Mr. Banana Cupcakes

These special cupcakes were for a special friend :)  They are banana cupcakes with a brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream, dressed up with a mustache!

Recipe from The Novice Chef

Angel Food Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

These are heaven in a cupcake liner.  Homemade angel food cake is so much better than store-bought - it's light & airy & fresh.  Swiss Meringue Buttercream is easily my favorite frosting, and light enough to not overpower the angel food cupcakes.  Adding pureed strawberries only made it 10 times better!

Angel Food Cupcakes from How Sweet Eats

Disney Cars themed cupcakes

I made these fun cupcakes for a Disney Cars themed baby shower.  The hostess didn't want to overdo the theme, so she chose fun, bright, colorful liners and threw in a few of the licensed Cars liners.  A cute racing flag topper for each cupcake tied it all together!  Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream are in the red liners, and Vanilla Bean cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream are in the yellow liners:

photo credit to Derek McNelly

Will You Be My Bridesmaid Cupcakes

These pretty cupcakes served very special purpose - the bride gave these to her bridesmaids-to-be.

Jumbo Chocolate Cupcakes with a chocolate ganache filling and salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream.  The topper is made of fondant and was sprayed with edible luster paint.

50th Anniversary Cake

Vanilla bean cake with vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream:

Piping done with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream; teal fondant circle.

Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I was so excited to make this cake for my Grandma's surprise birthday party.  I had already picked out the perfect cupcakes to make, and wanted the perfect cake.  I chose a fluffy vanilla cake from Sweetapolita.   

The cake was bursting with vanilla flavor, nicely complemented by a raspberry whipped cream filling and topped with vanilla bean swiss meringue buttercream.  I used some different piping techniques to decorate.  Overall, the cake was a huge success, and I don't think I've ever received so many compliments on a cake in one night!  

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes

These cupcakes are delicious.  Usually when you try to mimic a non-dessert flavor in a cupcake, there is something missing.  Not with these!  This recipe, borrowed from Tasty Kitchen, is easy to make, and definitely a winner!  The only thing I changed was the frosting; I used a Cosmopolitan flavored Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Creme Brulee Cake

 Creme Brulee Cake

4 layer Caramel custard Cake, filled and iced with Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Tall Cake

My cake decorating classes are limited now that I've completed all three Wilton courses.  Thankfully, my instructor told me she was offering a one day class, Tall Cakes.  The course was about how to construct stacked cakes & we were instructed to bring a 10" cake and a 6" cake. Until the day of the class, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the cake, which meant I still hadn't decided how to decorate the cake.

Luckily, my instructor came to my rescue and taught us how to pipe corneille lace.  I added a few flowers, and I was set!

The bottom layer is a rich chocolate cake, layered with dark chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and strawberries.  The top layer is white almond cake layed with dark chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.  The cake was iced in dark chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, or, my new favorite frosting.  The lace piping was done with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.  I used royal icing apple blossoms and primroses (look familiar?) for a finishing touch.