Vintage Cupcake Anyone?

I was asked to create a series of vintage cupcakes which would be display at the Grand Wedding Show 2013.   I came up with 2 themes with 3 cupcakes in each series.  The first theme was inspired by a vintage china plate I have in my studio.  I just love the gorgeous teal/blue with the simple white painted floral pattern and really wanted to capture this in the cupcakes.

Series One | Vintage China

I love love love the white against the teal/blue!! 

My next series of cupcakes I decided to feature lace and really loved using my sugarveil to get the gorgeous lace imprint.  I decided on a mixture roses and blossoms in a very soft mint with soft pinks and lavender. 

Series Two | I Dream of Cupcake

When I dream of cupcakes I dream of cupcakes like these :)

Afternoon tea at ours!

Ok, I haven't been blogging for a while and I have some much to share.  This was an afternoon tea I put together last year for some friends of ours who visited us from Canada.  I wanted to put on something a little special for Sonya and Kelly.  We don't get to see them very offer because they live so far away.  I've know Sonya since we were in kindergarden and we're been friends ever since.

Welcome to Sonya & Kelly's Afternoon Tea!

I wanted to create something that was a little classy but simple as well.  

On the menu we had the following:

Mini trifle pots

American fudge brownies with chocolate ganache & raspberries

Passionfruit tartlets with strawberries

Chocolate macarons

White chocolate & raspberry mini cupcakes

Date scones with cream & jam {not shown}

Finger sandwiches {not shown}

Love these little trifle pots!

I decided on a black and white cake with handcrafted flowers.  The cake was a coconut cake filled with chocolate ganache.  Pretty much like a bounty bar!! YUUMMOOO!

Mini cupcakes with large blooms

The selection of sweets.  I decided to match the serving boards with the patten of the cake just so everything tied in together.

We had such a fabulous afternoon!! Nothing beats great company with some yummy food!!

Isabella's Enchanted Fairy Party

Hello Lovelies,

Wow! It's been a long time between drinks.  Hope you all have been well! We're been pretty busy here at Bella Cupcakes HQ and haven't had much time to update my blog {So sorry}

At the end of last year my Isabella celebrated turning FIVE!! Where has the time gone? For her 5th birthday I wanted to do something super special for her .. you only turn five once right.

We decided on a fairy party and well I was excited to start planning things.  I wanted to have a fairy party that had a vintage feel, very sweet and girly.  

First thing to do was to find some gorgeous invitations which would set the mood of the party.  After hours of looking for the perfect invite I came across Serendipity Soiree.  Catherine does the MOST gorgeous invitations and paper collections.  I knew I had to get in touch with her to see if she would design Isabella's invitations.  And Oh My Goodness! I fell in love as soon as she sent through the draft. It was exactly what I wanted.

Catherine design a hand illustration paper collection - Isn't is so pretty? hehe 

So Welcome to Isabella's Enchanted Fairy Party!

I hope you all can stay awhile and enjoy!

We decide to have the party at Cornwall Park underneath the large gorgeous trees which give a great feel for the party.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and I was very excited to set everything up.

The sweets table all ready and now we wait for all the little fairies and pirates to arrive.

Miss Isabella Fairy's birthday cake.  I took inspiration from the invitations.  I absolutely love creating this cake for my little girl.

Miss Isabella Fairy in fondant

Isabella helped me baked these honey cookies and I had so much fun decorating them.

Also on the menu were White chocolate vanilla bean & raspberry macarons, coconut macarons and salted caramel macaroons.  Chocolate cake pops dipped in white chocolate decorated with roses and butterflies.

White chocolate mini cupcakes with vanilla bean swiss meringue buttercream.

Lots of gorgeous flowers in little terra-cotta pots, doilies to give that vintage feel and tree stumps to give that woodland feel.  I made chocolate cake filled with vanilla bean swiss meringue buttercream and fresh raspberries.  This was enjoyed by all after we played a game of pass the parcel.  Adults and kids all joyed in!! Was so much fun.

Chilled old fashion lemonade and Peach Juice served in these gorgeous vintage jar drink dispensers.

All of Isabella's friends arrived to find a fairy dress and headwear waiting for them.

The Birthday girl checking out all the sweet treats.

We also had a selection of savory treats for all our guest.

On the menu was a selection of sandwiches

Chicken Avocdao with toasted almond flakes

Prawn and dill

Ham & Egg

Date scones with cream and jam

A selection of sushi

Mini mince savouries

Mini sausage rolls

A selection of fresh fruit and vege sticks

Chocolate dip strawberries

Serena the Fairy entertained the kids with a treasure hunt, magical stories, making magical wands and doing the girls nails and glittering their cheeks.

All the fairies and pirates had such a wonderful day! And it was so lovely that all our closest friends and family were able to come and join us and celebrate our little girl turning five. 

I have to say a HUGE thank you to our friend Catherine from Photographique for capturing such gorgeous photos of Isabella's special day.  We will treasure these beautiful photos.

Thank you for staying awhile and I hope you enjoyed Isabella's Enchanted Fairy Party, because we certainly did.

A huge Thank you to the following:

Styling & Catering by Bella Cupcakes

Photography by Photographique

Paper Collection by Serendipity Soiree

Vintage Drink Dispensers by Leo & Bella

Fairy Dress & Headpiece by Bella Cupcakes

Leotards by Lizzy Love

Happy Easter!

Wishing all your lovelies a very Happy Easter!!

I hope you all get to spend time with your love ones and eat yourselves silly with yummy hot cross buns and delicious chocolate easter eggs.

Happy Easter!

New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker Part 2

After the great success of my teddy bears picnic cupcake tower, New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker asked if I would create a wedding cake as a centerpiece for another episode.  How could I say no!

After a lot of brainstorming I eventually found a gorgeous Vera Wang wedding dress and using it as my inspiration.  I love the unusual colors and the structure of the bodice and the gorgeous mermaid style and ruffle bottom.  As soon as I saw the dress I could instantly see the main elements on each tier of the wedding cake.

Introducing the Holly cake, inspired by Vera Wang

I didn't want the cake to all be one color so decided the two middle tiers would be in a peachy tone.

Vera Wang's gorgeous "Holly" dress : Spring 2012 collection : My inspiration

This tier was inspired by the lines of the bodice.

And the bottom tier inspired by the gorgeous ruffles of the dress.

The show was absolutely thrilled with what I had made for them and I'm really looking forward to seeing the cake on the show later on in the year.

Happy Baking!

New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker!

I received a phone call a couple of weeks ago from a tv show called New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker. They asked if I would like to create a cupcake tower for an episode they were shooting and wanted one of my towers as the centerpiece for the show.  As you can imagine I was thinking "are you for real? You want me to make a cupcake tower for the show!!!" I was so excited and nervous as anything!! After like a second thinking... how could I say NO!! I absolutely loved watching the show last year and now to be asked was a great honor.  I pretty much had free artist license to do whatever I wanted  ... hmmm .... that can be really hard, because the mind goes into crazy thinking overdrive.  I needed help!! After another chat to the show, the theme for the episode was "Party time" and they wanted something that was fun and fabulous.  I pitched some ideas and they love the girly, teddy bears picnic so we went with that!! Yay!!  I didn't have much time to create this so with a couple of sleepiness nights and a mini melt down this is what my finished tower looked like:

Introducing A teddy bears picnic

Even tho it was a stressful project due the time constants I had some much making this for the show.

Sweet rose garden with white picket fence and hand painted details.

They loved the idea of having cute teapots on cupcakes

Blueberry pie and a cup of tea anyone?

 And it's not a picnic unless there is some yummy topsy turvy cake.

And all the cute teddy bears of course!

I was very lucky that I got to deliver it on set and actually see some of the filming of the show.  It was such an amazing day and I'm still in shock that it all happened!!  I now can't wait to see the show which will air later on this year.  A Bella Cupcakes Tower on TV, who would have ever thought? Not me that's for sure.  Happy Happy Joy Joy!!

Happy Baking!