a sweet surprise...

as promised, better pictures of last weeks special dozen...

a gentleman wanted these delivered to his fiancee at work... HOW sweet??

She was TOTALLY surprised and taken off guard. I think it may have been my favorite delivery to date!

Ho. Ho. Ho.

It's official. We have 10 days until Christmas (I don't count today). Which means two things. I've got some serious shopping to do, which by the way, is a task that I am ALWAYS up for. AND it also means, that if you haven't ordered your Christmas Holiday Box, you best bust a move!

In case you haven't been paying attention -- Eggnog, Red Velvet, Godiva w/ Peppermint frosting, and Winter White are your Christmasy choices. 36 bucks gets you a pretty red box, filled with deliciousness (IE. a dozen BABYCAKES)! I'll be taking orders until the 20th *unless I book up before hand*.. e-mail or call me!

This week I've been busy on a big order for another local business (you all know how much I adore local and small business, so I was beyond thrilled to work with them!)

OUTDOOR CREATIONS ordered 1/2 dozens for their clients. Maybe I'm biased, but I'd love it if someone showed their appreciation for my business via cupcakes!

I thought their Happy Holidays/Thank You note was adorable!



BABYCAKES all stacked up and ready to go.

I think the Christmas packaging came out splendidly. If I do say so myself...



I bake naked.

For those of you that have e-mailed me, asking me WTF "I bake naked" means... it is NOT in the literal sense, although -- it's eye catching right? That's kinda the point.

It means, I bake w/out preservatives, or any of that other crap. There is no margarine or liquid egg whites in BABYCAKES. It's all farm fresh eggs, and real-deal butta!

I just had to share these. I'm a little bit obsessed with the way they turned out. The best part -- I am delivering them to someone that has no idea they are coming (SURPRISE from her Fiance!) How stinkin' cute is that? All you boys out there.. take a hint! I cannot wait to see her face.

And, in recent news.. as you know, the week of Dec. 11th -- 18th is booked solid for BABYCAKES. If you'd like to get an order in for the following week, you should probably light a fire under your hiney, or you just might miss out on your Christmas Holiday box. (per usual, I will be delivering the 23rd and 24th).

Hope every one's Holiday season is going smoothly and of course, cheerfully.

just yappin'...

Warning: This post might be totally and completely unrelated to cupcakes, but will be however, filled to the gills with talk about food, vacationing, ad nauseum. I'll throw in a picture of some of my cupcakes, here for good measure.

Happy now?
So, on to the yappin'... I recently acquired a vacation. Yes, I do mean to say acquired, as I  sort of threw myself upon someone else's trip -- which, wasn't really at all a vacation (other then the fact that it wasn't home... it was somewhere way better.. San Francisco, and The Napa Valley, but it was going to be mostly work). So, she is headed west, all business... and I decided to fly out for a long weekend, so that we could play a little and of course work a little, because -- honestly, when it comes to the two of us.. we are never NOT talking about work. And, now -- we have literally come up with 763 things to do in three days. Most of which involve eating. You can't possibly be shocked.

While we visit Napa I believe that our journey is going to begin at Domaine Carneros followed with a visit to Yountville for lunch at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro (I was devastated to learn that The French Laundry would be closed while I was there. Heartbroken.) After lunch, I believe it's off to Frog's Leap and/or Chateau Montelena  followed by (perhaps) a stop at Auberge and then dinner is most likely going to be in Sonoma at ZAZU (Vegetarian's be warned). Pretty much, heavenly. I am beside myself with excitement.

I'm not even sure what's going to happen the other two days that I'm there... could be more Napa stuff, must see at least parts of San Fran., and just general fabulosity. I know we discussed dinner at Delfina's -- which I'd love as they are James Beard award winners (obvi. another one of my 754 obsessions). *Sigh* I cannot flippin' wait.

I suppose that I should take this moment to thank the hubs for being the absolute BEST man, EVER. He spoils me. He ships me off on vacay's to California w/out he or the kids, and simply says -- he's happy to do it. I'm a verra lucky girl. I'm sure that The Winter Classic tickets/jersey helped support his decision, but hell... we BOTH deserve to be spoiled a little every now and again...



I SURVIVED THANKSGIVING!

It's true. I survived Thanksgiving. I survived 37 dozen cupcakes, in basically three days... and I'm not going to lie.. it was no easy feat. There were times when I thought that I was getting sick (pretty much everyone else in the house was so, I assumed I was next.. and the exhaustion didn't help) -- where I could be seen shotgunning orange juice and any other source of Vitamin C that was left lying around the kitchen. I drank approx. 657 cups of coffee. My husband and children were basically left to starve. And, I was talking about pumpkin and other such things in my sleep. I had other orders on either side of the Thanksgiving mania (both the weekend before and the weekend after) so, I've been busy for 7+ days straight, baking. Hence, the lack of blogging. I adored knocking on doors -- "HI! BABYCAKES ARE HERE!" I felt like an old fashioned delivery girl!
Honestly. The last 24 hours have been spent relaxing, eating, cleaning, napping, eating, and napping some more. I needed it. Enjoyed every second of it... but, now. It's back to work. Time for Christmas flavors, more holiday boxes, Christmas packaging, etc.

I am pretty sure that I will go into the Christmas season a little bit more prepared. I'm allowing myself two days for delivery and pick ups this time around. I am pretty sure that Christmas will be just as busy, if not more so then Thanksgiving, and I'll need the extra day. Therefore, delivery/pick-up for Christmas orders will be the 23rd and 24th (FYI).

I've gotten bright RED boxes for the Christmas season, and am still searching for the perfect ribbon... something that I can make a spectacular bow with. I love the idea of these Holiday Boxes looking like a present. And, everything is going to be finished off with a label that claims -- Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice! Happy Holidays, BABYCAKES!

I've also changed things up a bit when it comes to the Holiday flavors, in honor of Christmas. I've decided on; Winter White -- Vanilla/Vanilla topped with White Sparkling Sugar, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Eggnog with Spiced Latte Frosting, and Candy Cane -- Chocolate with Red and White striped Peppermint Frosting.

Thanksgiving Holiday Boxes, SNEAK PREVIEW!

they look like giant Tiffany's boxes - love.

gingerbread w/ butter glaze and meringue buttercream

cranberry w/ cranberry and pecan frosting

apple w/ buerre noisette buttercream

pumpkin w/ spiced cream cheese frosting



FoodBuzz

Soooo... you all (all four of you) should go out and make a FoodBuzz profile. It's my latest (or at least one of) obsession.

BABYCAKES FoodBuzz Profile

Just do it. It's delicious.