Spotty Astro Cupcake Cups

I found these cute new cupcake holders when I was shopping for cupcake decorations the other day, and have been dying for an excuse to use them for something fun!  That excuse came along this weekend, so made some chocolate cupcakes, iced with white chocolate ganache and topped with little astros for some colour.

Happy Birthday Mez....my other Mum from next door!  I hope that you had a wonderful birthday yesterday - the cupcakes were a day late, but at least they arrived :)

Lots of love
xx

Chocolate Lilac and Lace Wedding Cupcakes

This weekend I baked for wedding....and it was definitely one of my favoutite orders in a while! :) The wedding was for a girl name Stacey - she teaches the other Grade 6 class as my sister's school (so I had to do a good job).

Stacey came to me a little while ago with a request for chocolate wedding cupcakes.  She said that her fiance loved cake, so we had to go through a tasting before we found her the perfect cake.  Eventually she settled for dark chocolate cupcakes coverd with marshmallow and white and dark chocolate drizzle - delicious!

My favourite part about this order though, was the decorations on the cake and cupcakes....the wedding had a lilac, white and black colour scheme, so the cupcakes were made to match.  Each cupcake had beautiful lace and lilac ribbon around it, with a little sparkling glitter detail....I loved they way they looked!

A special little mention must go out to the groom and his Mum for selecting the cute little cake topper....isn't it awesome when the groom gets involved with the cake - other than just to taste it! :)

Stacey and David, I wish you all the best in your life together....may it be filled with good times and great memories!  I hope the cakes tasted as good as they looked!

xx

Rose Chocolate and Ganache Cake

Some of you might remember late last year that I made a very similar cake for a guy in the UAE who wanted to surprise is his girlfriend for her birthday....if you need to jog your memory, you can check that post out here. 

Anyway, it turns out that the cake was such a hit, that the same family whose daughter received the cake, ordered one almost exactly like it so that they could take it to a function that they were attending...I love reorders like that!  What a great reason to bake such a beautiful cake! :)

Lemon and Lace

I know I said just yesterday that it was tradition for my sister to give her class cupcakes at the end of each year, but what is a new tradition, is cupcakes for the Mums!  Meg and the other Grade 6 teacher (Stacey) went out for a Christmas dinner with the Mum's in their classes.....and took them cupcakes!

For the occasion I baked vanilla cupcakes and iced them in pink and yellow white chocolate icing, and finished them off with lace and ribbon trim, with white wafer roses to top them off....so pretty! :)

Happy Birthday to my Mum

Happy Birthday Beazle! 
I hope you have the a wonderful day today....looking forward to dinner in PMB tonight!  Love you lots Mum
xx

Pretty in Pink Chocolate Birthday Cake

 

It's not often that I bake a cake that I really struggle to have to give away.....but this delicious chocolate number definitely tugged at my taste buds as I handed her over!

My friend Haylea ordered this cake for her sister-in-law Mags...my instructions were to "make something that she would want to eat her way out of"....it's not your average descriptor for a cake, but if you know Hales, then you will completely understand!

Hales - you are a great apprentice chef...I just can't leave you alone with the icing...if I did, there wouldn't be any to put on the actual cake! :)

Happy birthday Mags, this cake may not be as cute as your new puppy, but at least it was good enough to eat!

Lemon and Lace Cake

In the spirit of Nelson Mandela Day, I got an email at the end of last week asking me to bake a cake for the grannies and grandpa's of Riverside (a home for the elderly in Pietermaritzburg).  The email came to me from a girl named Sarah, who lives in JHB.  Her Granny used to live at Riverside, but sadly passed away six months ago, and she thought it would be really cool to surprise some of the other elderly people with a cake for Madiba day.

My grandpa actually used to live at Riverside before he passed away (lots of love to Grandparents who have passed on), so I was only to happy to do this special thing for Sarah...hopefully the beautiful lemo and lace cake made the grannies and grandpas of Riverside feel some love today.

Thanks Sarah for the awesome gesture
xx

Red and Black Hens Party Cupcakes

It seems to be wedding season at the moment because I have been making tons of Hens Party goodies of late!  These particular cupcakes were ordered from Cape Town by a bridesmaid named Amy who flew down to Durban specially for the actual Hens party.....another story about a great friend....at My Favourite Cupcake we love that! :)

Hopefully these decedent chocolate cupcakes perfectly suited the black and red theme that the BM's have planned for their bride tonight....hope you girls have a fantastic evening! :)

Winter Wedding Cupcakes for Meg and James

 

I made these cupcakes for my sister Meg and new brother-in-law James' wedding.  It was held at The Old Halliwell Country Inn in the Natal Midlands.  They actually got married on the 2nd of July, but I have been really slow about getting together the pics from the wedding in order to post them on my blog.  It was the most beautiful wedding (and I'm not biased at all being the older sister here).....lots of handmade detail by the bride and groom, you could feel their presence in every little bit of the decor....absolutely stunning! 

The cupcakes I made are Meg's favourite - chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow topping covered in three types of chocolate drizzle....they were divine!  (You might have previously seen them here) Thanks to all the other bridesmaids for helping me out with these - made my job a lot easier to have so many helpful hands!

Janie and Jameson I wish you many happy years together.  

Love you both lots!

xx

Ok, now that I have said my bit, let's be honest....as is always the case with wedding's.....you don't want to see the cake, you want to see the bride....so here she is in all her splendor.....can you tell what a proud big sister I am :) .....

 

The photos in this last collage were taken by James Gibbs -  

you can find more of his work on his website  - click here

Chocolate Star Cupcakes for Gwyn

The time has come to say goodbye to our friend Gwyn (who is going to join our friend Gav in Hong Kong...he's her boyfriend).  Sad as I am to see her go, I am excited to their new adventure! :)

Gin my friend, enjoy the new adventure....I'm jealous of all the things you're going to see and do....not so much of young minds that you are going to have to educate along the way! ;) Keep a mattress ready for April...I'm coming to visit!  Love you friend xx

Naidoo Wedding

 

Congratulations to the happy couple who got married at the DLI Hall this weekend...you can tell by the pics that there were huge celebrations had at this wedding....400 people....that's insane! :)

First birthday at Tag

I'm only two weeks into my new job and I have happy stumbled across the first birthday in the office :) Happy Birthday Jolandi, I hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow - I'm looking forward to the party this evening x

Project Pink Chocolate Cupcakes

Today I am heading to Cape Town for a Project Pink weekend away - I am going to see all the Oakley ladies and are going to share another weekend of great fun, outdoors activities and rocking shades.....I CANNOT WAIT!

I baked some cupcakes to take along with me - a little something sweet to start off what is going to be a great weekend - nothing wrong with that! :)

You can read all about the weekend here.

Purple Wedding

So, like I said in my previous post, I was in Cape Town last weekend to bake for a wedding.  It was held a Monchique Barn, which is kind of between Constantia and Hout Bay and the colour scheme was purple.  

As is always the case with weddings, everyone wants to know what the tables looked like and what the bride was wearing - unfortunately I was not around to see the bride, but I did capture a bit of the vibe going on at the reception...enjoy! :)

 

Surprise Cupcake Deliveries

This past weekend I was in Cape Town, to bake for a wedding, an while I was there, I thought I would do a couple of surprise deliveries to friends in the area, and of course to the old office :)

Apple, Cinnamon and Almond Muffins

This week I got the happy news that My Favourite Cupcake is now officially going to have a stall at the Essenwood Market on Saturday mornings (starting on the first Sat in Feb...not to worry though...I will be sure to remind you!)

In excited anticipating of this, I have been experimenting this week with some new recipes for cupcakes and muffins.  During the experiments I came up with this little pearler...so I thought I would share.  They are apple, almond and cinnamon muffins.  A little bit of apple sweetness mixed with a little bit of spciey cinnamon and almonds to top it off....they were really delish - even if I say so myself!

Love is in the air...wedding cakes to follow soon!

There is something in the air at the moment, but it seems that every second person is getting engaged....my sister and my best friend are both getting married in the next 6 months!  Hectic!  Never in my life have I spent so much time talking about dresses and seating plans, considering flowers and menus....it's awesome!  For those who find themselves in a similar position, you need to direct your attention to Green Wedding Shoes and The Pretty Blog...amazing stuff on there if you are looking for ideas.

The best thing about all this wedding talk, is that where there are engagements, there are weddings, and where there are weddings....there is wedding cake! :) I figured that if I am gonna start making more wedding cakes, I better get some practice in...so that is what this cake was, just a practice round before I make the cakes for all of you engaged types who are itching to get MFC to hook you up with a gorgeous wedding cake on your special day! 

White Icing Hearts

While I was home during the holidays I decided it would be a good idea to go for tea with my Gran, so baked these heart shaped cakes to take with me.  They are just plain vanilla cupcakes baked in heart shapes and then lightly dusted with icing sugar and finished off white a white satin ribbon.

My Gan loved them, but couldn't understand why on earth I had "wrapped the cake with ribbon" - note to self, when baking for Granny, never wrap cupcakes with ribbon! :)

I love Cape Town Cupcakes

I thought that my last weekend in Cape Town deserved something special - a little something to celebrate the good times in a great town with awesome mates - so in typical Niki style I organised a little themed dinner party...Le Dolce Vita - The Good Life .

Dinner was outside on the balcony at our old faithful, Rick's Cafe.  Everybody came in black and white, and upon arrival all the girls donned some pearls and red lipstick and the guys put on some very tasteful taches.  Good food, good friends, the perfect Cape Town summers evening....what a flipping great time!  

Thanks to all my bests that came and shared the good time - I'm gonna miss you moles madly next year!

xx

Granny's 80th

My Granny turned 80 last week, so the whole family (except my aunt and uncle in England) went to Salt Rock for the weekend to celebrate.  We had a fantastic lunch on Saturday with awesome food and lots of wine...and cupcakes for dessert  

Happy Birthday Granny - 80 years old and still going strong - I'm so glad I have your genes! :)

xx