So looking forward to New Year's Eve!! What a way to bring in 2012 - Miss Li's wedding day.

Styling & catering by Bella Cupcakes

Photography by Vanessa Iti

Happy baking!

Snow White & her forest friends

2011-10-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

This special little project for a gorgeous little girl who celebrating turning 3 years old. I've had the pleasure of creating Jecholeah's birthday cakes for the last 2 years, so was very excited to create this for her.

Jecholeah's mummy wanted to go with a Snow White theme party and left the design of the cupcake tower up to me!! Yippee! I thought Snow white, meadow and cute little animal friends.

And this is the finished tower. I just loved the colours and had alot of fun hand painting the details on the cake and cupcakes.

Jecholeah's Snow White Cupcake tower

Close up of Snow White

Cute bunny rabbit

Snow White's basket of flowers

Birdie friends

Cute little squirrel {tho I didn't think he really likes a squirrel!! hehe}

I had a wonderful time creating the cupcakes and cake for little Jecholeah!! I hope she had a wonderful birthday!!

Happy Birthday Miss J!

Happy Baking

The journey of the macaron!

2011-10-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

Mmmm there is nothing like a yummy french macaron! That first bite into a slight crunch of the shell and that chewy biscuit and then the filling {heaven}

I've always been curious of how a macaron is made and have heard a many stories of the drama and nightmares these little suckers can be!! Because of this I've been reluctant to give them ago. There are a few of my girlfriends who I would say are obsessed with macarons - myself included. Anyhow we decided about 2 months ago that we would have a try at making these little beauties!! Come on how hard can they be right? Famous last words.

We booked in a macaron date and were all very excited when the day finally arrived!! Everything was looking great!! The batter looked perfect, piping .... just stunning, now time to put them in the oven. The anticipation of opening the oven to see those biscuits with their little feet .... 14 minutes and we hear the alarm - open up the oven door and devastation! NO FEET!!! We just didn't know what went wrong? They tasted delicious but without their feet, well it's just not a macaron. I just couldn't understand why they didn't work? Well the battle had just began!

Attempt one: Macaron 1 : Me 0

Next morning I just couldn't stop thinking about why everything when so pear shaped. I was determine to give them another go!! and that afternoon there I was again, just me and my macaron batter. 2nd attempt was better - some had feet and some didn't. You can guess by this stage I was just about to give up!! I really thought that these macarons would be the death of me. That night I did more research and decided I needed to get myself an oven and sugar thermometer.

Attempt two: Macaron 1 : Me 1/2

Third attempt was a couple days later and this time I felt confident that this was the day that I would become a macaron maker! Armed with alot more knowledge and all the equipment I needed - this was the day I would beat those little suckers!

Piped and waiting for that shell to form

Oh my goodness! I was so happy when I opened those oven doors to see those gorgeous cookies with there lovely feet! I think I almost cried!! Oh happy, happy days!!

And here is the finished product : Salted caramel french macarons

Passionfruit french macarons {hubby's favourite}

Important tips I've learnt from my macaron journey are:

It's really important to know your oven!! You may have set your oven to 150 degrees but I can guarantee that it won't be 150 degrees inside your oven. Get yourself a oven thermometer, they are not expensive and 1 of the best purchases you can get for the quest of the perfect macaron.

Sugar thermometer is a another essential - So you can check and make sure your sugar syrup is at the right temperature { this is if you use the italian meringue method - which is what I use }

Aging your egg whites. I didn't do this for my 1st, 2nd or 3r attempt but did for the macarons for my besties babyshower and wow! it makes a big difference. I aged my egg whites for 24 hours.

Do your research!!! The more you know the better prepared you are!!

DON'T GIVE UP!! You will get there and once you do ... It's happiness all the way =)

My macaron journey started out with so much hope and excitement, mid journey was all about learning from my mistakes and to tell myself to keep going and try, try, try again. It really is an awesome feeling to finally arrive at the end of my journey and feel a real sense of achievement. I can now happily say that I can made macarons!!

Happy Baking!

Surprises!! Baby shower - High tea style

2011-09-26T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Lovelies!

A few weeks ago I organized a surprise baby shower for my best friend. I have to say I was so excited about coming up with whole design concept of the baby shower. I really wanted it to be special as it is my besties 1st child.

Mrs Cheng is expecting a baby boy sometime mid November. I didn't want to do the usual blue for a boy colours. So my first thoughts were teal and yellow!! Oh how I love those two colours together. With colours now sorted and high tea as the theme I was just brusting with excitement and I couldn't wait to start planning and sourcing everything.

I found this gorgeous teal ribbon from my local emporium

{LOVE}

Next up was what to serve all my lovely friends? After many nights of thinking and researching I settled on the following menu.

High Tea Menu

Sandwiches

Lemony Cucumber & smoked salmon

Chicken almond & avocado

Prawn & dill

Tartlets

Caramelised onion

Chocolate & Raspberry

Lemon & passionfruit

Cupcakes

Spiced banana

White chocolate raspberry

French Macarons

Mango & white chocolate

Chocolate

Cake

Chocolate sponge with chocolate custard

Beverages

Homemade lemonade

English Breakfast

Earl Grey

I sat back and thought hmmm now that is a good looking menu! But gosh what a lot of work for just one person - there were times when I thought "Gosh, how the heck am I going to be able to make all of this!" Some how I manage to make everything!! Yes, everything on the menu was homemade by moi - well besides the teas of course!! hehe It was so worth it, everything tasted delicious!

I also got to meet up with the lovely Kerry from Vintage Simplicity to select all the gorgeous china for the high tea. Oh what a fun morning of all things gorgeous!!! There was so much to choose from!! I just couldn't contain my excitement. I was like a little girl in a candy store.

I absolutely love paper pom poms and wanted to have a go at making some!! So glad I did, they are so easy to make and give such a lovely look - especially for a baby shower. I definitely recommend giving them a go - they only cost me $1 per pom pom to make! There are some great tutorials out there on the web - my pick would be the Martha Stewart tutorial.

And this is how my weeks of planning turned out! Mrs Cheng's surprise high tea baby shower. I wanted gorgeous, sweet and something a little special. I just LOVED how everything looked together. It was so lovely to wake up the morning of the baby shower, walk downstairs and see it all looking sooo lovely! I even surprised my dad!! He was just quite taken back with how it all looked.

Paper doilies and gorgeous bottles of yellow & pink ranunculus made for a wonderful center piece

The buffet table with a lovely selection of sweet treats & savory goodness

Mmmmm yummy date scones with raspberry jam and vanilla whipped cream

The cupcake tower

French macaron tower

Lemon & passionfruit tartlets

Yum!

Homemade lemonade

Ruffle cake with a sweet baby bunny topper

Chocolate & raspberry tartlets

Mrs Cheng got the surprise of her life when she arrived at our house!! It was the best reaction I could have asked for. She had no clue what so ever. All us ladies had the best afternoon - lots of laughing and baby talk - the perfect way to spend an afternoon with close friends and family.

And now I can't wait to meet the new addition to the Cheng family - only 7 weeks to go! Yipeee!

Happy Baking!

Miss Ashton Sky's Cupcake Tower

2011-09-08T01:35:00.000-07:00

Gosh I haven't posted anything for awhile. Life has been pretty busy and sometimes I struggle to keep everything going and things get dropped. But I'm back and there is so much to post about.

Let's start off with one of my most favourite cupcake towers I have done to date. This was a very special project and made for some good friends of mine. They just recently had a gorgeous baby girl and to celebrate her one month birthday they asked me to create them a cupcake tower. You may be thinking ... "One month birthday?" In Chinese culture, the one month birthday is a very important milestone and is usually celebrated with family and friends.

My friends only request was to have a piglet theme and the rest of the design was left up to me. Yay!! Artist freedom to do what ever I wanted!! There were so many ideas running through my head! I settled on something sweet and girly that had a vintage feel.

I have been dying to try my hand at fondant ruffles and have never had the opportunity and seeing I had artist license ... this was the perfect cake to have a go. I absolutely love the how the ruffles turned out! They did take forever but I think it was well worth the time and effort.

Another thing I was quite proud of was how all my little piglets turned out! I've made Piglet a few times but have never been happy with how he looked. I surprised myself this time and just loved them all!

Close up of the ruffles

Happy Piglet

Butterflies, roses and bows

It was such an honor to create this tower for Baby Ashton Sky and her parents. We all had a wonderful time celebrate her one month birthday.

Congratulations Kim and Ben!! Ashton Sky is a gorgeous wee thing and she is very lucky to have such lovely and caring people as her mummy and daddy!

Photo Challenge Week Four!

2011-07-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

This weeks photo challenge comes in the form of all things pretty. I was in the kitchen cleaning when I saw my mum's gorgeous Blue Willow teapot and thought that's what I'm going to photography this week. I just love this teapot! I love the shape and pattern and that blue, it is such a gorgeous shade of blue. I also {heart} peonies, cake stands and tea cups - so here is a capture of just a few from my collection. Enjoy!

My Photo Challenge Week Four { 27th July 2011 }

My Pretties

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present."

{ Jim Rohn }

"Beauty is the promise of happiness."

{ Edmund Burke }

A little cup of friendship

With a bag of tea

When you drink this

Think of love from me

{ unknown }

When you're feeling sad and blue

And have no clue what to do

Sit down and have a cup of tea

And a hug or two or maybe three

Fell those troubles melt away

And start you on a better day.

{ By Paulette }

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Happy Baking!

White Wedding!

2011-07-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

I {heart} weddings and LOVE creating special pieces of edible art for my brides. I love creating my cupcake towers but would also like to do more wedding cakes. I think I've only done about 6 or so tiered wedding cakes and thought my portfolio was in need of some more wedding cake designs. So what does one do while they are on holiday? Made some wedding cake dummies of course. My studio is also in need of some pretty cakes, so it is the perfect opportunity.

I create this simple but I think stunning 4 tier wedding cake display. I love that classic, clean lines kind of look and I think this cake encumbers those elements.

Fondant covered with hand pipped royal icing dots. Fondant stripe ribbon bow and gumpaste handmade roses.

It is so lovely to walk into my studio and see this cake. I have a few others that I'm working on at the moment and look forward to sharing them with you all when I've finished.

Happy Baking!

I {heart} Chanel

2011-07-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a very good friend of mine if I could please make some special cupcakes for her cousin's birthday. My answer was of course YES!! Julia is a gorgeous and bubbly 21 year old who loves fashions. And especially loves Chanel {who can blame her, I don't know any women who doesn't love Chanel right?} I've never been asked to create Chanel theme cupcakes, so I was super excited. I was going to make high heels and bags but decide that just bags would be more fun!

Oh how I love how these cupcakes turned out!!! A little bit of Ooo la la in a cupcake.

These favourite would have to be these 3. The classic Chanel logo and quilted texture.

Julia was just blown away when she popped over to my studio to pick them up and couldn't not believe that I had created them for her. She said that she wasn't going to eat them and that she would display them somewhere in her room. I told her she had to at least eat one ... but something tells me that she didn't and they are taking pride of place somewhere - maybe on the mantel piece? {lol}

Happy Baking

Photo Challenge Week Three!

2011-07-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

I've been on holiday this week and have been quite lazy and just hanging out with my daughter doing fun mummy daughter stuff. I'd been thinking about this weeks photo challenge but just couldn't be bothered with getting the camera out!! {I know!} Well I woke this morning, feeling full of energy and decided I'm committed to this challenge .... "go grab that camera and start week three!"

This weeks photos are all very different. I'm still fascinated with my macro len and water droplets but thought I needed to have some other subject matters to keep it interesting. I received a large parcel of books this week that I order from the UK. If you don't know I LOVE books!! So what better why to capture my love of books by taking a photo of my books {of course in an artist way}. My other love amongst many is colour! This week I've been doing quite a lot of cake sketching {millons of designs running around in that head of mine} So a capture of my beautiful array of colour pencils. And lastly I had to indulge my fascination with my marco len and water droplets. I went out into the backyard hunting for the perfect capture. This weeks macro capture came in the form of a spiders web with these tiny jewel like water droplets - just gorgeous!!

I'm glad I got off my butt and captured these images for my week three challenge! Love all three and expresses what kind of week I've had!

My photo Challenge Week Three { 22nd July 2011 }

The week that was

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence"

{ H.L.Mencken }

"The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most"

{ John Ruskin }

"And now, this is the sweetest and most glorious day that ever my eyes did see."

{ Donald Cargill }

Another week has gone by and very glad that it is Friday. I hope all you lovelies out there have a fabulous weekend. spending time with your love ones and doing the things you enjoy most!

Happy Baking!

Azul's Fairy House

2011-07-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

Fairies, fairies, oh how I love little fairies. So when I get asked to create a fairy theme cake well it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I made this for a very sweet and adorable little girl who turned 4 years old. I am very lucky and have had the privilege of making Azul's 2nd and 3rd birthday cake. So when I received a lovely email for her mummy asking me to create Azul's 4th birthday cake I was super excited. The theme of your party this year was all about fairies and the colour theme was white. lime green and hot pink! I just thought WOW!!! love the colours and could envision her cake straight away.

Magical toadstool house with a magical fairy garden and pretty magical fairies. I also made matching mini cupcakes in hot pink cases with a gorgeous lime green buttercream swirl topped with a white and yellow daisy blossom and of course sprinkled it with magical pixie dust.

Welcome to Azul's Magical Fairy House!

I really love the leaf texture and that gorgeous spring/lime green.

Little pebble steps added a sweet touch to the cake and I love the heart sharp windows.

Another fun cake to make! My favourites would have to be the cute little fairies and the vine leaves arching over the windows and door.

Happy Birthday Azul!!! I hope you have a fabulous day!!

Happy Baking!

Photo Challenge Week Two!

2011-07-12T03:15:00.000-07:00

This weeks photo challenge I decided I would get out my macro lens my hubby got for me. So funny it took me about 1/2hr to figure out how to use the darn thing! Found out that I had to manually focus everything - which I thought was kinda cool once I got use to it.

So I still had the Chrysanthemum in my studio from last week, so I just used them as my subject matter again this week {they are so pretty to photograph} But just a different take on them. I became a little obsessed with capturing the drops of waters on the petals. I LOVE macro!!

My photo Challenge Week Two { 12th July 2011 }

pMacro : Pretty water droplets

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart"

{unknown}

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.

{Barbara de Angelis}

The best days are the ones that start with sunshine and end with moonlight.

{Linda Poindexter}

Let the beauty we love become the good we do.

{Rumi}

I'm lovin' these photo challenges and am learning so much about my camera and how to take photos. I wonder what week 3 will hold?

Happy Baking!

Sweet Little Bunny

2011-07-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the sweet and simple things in life that makes us the happiness. Like when my little girl Isabella wakes me up every morning with a huge "Wake up MUUUMMMMYY" and a gorgeous smile {yes it is still sweet ever tho I may have only had a couple hours of sleep} or when you see someone smile and it makes you smile. It's those moments that make us who we are.

So sometimes it's just nice to do a simple cake. But don't get me wrong I do LOVE all the details that go into my creations but sometimes, just sometimes it's really therapeutic to take it right back and just have a sweet and simple creation.

This tower I made for little Emilia was just that. Sweet and Simple and Oh how I love, Love, LOVE the cake and cupcakes. Emilia's mummy wanted a tower that was very soft and girly and requested for the colours to be pink and white. Emilia has a little white bunny which she just adores and I thought that would be the prefect theme to go along with the muted colour palette.

I decided a little bit of purple here and there would give it abit of contrast.

I love the little dots and heart ribbon - they just make the cake super duper cute!

These little bunnies were so much fun to make and they were certainly have a great little party in my studio.

Delicate ribbon roses with piped dots just finished the tower prefectly.

This tower, tho simple has to be one of my favourites. I would have loved something like this for my first birthday thats for sure.

I hope Little Emilia had a fabulous birthday and her bunnies got to party with her!!

Happy Birthday Miss Emilia {heart}

Happy Baking!

Photo Challenge Week One!

2011-07-05T00:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, So I'm no professional photographer but I do love to take photos. I wish I had more time to indulge in my passion for photography but life is so busy that I just don't. I've decided to give myself a challenge of taking a few photos one day a week for 52 weeks. Hmmm lets hope I can stick to it!! I might need a little bit of help from you lovelies out there. If you don't see a photo challenge post every week, could someone pretty, pretty please with a cherry on the top just send through an email and to say HEY! Where are your photos?!?! lol. But I will try my very best to keep it up. Because I can only grow as a photographer if I take lots of photos right?

This is all very excited and can't wait to see where it takes me. Amature Photographer here I come!

My Photo Challenge Week One { 5th July 2011 }

Small Posies of Chrysanthemum which I have in my studio to brighten those winter days.

Flowers are those little colourful beacons of sun from which we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts

{ Dodinsky }

Flowers whisper "Beautiy!" to the world,even as they fade, wilt, fall.

{ Dr. SunWolf }

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair...

{ Susan Pollis Shutz }

Every Flower is a soul blossoming in nature.

{ Gerard de Nerval }

I loved taking these photos and look forward to next weeks challenge. I wonder what it will be?

Happy Baking!

Miss Olivia turns ONE!

2011-07-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Olivia!

Happy Birthday to you!

Little Olivia celebrated turning the big ONE over the weekend. Her mummy wanted a very special cake to celebrate a wonderful 1st year. Olivia's favourite toy is a cute little wooden toy called Mary Lou. So we decided we would use this as the theme along with Olivia the Pig. We wanted to use girly colours but added the black to give it a bit of a pop and contrast.

Little Olivia also has a favourite pair of pink sunglasses and her mummy requested that I incorporate this into the design. Doesn't Olivia look super cool and super cute in her sunnies and tutu skirt?

My favourite would have to be the heart cupcakes. I love the 3d heart with the delicate ribbon roses. I just think the whole cupcake looks super cute!

All in all, loved how the tower came together. Everyone at Olivia's birthday loved the tower. I hope it make Olivia's 1st birthday extra special!

Happy Birthday Miss Olivia!! Yay for being ONE!!

Happy Baking!

Welcome to my Kitchen!

2011-06-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

I had brought my camera to the shop the other week, so I thought it would be fun to take some more "behind the scenes at Bella Cupcakes Headquarters" photos.

While all you lovelies out there are fast asleep, I'm usually in my kitchen with the music going full blast making magic happen. It's really lovely knowing its just me and my cupcakes. Working away getting everything ready for my lovely customers.

Busy! Busy! Busy! Cutting out fondant to cover my cupcakes

I absolutely love this part - decorating the cupcakes. These are my handmade fondant roses - I think they look lovely on the lace embossed cupcake.

So what's the story behind these cupcakes? These were made for a wedding. The bride-to-be loved my purple rose cupcake tower I did awhile back and she wanted something similar. I don't really like to do the same design twice so, I change a few things and well just love the final look of everything.

The bride decided to go for our delicious chocolate mud cake for the top cake. And for the cupcakes our very popular white chocolate & raspberry and something a bit tropical: coconut and pineapple cupcake with infused coconut buttercream {YUMO}.

Another fun cupcake tower to make and just love all the details. My favourite would have to be those super large roses!! My bride just loved everything about it too, which just makes me super happy!

Happy Baking!

Spending time with my two loves!

2011-06-13T04:24:00.000-07:00

I love Saturdays after wedding season is over. My Saturdays are now reserved for the two loves in my life: my wonderful husband and gorgeous little girl Isabella. On this particular Saturday we decided to take the munchkin to Butterfly Creek. Isabella was very excited and so was I. If you haven't been to Butterfly Creek - it is a really cool place to take the kids. There are so many things for them to do. We saw fish, crocodiles, alligators, spiders, bunny rabbits, pigs, butterflies and well the list goes on and on. We even got to take a train ride.

I'm also bit rusty with taking photos as I've been so busy just taking photos of my cakes and cupcakes!! I thought it would be fun to take along the camera and capture our fun day out!

I love this photo of my hubby and little girl

There were some amazing butterflies and gorgeous flowers

The pig was such a cutie and so was this bunny! We just wanted to take him home.

Isabella loved giving cuddles.

I love my Saturdays and can't wait for this Saturday to arrive because I'm sure we'll be doing some fun or crazy!!

It's all about the sea and a few ships!

2011-06-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well, another week and its another cake!!! I love it when I have a vision in my head of what I want a cake to look like and then being able to making that vision come to life and THEN to have it look absolutely 100 times better then what I had envisioned is awesome!!! These 2 cakes did just that!

I was asked to create a Noah's Ark cake for a little man who turned one - I was so excited about this one! I've always wanted to create a Noah's Ark cake but have never been asked till now. The Ark is made of LCM bars or some of you may know as RCT. This cake was definitely a labour of love!!! Many, many hours were spend craving out the ark and then covering it with fondant and making the fondant to look like wood. Add a few more many, many hours crafting all the cute little animals for the ark = forever hours {a labour of love}. But if you know me I'm a person who is all about the details, so I can't, but take my time to create my vision with fondant. I was just sooooo pleased with how it all came together and was very sad to let this one go.

Happy 1st Birthday Shaun!

The next super cool cake that I got to create was a cake for my very good friend from Photographique Catherine Robinson. I have known Catherine since we were in kindergarten. Her son James is so into pirates at the moment so I thought it would be so much fun to create a pirate cake for James. The pirate ship is made out of LCM bars or RCT. Another labour of love cake!! The ship has individual strips added in different sizes and then textured to look like wood. The red and white striped sail was made with fondant with individual strips of fondant put together to achieve the look. I just love all the little details on this cake. My hubby was fell in love this cake. He kept coming back to have a look at it ever couple of hours!! {Very sweet of him}. Needless to say that James was blown away with his birthday cake. Another favourite to add to my list of favourites.

Happy 4th Birthday James!

Life is fun when I get to make fun stuff and make people happy!! Visions of Happy Sugar People!! Yay!

Happy Baking

Abby's Teddy Bear Picnic

2011-05-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

Gosh it feels like I haven't posted anything for such a long time!! Wedding season is finally finished and that means I will have abit more free time {hopefully} to keep all you lovlies up to date about the going on at Bella Cupcake Headquarters.

There is not better place to start then with a gorgeous 1st birthday cake! I made this cake for little Abby who celebrated the big ONE!! I absolutely had a ball creating this cake for Abby. Loved making all the little details. My favourite would have to be the blueberry pie!!! MMMm Yummo! and Hey! a picnic isn't complete without some tiny little cupcakes.

Abby's Picnic

I love how the teddies all look like they are having a fabulous time!

It's all in the details!

Happy Birthday Abby!! Hope you have a wonderful birthday and Yay!!! to being ONE!!!

Happy Baking!

Easter Time

2011-04-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

So what did all you lovlies out there do for Easter? We had a very busy Easter! Wedding cakes and cupcakes to get done, a friends wedding to attend and also a tea party to organise for my little munchkin and her cousins. I'm not quite sure how I found the time to get Isabellas Easter hunt tea party ready? but somehow I got there. I really wanted to create something special for the kids {As you will know Isabella has been supper excited for the last 5 weeks}

I found these wonderful Easter printables online at Catch my Party. There are a few different designs and all gorgeous and will definitely add a bit of sparkle to a party.

Isabella and I went out on an Easter decoration shopping expedition last week and found some fabric Easter eggs for the tree, we also found some sweet dollies and the bright yellow polka dot fabric from Spotlight.

On the menu for the munchkins

Homemade Pink Lemonade

Fruit Kababs

Heart Shaped Fairy Bread

Caramel Squares

Mini Sausage Rolls

Mini Onion Tarts

Vege Sticks

The kids had a fantastic time enjoying their tea party and were super excited about the Easter Hunt!! It was fun for us adults hiding all the Easter eggs & there were a whole LOT of them too. The kiddies had their purple tin buckets at the ready and waiting for the call. About 10mins later they were off! Inside and outside, all you could hear were lots of giggles and screams of excitement when an Easter eggs was found. Eggs were eaten and sugar comber kids bouncing for joy on the trampoline and time for us adults to chill out and enjoy the nibbles and some more of that yummy pink lemonade.

A wonderful Easter weekend at the Iti household! Hope you all had a fabulous Easter too.

Peonies & Roses

2011-04-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of creating this cake for some very good friends of ours who got married over the Easter weekend. I've known both Mui & Andy for a very long time {since high school}and it was so lovely to be able to make their wedding cake.

Mui really wanted peonies on her cake and well you know me and peonies {LOVE} I was so pleased with how my peonies turned out. It was my first attempt at making an open peony and Oh I love, love, love,love,love them {heart}. Peonies, roses and bride & groom topper were all made with fondant with a little bit of added CMC powder.

All three tiers 6, 9 & 12 inch were chocolate mud cake filled with chocolate ganache and covered in ivory fondnat. The bottom and middle tiers were 5 1/2 inches in height and the top tier measured 6 1/2inches. It was so heavy! Lucky my hubby was there to help delivery the cake.

Everyone loved the cake and I got lots of wonderful comments about it at the wedding.

I also had to dismantle the cake at the wedding and man!! that was so strange!! It's funny you spend hours and hours on a cake and then to take it all apart is quite a freeing experience!! It was some nice to see everyone enjoying the cake!!!

Congratulations Mui & Andy!! Wishing you a lifetime of blissful happiness together.

Happy baking!

Let's Celebrate!

2011-04-16T01:01:00.000-07:00

Here at Bella Cupcakes headquaters we were absolutely thrilled to find out that we had reached our 4000th {liker} on our Facebook page. 4000!! that is quite unbelieveable. I would have never ever dreamed that I would have that many people who would like my page. It is so super AWESOMENESS! {hehe} I still remember the feeling when just a few hundred had join and I would jump up and down for joy!! So we had to celebrate ...& what better way to celebrate then give away a box of our gorgeous cupcakes. Our winner Arlene was so happy and excited when she popped over to collect her box of goodies. To make it extra cool - it was Arlenes little boys birthday today and she was just thrilled to have some of our cupcakes to celebrate.

I didn't really know what I wanted to create, but I knew I wanted something pretty. I have to say I started with a blank - looking at these naked cupcakes {what to do?} I just picked up some fondant and see where this would go. I ended up making my ribbon roses and from there things just started to come together and well this is what I ended up with.

A garden wonderland in a cupcake. Congratulations again to Arlene!! Hope she enjoyed her chocolate and raspberry cupcakes and her little man had a fabulous party!!

Happy Baking!

It's getting cooler!

2011-04-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well it's getting cooler here in Auckland and the days are definitely getting shorter. But it's a gorgeous sunny Autunms day and I'm so looking forward to spending Easter with my family. My poor little munchkin has been sick for the last week and she didn't make it to preschool today {which means work has been put on hold}. So what is everyone up to for Easter? We're having an Easter Hunt Tea Party at our place. As you can imagine Isabella has been bursting with excitement. For the last 5 weeks she has been asking everyday "Is it Easter yet mummy?" She asked today and I could final say it's next Sunday!! She gave me the biggest smile and said "Next Sunday!" hehe Super cuteness! I would love to hear what all you lovlies out there have planned.

Anyhow, I thought I'd share these cupcakes with you all. A special gift for a lady who turned 60th. Her daughter Hannah who lives in the UK could not be here to celebrate with her mum and wanted to give her something special and surprise her with a gorgeous box of cupcakes.

It reminds me of a nice spring day, playing in the fields, picking flowers and making daisy chains. I hope Hannah's mum had a fabulous day and got a bit of Spring sunshine from her cupcakes.

Fairy Land

2011-04-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm off to my very own little fairyland! Well it's not my fairyland but Little Kyra's fairyland. I had the privilege of creating a this sweet cake for Kyra who turned one. Her mummy wanted something special to celebrate the big milestone. She wanted something to do with fairies and colours to be pink and purple. I knew straight away what I was going to do and couldn't wait to get started. I wanted to create something that was fun and sweet and a whole lot of girlyness.

Welcome to Kyra's Place

Kyra's rose roof fairy house with magical mushroom garden and woodland trees

Kyra and her fairy friend

So much gorgeousness, butterflies and fairy apple trees

I love love love love loved creating Kyra's Fairyland and was so sad to leave but it was time for her party and time for me to go home.

A million and one roses!

2011-04-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

Some weeks I question myself and wonderful how I manage to get everything finished and delivered on time! And will this was definitely one of those weeks!! With over 400 roses needed to be made... lets just say that I was in the pits!! {lol} 400 roses!! What was I thinking? Clearly ... I wasn't thinking at all. Oh well what is one do to but solider on and get it done and Yay!! by the hairs of my chinny chin chin, I managed to get every single roses made. What an accomplishment. {Can I please pat myself on the back for this one?} Stage one completed, now came the fun bit {Decorating cupcakes!} Oh how I love to decorate my cupcakes, I'm like a little girl in a candy store .... it is just so much fun!!

But what I love more then decorating cupcakes is putting a cupcake tower together!! You can never envision just how a tower will look like when it is put together, so there is always that little bit of excitement and wonder. This tower came together perfectly. All the colours just came alive, with the hints of blues and spring green just adding to the soft tones of the dusky pink and mauve.

Because the cupcakes were so detailed I design the top cake to be simple but still elegant and stand out. I achieved this by making one large roses. I think the top cake was perfect and definitely still made an impact.

All in all another crazy week here at Bella Cupcakes!! I came away very exhausted, but still had the time of my life!

The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart
{unknown}

One of my absolute Favourites!!

2011-03-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

Ok can I just say this has been the most, absolutely favourite cake I have made to date. I had so much fun making Pooh bear and his friends and all the little flower pots and hunny pots. I made this for little Caitlin who turned the big number One!!! Hooray for Caitlin.

Everything has been hand made by moi =) and is completely edible, well except the banner.

Tigger looking super cute and a little hungry! Hmm maybe I should have made him a tiny little cupcake.

My favourite will have to be Eeyore, he is just the sweetest little thing and always seems to end up on his own with his lovely pot plant.

Best friends Piglet and Winnie.

Oh I was really sad to see this cake go! I really just wanted to keep and display it in my studio!! But like I always say to my customers: cakes are to be eaten and will I knew this cake was going to a good home and would be totally enjoyed by all.

I actually received a lovely email back from Janice {Caitlin mummy} and this is what she had to say:

Hi Vanessa,

We just wanted to say a BIG thank you for the lovely cake you created for us. It was a definite show stopper. There was an immediate sound of 'oohhh' and 'ahhhh' from all our guests when they first laid eyes upon it. And our little girl just loved it... esp the banner! =p

The cake just looked absolutely gorgeous... and tasted heavenly! (It was incredibly hard to make that first slice)

We can't thank you enough for making our day!

Janice, Jason and Caitlin

Yay!! It makes my job so worthwhile when I get such wonderful reactions from my cakes!!! It really is awesome to know that I can make someones day that extra bit more special.

Stripes, stripes and more stripes!

2011-03-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

This weeks cakes were all about stripes. Black and white stripes to be exact. I find that most weeks I'll end up having a theme running through all my cakes. And they were all booked at different times. Not that I'm complaining {lol} I do love my stripes and you can't beat black and white stripes for that WOW factor. Here is a couple of the black and white cakes I made.

I made this mini cupcake tower for a lady who celebrated her 21st birthday!! {oh to be 21 again =( I'm sadly approaching my 30th birthday this year!} She was having a Veuve Champagne theme party. I used the orange tones to tie the whole tower in with the theme. Black and white stripes and abit of bling, pink large handmade roses for a little bit of girly wow factor!! I love how every element tied into together and it look fabulous on my black and white stand. I baked a jaffa orange mud cake filled with chocolate ganache and tarty sweet chocolate raspberry cucpakes with vanilla buttercream!

This striking cake is a refine version of my Ooo la la cake I made for my friends birthday a few years ago. The young lady who order this cake wanted it to be striking and all about the bling. If its bling shes wants then its bling she will get!! {lol} I took a hop and a skip down to my local Spotlight and found these fabulous wooden shaped numbers. Got home and painted them black and then stuck all these little tiny diamantes onto the numbers, I really think they turned out great. This was a top cake for a cupcake tower. I also made mini cupcakes to go with the cake and carried on the theme of black, white and hot pink. The finished tower look awesome!

Happy Monday!

Before and Now

2011-03-13T03:21:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to create a post about how far I've come with my cakes and cupcakes. I was going through some of my old photos and came across a photo of my first ever attempt at creating a fondant 3D animal. As most of you know I got into cake decorating when I wanted to create something really special for my daughters 1st birthday!! I remember being super excited but also somewhat nervous at getting started! I didn't have any equipment and didn't even know what fondant was. I brought a packet of fondant from the local supermarket and some liquid food colouring! {red,blue,yellow} Oh how it went so horribly wrong! I coloured a bit of fondant blue and man it was soooo sticky!!! Lol Oh well, I just carried on and tried my best to create something that I hope would resemble a cow, pig and horse!! At the time I was quite proud of myself {considering I'd never used fondant before} tho, I knew I had to improve if I wanted to make a cake that would fit for my little munchkin.

My first ever attempt at creating a 3D figure!! LOL

Before & Now

After about 2 weeks of research and lots of experimenting, the big day came where I had to bake the cake and cover it!! I remember being SO nervous! I had never covered a cake in my life! I manage to cover the cake and well create a cupcake tower that I was just sooooo pleased with! For someone who didn't know what the heck I was doing I think I did a pretty awesome job.

I remember getting a call from a good friend of mine and she asked if I would create a wedding cake for her best friends wedding! Oh I remember being absolutely nervous and also excited at the possibility of creating a wedding cake!! But I initially said No! I had even stacked a cake before!! In the end I said yes and what an experience. There were many tears and sleepless nights but I managed to get there. I still cry when I have to stack a cake but with each cake experience I learn something new and change my technique.

Here you can see my first ever wedding tiered cake and my latest tiered creation. Fast forward 2 years and Wow! what a difference. I would have never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be designing and creating cupcakes and cakes!! Sometimes I feel like it's a dream and I'm going to wake up and be back in my normal life.

{ Dreams can come true }

Drama in a Rose

2011-03-06T00:33:00.000-08:00

Don't you think that black, white/ivory and red just are the most complimentary colours. I think so, they just work of each other and really brings out a striking look.

I worked from the couples invite to create this tower. Their colour theme was, Yep! you guessed right!! Red, black and ivory! I love the simpleness of cupcake, just a single red rose can say so much.

For the top cake, I used a damask stencil pattern, topped with handmade fondant roses, black fondant leaves and willow. It's always excited to put a tower together as you never know just how its all going to come together! I really love the finished look of this tower ... I had to take a step back and just admire it for a a while {heart}

B for Bella

2011-03-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

It's always nice to work with a different medium besides fondant. And I love it when I get to use pretty paper and my gorgeous pink cutterbug machine. I really love making my custom made cupcake picks. These I made for a fairy/polka dot theme party. The birthday girls mummy wanted the letter {B} on all the cupcakes.

I decided that I would cover the cupcakes with pink fondant and a polka dot embossed pattern to carry on the theme, a small swirl of vanilla buttercream on top and a sprinkle of white nonpareil. And a sweet purple blossom for extra girly{ness}. The end result .... pure sweetness in a cupcake!

I also did a simple polka dot cake to match the cupcakes, topped with handmade fairy holding a very yummy looking cupcake!

I got the best ever reaction when Bella's mummy picked up her goodies!!! She was almost in tears and just raved about both the cupcakes and cakes and gave me the biggest hug!! I think that's what makes my job so so rewarding! Knowing that I've made someones day and that they will get so much enjoyment from my creation is just awesome! Yay.

End Of Summer!

2011-03-01T03:09:00.000-08:00

Summer is officially over! Where did our summer go? I'm finding the mornings are getting cooler and the days are getting shorter and I can start to feel a tiny bit of chill in the air. I've had such a busy summer with cupcakes and cakes! And haven't had much time to go out and about with my camera {which I'm completely sad about!} I did manage to take a few summer snapshots!

{ Iti Summer Days }

Alot of time spent at our local beach - Browns Bay

My little munchkin spent many hours in her hot pink calm pool

Day trips out and about in Auckland
Get togethers with family and friends dining alfresco style

We're had a fantastic summer but I guess all good things must come to an end. Roll on Autumn! Hubby will be very happy with the cooler weather and hopefully I'll have more time to capture the gorgeous rustic colours of Autumn!

{Good Bye Summer, We will see you again}

Great Summer Wedding

2011-02-26T19:19:00.000-08:00

I find that every week, most of my cupcakes or cakes have the same theme!! I find it rather freaky ... do any of you cake decorators out there find that too?

Anyhow, this week it was all about the beach and jandals!! I had to make over 100 pairs of these tiny little jandals and Man did they take forever!! I swear by the time I'd finished them all I was having jandal nightmares!! But Hey I still enjoyed the making them all!! I'm just in need of a major shoulder massage!! {Hint! Hint! To Hubby}

This tower I just LOVE!! Made for a lovely couple who got married over on the Sunny and gorgeous Waiheke Island. For those of you who don't know where Waiheke is its just a 30min ferry ride from Auckland, some of the most amazing beaches and amazing wineries! A laid back Island where you can escape the city life and enjoy some R&R!

So back to this tower, we used blues and teals as a crisp white backdrop. Cupcakes decorated with kinas, shells, starfish and pearls and of course those cute little jandals.

Hope you are all have a fantastic Sunday!! I'm off to make red roses!!

Vintage Wedding

2011-02-17T00:30:00.000-08:00

I love all things vintage, so when I get a request to create a vintage theme cupcake tower I also get super excited.

For this cupcake tower we worked with peachy, pinky tones with a hint of eucalyptus green. Roses are always elegant and a request from the bride to have pearls featured somewhere.

I have so many gorgeous stands now that I like to set up my wedding cupcakes a little differently, just to give my future brides something to think about. You don't always have to have a cupcake tower, why not have a cupcake table with cupcakes displayed on pretty cake stands and vases of gorgeous blooms.

{Love}

{Gorgeous Hydrangeas}

{Vintage tone cupcakes}

So this was one way I thought would look gorgeous for a wedding cupcake table.

However we went for a proper cupcake tower for the reception.

{Romance}

{Roses & Pearls}

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
{St. Augustine}

Rose Swirl

2011-02-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

Yipee! I have a day off today! Everyone is at work and my little munchkin is at pre-school. It's amazing how quiet the house is. So what do I do on my day off? Hmmm set up a rose swirl tutorial of course!

I get so many requests on how I pipe my rose swirl that I thought I would make up a quick photographic step by step tutorial { Tho, it wasn't quick to photograph and has taken 1/2 the day!! I have to say it was quite hard to pipe with one hand so I could take photos with the other, but hey it was fun! }

Firstly lets talk about the tips that I used:

For both my normal swirl and rose swirls I will either use a Wiltons star tip 1M {larger} & a Wiltons star tip 2D {smaller}. I use the 2D for my rose swirl as it gives a more delicate look, however if you only have a 1M that will work just as well.

So lets get started!

{How to pipe a rose swirl}

{Equipment}
1M or 2D star tip : piping bag : buttercream : cupcakes : decorations

{Method}
1. Start from the middle and pipe a small amount of buttercream into the centre.

2. Slowly work your way around going anti-clockwise until you reach the outer edge of your cupcake. Remember to apply even pressure to your pipping bag, this insures an even swirl all the way around.

3. Finish of with a decoration where the swirl ends.

And there you have a rose swirl cupcake!

Hope this tutorial has been useful and you can get an idea of how to pipe a rose swirl. You just have to keep at it and you will eventually get the rose swirl you desire.

{Remember}
Practice makes prefect!

Happy piping everyone!

An insight into the world of Bella Cupcakes!

2011-02-15T01:09:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fun to give everyone a little look into my world of cupcakes! I recently just finished setting up my studio. I really love my studio, its a lovely space to have my consultations and a lovely space to work in.

It has been a labour of love. Many hours have been spent sanding and sanding and more sanding before layers of paint was applied to all my furniture. I couldn't have done it without the help of my hubby and good friend Micheal. Both saved me a lot of {$$} by installing my gorgeous white floors and putting up the wallpaper. { which I must say was a job well done!!! No joins can be seen}.

My most favourite things in my studio would have to be my wallpaper and my floor! And all the gorgeous furniture that I found. My queen anne chairs would have to be one of my best buys. They were this horrible brown colour with awful brown fabric. I got them striped back down to the frames. Painted them white and got our lovely friends at Piermark Upholstery to recover them with the gorgeous fabric I find in this little fabric shop in Parnell. I think they turned out so great!!! Love! Love! LOVE!

It is so nice to have a space to display all my cake stands, my tea cup collection and all my little nic nacs. There are still a few things I need to do like change the curtains and I want to create a photo wall to display photos of my favourite cupcakes and cakes, but all in good time!

So that is the pretty side of my world, now I thought it would be fun to share my space where all the hard work and magic really happens. This is where all the baking, covering and decorating goes on. My kitchen.

This is my large commercial kitchen which I get to work in. This is actually our bakery kitchen which my mum and I have been running for about 3 years now. We make really delicious pies and sweet treats. =) And now I get to create all my cakes and cupcakes in it too!! lol.

I have a huge commercial oven to bake all my cakes and cupcakes. I can bake up to 9 trays of cupcakes at a time and about 6-9 cakes - depending on size.

And lots of room to cool dozens of cupcakes!

Well there you go! I hope it's been fun to see a little insight into my world of cupcakes!! I don't get much sleep these days! I am absolutely addicted to my job! Cupcakes and cakes consume my world .... not that I'm complaining I love love love what I do and wouldn't change it for the world!

Lemon & Poppy Cupcake

2011-02-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a lemon flavour cupcake person but my hubby and mum just loves my lemon & poppy cupcake. It is sweet but tarty and the poppy seeds adds a lovely texture.

Makes approximately 30 cupcakes

{Ingredients}

350g white chocolate
225g unsalted butter
300ml water
300ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 eggs
400g castor sugar
400g self-rising flour
Handful or so poppy seeds
Lemon extract or essences

{Cooking Steps}

1. Pre-heat over to 150 degrees Celsius and prepare 3x 12 hole cupcake trays with cupcake cases.

2. In a saucepan add the white chocolate, butter, water and lemon juice. Place on a low heat
and stir until chocolate and butter are melted. Leave to cool slightly.

3. In a large bowl whisk the eggs together and slowly add the cooled mixture to the eggs -
whisking as the chocolate mixture is added.

4. Add the sugar and mix.

5. Add the sieved self-rising flour and mix till combined.

6. Add the poppy seeds and about 3-4 drops of lemon extract and mix well.

7. Pour cupcake mixture into the cupcake cases. Fill almost to the top.
{these cupcakes do not rise very much}

8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

9. Leave to cool before decorating

Well I hope you all have a go at making these cupcakes!! They are a favourite in our house!

Happy baking everyone!

For the collector

2011-02-12T23:33:00.000-08:00

When I got an email from a lovely young lady who wanted to order a special cake for her mums 60th birthday I was like cool! I can definitely do that. When she told me her mum collects miniature perfume bottles and If I could somehow incorporate that into the design I was totally excited!! I wanted to create something that had the old school glam feel. My vision was soft pastel colours with black.

If you don't know already I {LOVE} stripes!!! I could easily add stripes to every single cake I make!! The stripes on this cake took forever to do but I think it was so worth the time and effort. I think the hardest thing about stripes is making sure they are all straight. Have you ever done stripes on a cake and at the front they are looking really good but by the time you get the back they are very wonky!! haha I know I have!! So it was my mission with this cake to take my time and get them prefect!

Oh the old glam style perfume bottle {LOVE} I think perfume makers should bring back that classic gorgeous style, I definitely think I was born in the wrong era!! The attention to details back then was just amazing!!

Anyhow, another absolute fun cake to make!!! She was absolutely blown away {her daughter} when she picked up the cake!! I hope Lee was too!

Happy Birthday Lee! {60 years young}

Fit for a Princess

2011-02-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

I had just received a parcel of cake goodies in the mail a couple of weeks ago from America, one of the goodies was a brick impression mat. I'd been waiting to get one of these for so long so as you can guess I was super excited and eager to use it on a cake. It's amazing what a difference it can make to a cake! I did this same cake last year but it didn't have a brick effect, so when I made it this time around with my new toy.... well I think it makes the cake look way cooler!! I love it!! Once I used the impression mat on the cake I dusted it with some dusting pink edible tint just to enhance the brick pattern.

I love all the hearts!! Such a sweet and girlie cake. Perfect for the precious little princess it was made for.

We did mini cupcakes in white chocolate with our very delicious vanilla swiss meringue buttercream! Oh it is so good!! So light and silky smooth, melt in your mouth sweetness!

For the top cake we did our decadent chocolate mud cake with layers of our beautiful chocolate ganache, it is a chocoholics dream come true!

It is always so much fun creating cakes for little people!! Makes me feel like a kid again =o) And really I'm a big kid at heart!

All Hail the Queen!

2011-02-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

Oh can I say that I am in love! Yes, in love with my hubby and my little munchkin but I am in love with this cake! I have for the longest time wanted to create a cake with a Marie Antoinette flair. So when I was given this opportunity to create a cake with a queen theme and was given artist freedom to create whatever I wanted ..... I was excited!!!

I love all the ruffles, the colour palette is just gorgeous!! hehe It is so romantic. I would have loved to have lived in that era!! So much gorgeousness everywhere!

I was so happy with how the queen came together.

I was definitely sad to see this cake go, if only there was a magic potion that I could sprinkle over a finished cake and magically another would appear so I could have one too! Oh well the cake went off to its new home and I hope was enjoyed by all.

Lost

2011-02-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

My little munchkin is away with my MIL for a beach holiday. Shes has been away since Saturday and doesn't return till next Monday. Its is the longest time I've been away from her and gosh I'm missing her. I'm feel like I've lost an arm or a leg. Do you mums out there feel the same? I think it would be different if she was just away for the weekend, I would actually enjoy the time to myself, but 8 days!! I'm not quite functioning. I know she is having lots of fun, I talk to her every night but I MISS her! It's lucky that I have lots on this week to keep me occupied. Oh well .... life goes on and I'm sure before I know it Monday will have rolled around and she will be causing me lost of grief! Just the way I like it.

Any how I thought I'd just give everyone a sneak peak at something I'm working on this week. It is a Queen with no head at the moment. I am so excited about this project and can't wait to see the finished product. I have a feeling it will be over the top with a lot of details!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday!

New Start

2011-02-01T01:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Firstly I would like to say a very Happy New Years to everyone!! (Sorry I know I'm a little late, but you know what they say: "It's better to be late then never!"). One of my resolutions for 2011 is keep up with my blogging. I feel the need to start fresh and have deleted all my previous posts. So out with the old and in with the new. First things first, I thought that my blog needed a bit of a makeover. I'm loving the new muted colours and a more simply but stylish feel. This years blog will contain alot of fun and interesting things. I'll have photos and stories of what is going on with Bella Cupcakes, I will add recipes and tips for cupcake decorating, baking in general and a whole lot more. I would also love to blog about my other passions in life: My family and photography and all things gorgeous.
I am so excited and can't wait to share with you all

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