Ciao Bella Blog Views

Friday, December 23, 2011

Wedding 2011

Cupcakes start at just $1.25 each for weddings!

Love: TO-GO

A quick package of six for a loved one: Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Buttercream.

Halloween 2011

My first dress cake! Amazing. I am even impressed.

Super gross body part cupcakes!! They are so cool though :)

It's a Boy: Baby Shower 2011

Vanilla with Vanilla and Chocolate with Mint! (Candied Pearls too)

Halloween 2011

My first Air Brush Attempt, a French Vanilla Cake with a Vanilla Buttercream

Package it in a cello bag and tie it off with a ribbon!

Friday, July 29, 2011

It's a Boy!

Perfectly portioned, french vanilla cakes with vanilla butter cream. Topped with a blue bottle!

Mario 1-ups!

The final product.

 I rolled out bright white fondant, and cut out dime sized circles for the spots on the mushrooms.
 200 of them!
I baked these in the Wilton Fruit and Nut Cups
(not recommended by Wilton, but worked fine for me)

Baby Shower!

Without knowing the gender of the baby, I went with a fun green frosting (lime) on a french vanilla cake, and topped it with a plastic wilton bottle topper in various colors.

Olive Oil & Basil??

These two ingredients worked well together, producing a lemon olive oil cupcake with a sweet basil butter cream!!






I infused the olive oil overnight with a sliced lemon. ------->

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Insane Almond

Just a french vanilla cake (sprinkled with peanut butter and chocolate chips before baking), with my first almond butter cream. Mom says they are, "Insane!!":

Mother's Day Brunch



 Half chocolate, half vanilla with simple flowers piped on top! This order was placed by the winner of the Rocky Hill Baseball/Softball Raffle Winner!! (She won a Gift Certificate to Cupcakes by Ashley!!)

Peanut Butter Bits

A simple favorite, a peanut butter cake, with a peanut butter butter cream! DELICIOUS.

TANKS!!

Dirty Ice!





Dylan's 11th birthday was a fun one! He wanted a tank. I used a 13x9 for the base and cut out a piece of another cake for the top. Tracks are made with Twix, wheels with chocolate filled cookies. The camo frosting is a little sloppy, but I worked through it! HOT!

It's 5 o'clock Somewhere!

A Margarita Cupcake with a Lime Buttercream
for the Greater Hartford Arts Bakesale.
We raised over $650, and I WON FIRST PLACE!!
These came out delicious, baked inside an ice cream cone-
(for easy eating)
And packaged in the signature
"Cupcakes by Ashley" cup for easy travels!!

Friday, March 18, 2011

RHHS Lady Terriers!! (School Spirit Debut!!)

My "School Spirit" line has made its debut! The cake is made to match any team's primary color, and the frosting is made to match the secondary color. Or whichever way you want of course! The test run resulted in the Rocky Hill Terriers Colors: Royal Blue Cake, White frosting, and a Red ribbon to accent their 3rd color which outlines the lettering on the jersey. I also tried something new this time... I peeled the wrapper from the cupcake and put the cake directly into the cup. This created a super easy, virtually mess free way to eat a cupcake FROM A CUP! And the best part about it, they were almost all gone at the end of the event!! Good luck this season girls!!
CLICK THE LINK TO SEE THE CUPCAKES IN ACTION!!http://rhhssoftball.com/RHHS_Softball/Photos_%26_Clips.html#4

I had to use an ENTIRE container of Wilton Color gel (Royal blue) in order to achieve the exact color-- that's TWO TABLESPOONS!! YIKES! I find that when the cake is dyed, it doesn't effect the taste the way it does when the frosting is altered. There mouths and teeth were blue, but not even close to as bad as if the frosting had that much!

This was a basic white (no egg yolks) cake, with the food coloring, & a basic white vanilla buttercream. The cake has a small amount of discoloration due to the cupcake liner. I will be conducting a test run without the liners by spraying a non-stick solution into the pan.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Walk the Red Carpet, Oscar Night Cupcakes

144 Cupcakes!!
Step 1: Bake 144 Red Velvet Cupcakes, Cool & Place inside an 8oz. Plastic Tumbler (Close up Below)





Cakes in the Tumblers




Step 2: Frost Cupcakes with a Cream Cheese Buttercream, (just a small swirl on the top, as the cake itself is extremely delicious on its own)

Step 3: Set up a packaging assembly line, Frosted cupcake is placed into the bottom of an 8oz. tumbler (Dollar Tree- 10/$1), put into a small size party favor bag (Party City- 25 pack for $2.49) and place a small business card inside the bag. (Steps are illustrated below to the left for further clarification).


Step 4: Tie a 12" piece of gold curling ribbon around the plastic bag (snug to the top of the cup) and curl the ends! I was able to fit 3 dozen in each standard size box for shipping purposes!







Cupcake inside tumbler.
 
Bagged!

Label placed inside
The Final Product.

Away they go! Off to Oscar Night 2011 at DISH.
Step 5: ENJOY! (A very happy recipient pictured below)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

RHHS Terriers Softball

I used the other half of the Wilton Sports Ball Pan, (left over from the igloo cake) Frosted it with a white buttercream and piped the letters and laces with Wilton Sparkles Gel (Blue and Red) Easy as 1-2-3.

Baby, it's Cold Outside!



My little sister's 7th birthday cake, a thin chocolate cakes as the base (in a jelly roll pan) frosted with vanilla buttercream, topped in coconut, then a sweet clear/white glaze with snowflake sprinkles. The pond is a Betty Crocker cookie frosting (blue) with swirled in Blue Wilton Sparkles gel and outlines with a clear blue Betty Crocker gel. The igloo is half of a Wilton Sports Ball pan cake in vanilla, topped with vanilla buttercream. I used a popsicle stick to just carve out the lines to make the igloo come to life. I used 3 oreos stuck together and frosted as the igloo opening and lined the igloo with Wilton Peppermint Pearls (wedding favors). A BIG HIT!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Dinosaur Stomping Grounds



What more could you want on your 4th birthday? A complete dino-riffic cake, complete with waffle bowl volcano and frosting pond/stream. I finished it off with plastic dinosaur figures and palm trees that he could take home and play with. The dirt around the cake is just oreo cookies (without the filling) crushed up, and the lighter sand sprinkled around is graham crackers. The waffle bowl cone is covered in chocolate icing (and vanilla icing swirled in for texture) then I used the Wilton Sparkle Gel (red) to make the HOT LAVA! The pond/stream is Betty Crocker Cookie Icing (in blue) It dries quickly, but leaves a nice wet look, perfect for water. The chocolate covered raisins double as rocks (or dinosaur droppings-- pointed out by the birthday boy!)

Semper Fi

A Bon Voyage cake for my little cousin, complete with a gold Marines pin in the middle. One of the first cakes I ever made. 2 stacked 8" rounds, white buttercream and
Wilton Sparkle Gel (<------ I love that stuff) Red and Gold.

Diaper Cake

Not your typical cake, and certainly not edible. My first attempt at a diaper cake. Far too complicated to explain, but easy to execute... google it! There are many ideas, and I can't wait to make another one!!

Rivalry: Giants/Cowboys

This wasn't the final product, but I can't seem to find an updated picture. The only thing I added was an additional line to make the sides white/red/white and a border around the bottom. I used a 13x9 pan, and just free-handed the football shape with a sharp knife. I always let my cakes cool in the freezer, which makes it SO much easier to frost. Then, I covered the cake in a Milk Chocolate buttercream, pipes on the details (using Wilton Sparkle Gel, blue and red and a white Betty Crocker gel). The field goal is made from yellow plastic drinking straws.

The Joker!

I used a 12x8 inch pan, intended to be a Joker playing card, with the Dark Knight Joker face. A big hit! (a sloppy frosting job, but the face, I have to admit-- is pretty great!!)