Spring Fever

I don't know about your little corner of the globe but in Paris, the mercury is rising, the flowers are in bloom, the natives are starting to bare it all and Spring has sprung here in the most romantic city in the world. For me, Spring usually signals a return to simple living -- time spent outdoors, cultivating my window boxes (this year I am growing basil, parsley, mint, tomatoes and cucumbers), clearing out the clutter and stuff accumulated over the long cold winter hibernation....and of course, simple eating.



One of my favorite things about living in Paris is the abundance of open-air markets you find in every area of the city. If you plan on visiting Paris in the Spring, I highly recommend a tour of your local market. In addition to the colors and aromas of all the fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, fish and flowers, you'll be entranced by the sounds of the vendors hawking their goods like auction house callers -- "Les Fraises, les Fraises, les Gariguettes. Une barquette 4 euros, 3 barquettes pour 10." This list is certainly not exhaustive (in fact, my two local markets in the 17th don't appear) but this will give you a good idea on where to start if you want to experience the markets first-hand.



I've been baking lots of Spring flavored cupcakes recently using the freshest produce I can find at my local market -- guess Paris cupcake fans are also feeling the Spring fever! Like my Berry Berry Good cupcake (available in raspberry or strawberry). This is a vanilla cake with a simple strawberry buttercream.



My I Love You Honey Bunny carrot cake cupcake with the obligatory tangy cream cheese frosting is always a crowd-pleaser.



Lemon Tart pairs a moist vanilla cake with a fresh lemon buttercream.



And here's a flavor combination I'll be taking with me to next week's Shopping & Bubbles. If you happen to be in Paris, please do stop by for free cupcakes and champagne and tell me what you think. The Sweet Thai O' Mine pairs a coconut sponge cupcake (thanks to my friend, Leah, for the delicious recipe) and a lime zest/Malibu buttercream (thanks to my friend, Peg, for suggesting lime!).



Last but not least, here's my best-selling Storm cupcake (chocolate cake with vanilla bean buttercream) dressed up as a sheep. These were for a 30 year-old's birthday party. I have no idea why they requested sheep - I guess it's a private joke -- but it made me feel Spring-y nonetheless!



For Every Occasion, a Cupcake. Mark this one a refreshingly sweet way to savor the return of Spring!

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Back in the Saddle Again

Ever see The Good, The Bad & The Ugly? I'm not usually a big fan of Westerns, but this is a must-see. It's an epic Italian spaghetti Western starring Clint Eastwood and the final installment of a trilogy that commences with A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.



It's classic Eastwood at his coolest and the final showdown between him, Angel Eyes a/k/a The Bad and Tuco a/k/a the Ugly will leave you hanging on the edge of your seat. Okay, even if you haven't watched it, I am sure the theme song is familiar. I've had this tune running through my head for the past few days as I got ready for this Western-themed order.



These are all Storm cupcakes decorated with marshmallow fondant cacti, desert flowers, cowboy hats and sheriff badges. Luckily the birthday boy these were made for is named Sander and so the "S" on the badges works perfectly on two accounts. Yippe-kai yay yee-haw!

Happy 1400th Cupcake Day to Me!

When I started baking for other people a few months back, I figured it would be mostly friends who rang me up for cupcakes. Yesterday, I had a client from Australia (more on that below) and today, I finished off a box of 1400 cupcake liners I bought back in December! Wow, how the time flies when you are having fun! A big thank you to all of you out there who continue to support me in this endeavor.

I don't know if it's cause the markets are rallying (at the time of this writing) or cause the moon is in the 7th house, but people have been clamoring for cupcakes this week. I wasn't even this busy over the holidays! So here in photos is what I have been up to this week...

Little Miss Morsels:
A new product on my menu. The ones pictured are Kiss Kiss Bang Bang cupcake bites -- they come in several varieties but I recommend the chocolates -- made as a gift for the staff at a customer's daycare. What did she say about them?



"The creche staff ranted and raved today at pick-up. They can't even deal with how good they were. Yes, were. Not one was left by the afternoon. You have a total hit on your hands!!! I'll be ordering more in the future!!!"

Somewhere Beyond the Sea:
Nemo has long been one of our favorite movies. When I started working on these cupcakes for a birthday party with an underwater theme, my son went bonkers. He wanted me to recreate every sea creature in the movie. Which I would have liked to have done but as it is, I spent 3 nights molding and shaping these guys made from marshmallow fondant and marzipan.



I liked the starfish and their googly eyes the best.



My son came up with the idea for the electric eel. Much better than the simple sand dollars I had in mind!



Here's a close-up of an octopus which I think came out well.



Bake Like (and For) a Rock Star:
Here's the order that was called in from Australia....



for an American....



who happened to be in Paris for his birthday.



What was he doing here? Oh, he just happens to be one of the guys from sunny California's Machine Head. They were opening up for Metallica who were playing back-to-back sold-out shows. He's apparently a chocoholic so the request here was for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang red velvets and Chocolate Squared. I couldn't resist the Eiffel Tower gummies. Let's hope these gave him extra energy for last night's show.

Monkey See, Monkey Do:
My friend's son, James, is 3 tomorrow. He's an adorable kid and loves all things dinosaur, lion, etc. The design for these come from Hello, Cupcake!



They are Caramel Dolce lions (which you have seen here before) and Lemon Tart Monkeys. It was while I was baking these this morning that I used my 1400th liner. Woo Hoo!



Marguerites for Marguerite:
And last but not least, some cupcakes for Marguerite's baptism. A marguerite is a daisy in French so I thought these were fitting.



I paid 23 euros (!!!) without tax for these daisy cutters yesterday but I love how they came out. Simple and beautiful.



These are marzipan roses on Berry Berry Good strawberry cupcakes, and,



Marshmallow fondant daisies on Storm cupcakes.



Hungry yet? As I always say, For Every Occasion, a Cupcake and so glad Little Miss Cupcake could be a part of so many of your special occasions these last few months. Here's to 1400 more!!!! ;)

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Unusual Names & A Nod to the X-men

When I was just out of college, I dated a guy with a friend who had a younger sister named Bega (you still with me?). The story goes that when she was born, her very eccentric parents decided not to name her but to let her come to that decision herself. And apparently, one day when she was about 3 years old, she was in an elevator with her father and suddenly proclaimed "I wish I was bigger so that I could push the button myself." But as kids often mispronounce words, her "bigger" came out as "bega" (pronounced "beaga") and the rest was history. I often wondered however what they called her in those interim years..."She whose name must not be spoken" or something to that effect? :)



In starting this little cupcake adventure, I very much put the cart before the horse in that I just started baking for people and didn't give much thought to anything else such as the cupcake names. I personally find many of the names on my menu to be accurately descriptive yet uninspired -- After Eight, Chocobutter, Cookies & Cream, etc. For my vanilla on vanilla, I chose Vanilla Lovers, and for chocolate on chocolate, Chocolate Squared. And then the reverse of these I called Mixed-Up Vanilla Lovers (chocolate cake/vanilla buttercream) and Mixed-Up Chocolate Squared (vanilla cake/chocolate buttercream). Or was it vice versa? I could never remember when I had to tag a photo or confirm an order with someone, and I found my customers to be just as mixed up as I was. So I got to thinking how to name these so they had some character and at the same time were easily recognized?



I started looking around at some other cupcake bakers and saw names like Birthday Cake, Tuxedo, Vanilla Loves Chocolate or Kids Cone. Fun and creative, but same problem...is it the cake that is chocolate and the frosting vanilla, or the other way around?



As I set about finding some distinguishable names my mind drifted as it often does to movies. For whatever reason, I immediately landed on the Angelina for the vanilla cake and chocolate buttercream combo (and if you don't catch that reference, you've been living under a rock for too long!). But this reminded me too much of a song a friend's brother hit paydirt with once upon a time, and it often gets stuck in my head for days at a time so the Angelina was a no-go. We recently re-watched X-Men 3 and it was then that I had my epiphany. For the chocolate with vanilla buttercream, I rechristened the Little Miss Cupcake version as Storm (after Halle Berry's character) and the vanilla with chocolate buttercream as Rogue (after Anna Paquin's character). A silly mnemonic but you know what? Problem solved on my end and since the change-over, every customer has actually asked for them by name!



Speaking of unusual names, I baked up some Rogue and Storm cupcakes this morning for a little girl named Cleofee, sister to Calypso and Lancelot (cool names, hunh?). Her mom is French but looks like a California surfer girl (she in fact studied at UCLA). She told me a story about how she had been to a party in the US once and they brought out a bright blue frosted cake -- she thought it was one of the grossest things she had ever seen and refused to eat it! So, I figured I would stay with a very sedate but nice and girly look for Cleofee's cuppies! Plus, a few oursons guimauve and mikado as requested by the California girl herself!