What a good idea for a shower or birthday party…fill the slices of this crafty cake with toys or favors and give to guests. Woman’s Day magazine provides complete instructions, including the pattern to download. It’s just cardboard and construction paper and your own decor.… Read More ...
Owl Cupcakes (What a Hoot!)
OK, groan at the whatta hoot part, but not the cupcake part. So cute and clever and easy to make–with Oreos and M & Ms. The instructions are courtesy of “Ezra Pound Cake,” a wonderful foodie site by a pastry chef/writer. Of course, she had me at her site name (as a fellow lit masters gal, I appreciate … Read More ...
Cupcake Toppers, Play Cakes and the Beauty of Links
O the fabulousness of links. It’s a wonder how one thing leads to the next to the next….almost as if the internet were a “web” of sorts.
I happened upon the “Handmade Detroit” blog, who linked to our blog. (Check out the homemade cake toppers on the first page. So great.) “Handmade Detroit,” for “people who like to make stuff” … Read More ...
Spider Eggs and Candy Corn
The lovely, dense (as in, lots o’ recipes) blog of “The Recipe Girl” has many many many topics and links to peruse. She gives great step-by-step instructions for these scary spider eggs, as well as beautifully done photographs. The spider eggs were originally Martha’s idea, as she is sure to give credit where credit is due, … Read More ...
Endless Party Ideas
The Hostess (with the Mostess) site is chock full of fabulous ideas for hosting a party: Party themes, entertaining how tos, recipes, gifts, crafts, products, holidays, weddings and baby showers, the list goes on and on. And incredible resource. Shameful on my end to only just have discovered Hostess with the Mostess. You can even pick a party theme, and … Read More ...
And if you DO make a mistake…
Cake Wrecks is the perfect place to go for your cake mishaps. Or to have fun scrolling through other mishaps. Wedding cakes gone horribly awry, misspelled sentiments, misinterpreted designs, shocking or tacky choices… anything that is “unintentionally sad, silly, inappropriate.” The purpose is to turn that bad cake energy into good. And it offers comfort in a misery-in-numbers sort of … Read More ...
Cake Decorating Tutorials
Both novice and more experienced cake decorators will find useful tips at Cake Journal, a blog written by a talented cake decorator in Denmark. She offers online tutorials and detailed instructions for cake decorating techniques, such as how to work with fondant, how to make sugar flowers, how to make a cake stand, and how to prepare royal icing. … Read More ...
Learn to Make Mini Chocolate Pumpkins
The blog “Cake on the Brain” offers a step-by-step tutorial to making these cute mini chocolate pumpkins perfect as a cupcake or cake topper. She has a slew of other categories and recipes to peruse, too, so you may spend a bit of time with “Cake on the Brain.”… Read More ...
Take Better Photographs
Something that has become more and more clear to me over the past year–from starting my own online biz, my own blog and from mining the internet for great food sites–is the importance of good photography. The difference between a gorgeous photograph and one that is overexposed or poorly lit or any of the other bad photography terms I don’t … Read More ...
Learn to Make Sugarpaste Roses
Learn to make these lovely, delicate flowers on the Happy Love Strawberry blog. Happy Love Strawberry combines detailed instructions with beautiful photography to give us all a tutorial–as guided by “Alex’s Granny”–in sugarcraft roses (gumpaste in the U.S.). If I wasn’t already an Anglophile, Happy Love Strawberry’s cake love would’ve made me one. Oh, and by the way, they … Read More ...
Yummy Cupcake Tote
You might not want to actually consume this cute cupcake tote, but if falls nicely under the category of things-inpspired-by-clever-baking. The husband and wife team at the etsy store, “Space Oddities,” offer this yummy bag, as well as other things–mirrors, cards, buttons, a bit of geekery and more. Feeling extra special? Put a cherry on top. Totes … Read More ...
Share Your Edible Craft with the World
TasteSpotting, a virtual portal to the food and drink world, offers links to all kinds of cool products, recipes, how-tos, news, trends and people. Anyone can post their photograph and link, but they do moderate and can deny submissions (hence, there is good quality control). Read their submission guidelines to get ideas on what they will accept…it’s a vast … Read More ...
Color Coded Dessert Tables
Amy Atlas, a NYC event planner, is best known for her gorgeous dessert tables. I’m leading you to no recipes or how-tos, but I firmly believe scrolling through her “eye candy” is a must for anyone interested in baking or edible crafts. Her photography is crisp and pristine and the subjects even more incredible. She orders the … Read More ...
C’mon, Join the (Cupcake) Club
The super-popular book, Hello, Cupcake
! by Alan Richardson and Karen Tack, is chock full of incredible, clever ideas (like “TV Dinner” cupcakes, garden cupcakes with “veggies” on top, “slumber party” cupcakes, even a little Van Gogh thrown in there.) You can join their club on the “Hello, Cupcake!” web site at www.hellocupcakebook.com and post your own cupcake creations each … Read More ...
Every Flavor Cake Labels
These ultra cute bakery labels from the Layer Cake Shop on etsy are great for personalizing your goodies and enticing recipients into the box. They have tons of fun flavors. Aside from the standards–yellow cake, brownie, buttercream–they offer mint, peanut butter, Bavarian, poppyseed, even kiwi.
(Check out the rest of the store, too, especially the “Holiday Shop.”)… Read More ...