I was hired (yes, my first paying gig!) to make some yummy cupcakes for a bachelorette party tonight.  The bride’s friend wanted simple chocolate and vanilla cakes with kahlua mocha buttercream.  Since I can’t let anything leave my kitchen without tasting it first, I made one of each to sample.  Yummy!

But the most exciting part is the toppers I made.  This is where it gets naughty, so I’m giving you fair warning if your eyes can’t handle it.  It is a bachelorette party after all!  One “special” one for the bride– a penis.  Actually, I made three for the bride’s friend to choose which would be most appropriate for her friend.  Wanna see ‘em?

Which one is your favorite?  Mine is the third, which spells out the bride’s name in royal icing.  That was the one that she ended up picking.

On all the rest of them, I made handcuffs and little bustier things.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  The handcuffs gave me a little run for my money, though.  They were a little more complicated than I had anticipated they would be.

Emma’s friend, Lily had her birthday party this weekend.  Lily’s mom, Ginger, has let Emma take a bunch of art classes for free, so this was my golden opportunity to return the favors.  Anyway, Lily had a pool party and the theme was sea creatures/under the sea/mermaids (but not Ariel).  Here’s what I came up with:

As it turned out, I wasn’t feeling well and ended up not going to the party.  Matt took Emma and the cupcakes and was tasked with setting everything up.  He did an amazing job!  For the top, I made a giant octopus, some sea shells and sand dollars all out of gum paste.  The octopus head and tentacles are all secured to the cupcake with toothpicks.  I had started working on the cakes at 6:30 that morning (frosting and puting on on the decorations), and by 10:30 when the party started, you can see that the weight from the octopus started breaking down the cupcake.  It was definitely leaning a bit.  I wish I hadn’t stuck everything in quite so early, but having just made the pieces the morning before, I was really concerned that they weren’t going to be dry enough to use and that I would have to come up with a plan B.  Luckily, everything worked out and they were dry enough to use.

The cupcake flavors were chocolate, vanilla and strawberry with strawberry, chocolate and chocolate peanut butter buttercreams.  Let me tell you, the chocolate peanut butter is heavenly!  I’ve been toying with the idea of a chocolate peanut butter buttercream and tested it out here.  I thought it was delicious, but since I didn’t go the party, I’m not sure how everyone else enjoyed it.  All the toppers were made from fondant and/or gum paste (mostly fondant because it tastes better) and included some fish, coral, starfish, octopus, sea turtles, and crabs.  I wish I had more close up photos of those, but I don’t.