how lucky am I!

Our lovely mates Emz and Logan came over for dinner last night and so our dogs could have a doggie play date. We made vegetarian pizza and for dessert I'd whipped up a batch of chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes, some of which are heading to my friend Kym today for her birthday!

Emz and Logan gave us an amazing present, as a thank you for making cupcakes for their wedding (which was a total pleasure!!)



Check out my brand new pedestal cupcake stand, complete with gorgeous little glass dome on top! I'm in love <3 I put cupcakes straight into it last night and then we spent awhile admiring them, before tucking into them for dessert.

Thanks Emz and Logan, love you guys xx

Death to Cake Mix!!!!

Jess from the very cool Sugadeaux Cupcakes based in Melbourne, Australia has started a new blog called Baked From Scratch and basically its a list of bakers, both professional and home enthusiasts who make a point of doing all their baking from scratch, no cake mix - ever!



I'm extremely excited to join Baked From Scratch as I truly believe in doing everything myself when I bake, from start to finish. The rare occasions I have tried cake mix, I felt cheated from the enjoyment of baking something and cake mix never tastes like homemade!

Check out the list of bakers at Baked From Scratch

and here is a bit about Baked From Scratch from their website:

"Do you realise how many bakeries in your area, included those super expensive specialty cake stores, use prepackaged cake mix to create their products?

We have a list of bakers, both professionals and enthusiasts, who take pride in letting you know that all their items are baked from scratch. That means we don't take any shortcuts or use any mixes.

We do it for the taste, the skill, the quality and to preserve the traditions. And we want you to know it."

WIN with The Cupcake Project

Many people who read my blog also know that I have a website dedicated to my art project called The Cupcake Project. Its something I started just to get people being creative and to remind us that we all have creativity inside us. What better way than drawing a cupcake!

The 100 submissions mark is oh so close now and I'm offering a very cool cupcake related prize for whoever submits the 100th cupcake drawing!!!!!!!!! I've had so many amazing cupcake drawings submitted so far, by people around the world and I really want to keep this project going. Visit the site and have a look for yourself :-)

So please, go scribble a cupcake or create a cupcake masterpiece, whatever you fancy - and submit it to The Cupcake Project. Its all about having fun, getting creative and spreading the cupcake love.

my aprons on All Things Cupcake

Natalie from Bake & Destroy featured my cupcakes and guns handmade apron on the linkAll Things Cupcake site!

I'm so stoked that everyone is loving this apron as much as I do :-)

cupcake aprons for sale

What am I up to when I'm not baking cupcakes or doing graphic design work? I'm sewing like a mad woman :-)





Here is my latest project. There are quite a few cute cupcake aprons out there, but I wanted something super quirky to match my personality. So I found this amazing cupcake material and whipped up an apron with little guns embroidered on the pockets. I've already had some interest from a few friends so I've whipped up some more and they are now available from my Etsy store

www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10559484

I'm hoping to whip up a few more in time for the next Craftwerk!

Easter wrap up!

This Easter seemed to come and go in a blur! I managed to make 2 batches of Easter cupcakes for friends and family, even making it to my old work to deliver a batch of cupcakey goodness to my old workmates!

I found the cutest marshmallow Easter bunnies, eggs and chicks and went nuts decorating cupcakes with them:



Here is the first lot of cupcakes, Perky Nana flavour with banana buttercream frosting (since this flavour is proving so popular!) and topped with the gorgeous little marshmallow bunnies, some pink sprinkles and silver balls.







For my second batch of Easter cupcakes I gave the old Perky Nanas a break and made organic vanilla cupcakes topped with lemon buttercream frosting, marshmallow bunnies and chicks and some tasty candy coated mini choc eggs!





I hope you all had a happy Easter!!
NZCQ

NEW FLAVOUR - Perky Nana cupcakes

Carrying on my theme of classic Kiwiana lollies in cupcakes, I had a suggestion to try Perky Nana cupcakes, so here they are and they are even better than I imagined. I usually only have one cupcake when I make a new flavour and I'm generally satisfied. But with these ones, I'm onto my third!! If you love the banana taste of Perky nana bars, you'll adore these!

Vanilla cupcakes, chopped up pieces of Perky Nana bar mixed through, baked till they're gooey and then topped off with banana buttercream frosting, chocolate sprinkles and a mini banana candy! YUM!

here they are fresh out of the oven:



and topped off with yummy banana buttercream frosting:





and a Perky Nana cupcake cut in half:



and if you're curious, here is a Perky Nana bar:

seriously cute cupcake necklace

My friend Lisa from Wales is a total sweetheart and she sent me this cute cupcake necklace for Easter!

I love it and have hardly taken it off since I got it :-)

NZCQ on All Things Cupcake

The always awesome Natalie from Bake & Destroy posted about my "I'm Rad" cupcake cross stitch on the All Things Cupcake website.

Thanks for the shout out :-)

Cupcake Cross Stitch - made by the NZCQ

At the last Craftwerk I sold a few of my cross stitch creations. These little mini framed cupcake cross stitches proved very popular and I now have them available on my Etsy store

Here are a few of the designs:









plus my all time favourite cupcake cross stitch:

individual cupcakes in noodle boxes

I made a few extra cupcakes when I made the batch for Chris, and I topped these ones with chocolate buttercream frosting, on top of the orange. Decadent! I packaged individual cupcakes into noodle boxes, tied some pink ribbon around them and delivered them to some very special friends.

jaffa cupcakes for Chris

Chris has been talking me up to his classmates at tech, so I felt it was time I made him a batch of cupcakes to take in and share with them all. He picked jaffa (everyone always picks jaffa!! hehe) and I iced them with orange buttercream frosting.





Mr Gillham taste tests the cupcakes!

NEW FLAVOUR - Pineapple Lump cupcakes!

Since my jaffa cupcakes have been such a hit with everyone, I thought I'd give another kiwiana favourite a go in my cupcakes. Behold the amazing "Pineapple Lump" cupcakes. Vanilla cupcakes with chopped up Pineapple Lumps mixed through them, iced with a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting and topped off with MORE Pineapple Lumps.

The lucky testers for this new batch were: Sam & Ross, Kym & Wayne, Raggles & Lissy and of course, Mr NZ Cupcake Queen. It seems they were a hit with my cupcake tasters!

Here they are fresh out of the oven and look at all that gooey melted candy



Here they are all iced and looking pretty tasty!



had to cut one in half to give you the full effect



and if you're curious, heres what a pack of Pineapple Lumps look like



and he's the NZCQ whipping up the chocolate buttercream :-)

Baking & Destroying

My new Bake & Destory tshirt arrived the other day and I was STOKED to get to wear it out.



Do yourself a favour and visit Natalie's awesome Bake and Destory blog for her witty musings on baking, zombies and anything else that takes her fancy :-) Shes awesome!

more hens night cupcakes - for Emz

Before Emz wedding we had a kick ass hens night for her, and what hens night would be complete without penis cupcakes. This batch turned out great, I did jaffa cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting and the girls LOVED them.





And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't post a pic of the bride to be in her hens night outfit - here she is as Rainbow Brite, looking very hot. Logan is a lucky man :-)

sorry for the lack of posts!!

I've been busy with cupcake orders, baking adventures, freelance design work and lots and lots of embroidery for the next Craftwerk. But today I'm posting all the cupcake goodies, including NEW cupcake flavours!

And heres a pic guaranteed to get you going "awwww" - my little baking assistant George :-)