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Trying out the new blogger interface and so far so good :)  Sorry for being away for so long but I've been trying to get back up on my feet (or is that "get my feet back on the ground"?) but either way I've been focusing on my facebook presence so you should like my fb page 

at Rhea Sunshine Designs!

And here are some cupcake creative projects that I've been working on...

Chocolate Cherry Cola Cupcakes with Cherry Frosting

Chocolate and Vanilla Cake, Vanilla Frosting, and Fondant Heart

Baby Rattle Cupcakes on Cupcake Tree

Vanilla and Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Frosting, and Fondant Flower

Sugar Free Spice Cake, White Fondant Icing, Purple Satin Ribbons, and Black Piping

Vanilla and Spice Cakes, Raspberry Filling, Sugar Free Vanilla Icing,
Red and Purple Edible Dust, and Red and Purple Icing Gel

I've been busy!  Mother's Day is this weekend and I have red velvet cupcakes cooling in my kitchen so let me know if you want a dozen cupcakes for that special motherly figure in your life! :)

Time for a change

Big news... I'm leaving my daytime full-time job!  I put an exclamation point there not because I have this whole thing figured out exactly, but because I'm definitely sure that it's time to move on and experience the next step in my professional career.

However, I'm REALLY going to miss my college students, especially the ones at the radio station where I've been their primary advisor for the past 2 years.  As a special tribute to them (and an attempt to place a soothing balm over the harsh reality of my impending departure) I made...

WFNP 88.7 FM The Edge Cupcakes!

This was my very first experience using melted candy to pipe writing to use as cupcake decorations!  I melted Hershey Kisses in a double boiler...

by "double boiler" I mean taking a stainless metal bowl and
setting it over a pot of boiling water

and then spooned the chocolate into a disposable decorating bag with the appropriate tip and carefully piped writing onto a sheet of wax paper.  The tower is our logo so I thought that was super cute!

(and quite creative) 

After refrigerating the chocolate for about an hour, I carefully perched the decorations on the cupcakes.  Success!

Cupcake Mishaps

This past weekend was a life manifestation of the quote "to make an omelet, sometimes you have to break a few eggs..."

This is what happens when marshmallows expand and melt right out of the cake batter

I call it eXpLoDiNg cUpCaKeS!

I'm not going to show you the picture of the inside of my oven. 
So glad for the self-cleaning feature.

I also learned that when you substitute caramel bits for toffee bits
(I'm allergic to almonds so toffee and I don't get along so well) but add the caramel bits too soon to the batter and then add fresh brewed coffee (instead of letting it chill to room temperature), that the caramel bits melt and the batter gets kinda watery and sticky.  In an effort to salvage the batter, I went ahead and baked up the cupcakes just to see what would happen.  2 rotations later (approx. 50 min.) the cupcakes looked beautiful IN the oven, but as soon as I took them OUT of the oven, they would collapse.

As Drew put it, they have a souffle complex.

My ever encouraging husband willingly taste-tested the collapsing souffle-like caramel coffee "cupcakes" and said it was delicious, even if they didn't look the way I wanted.  Note to self:  keep him!  :)

Luckily, I was able to break my losing streak with a home run
(sorry for the sports references):

Death by Oreo Cupcakes

An oreo cookie in the bottom of each cupcake, oreo bits mixed in with devil's food chocolate cake batter, finely chopped oreo crumbs mixed in with cream cheese flavored frosting, and a mini oreo topping.  I made these for a surprise bridal shower and they were a big hit, especially with the bride!  My efforts were redeemed :)

Wedding Cupcake Ideas for Myranda



In honor of all things lovely today, I'm blogging about an upcoming wedding for a super sweet young lady and her desire to have cupcakes at said wedding instead of the traditional cake.  Just for her (but for your viewing enjoyment as well) I've put together a continuous stream of consciousness in picture form of some ideas for her input:

red velvet cake, light purple cream cheese frosting, dark purple flowers, black/white/silver wrappers

 

The Fancy Lady Gourmet

 

Baubles, Bubbles, & Beauty

   

Hundreds & Thousands Cupcakes

  

Bella Cupcakes

 devil's food cake, raspberry filling, raspberry buttercream frosting, purple dusting, edible red heart charm or edible pearls

Cake on the Brain



Charlotte's Cupcakes

vanilla chai cake, dark purple frosting, silver dusting, light purple flowers, silver wrapper

The Ribbon Cupcake Co.



Small Things Iced



Hundreds & Thousands Cupcakes

vanilla cake, white frosting, silver hearts/flower/butterfly, "i do" picks, dark purple wrapper

"i do" picks available at goagainstthegrain.etsy.com



CakeyBake



CakeyBake

chocolate mousse frosting, fresh raspberry, chocolate drizzle, lace wrapper

Sweetpea Baking Co.

full tower display, purple daisies, cutting cake with topper

Sweetpea Baking Co.

adorable fondant hearts, fondant initials in purple and red, silver dusting

Kupcakespot.com




What do you all think?  Have you been to a wedding or special event recently that had cupcakes instead of a traditional cake?  What did you like / dislike?  I LOVE feedback!  :) 

David in Duri

So my uncle is in Indonesia right now for work, and this post is all for him!! (But you can enjoy it as well)



Chocolate Curry Cupcake



Go light on the curry!  Spoken from experience, a little goes a loooonnnngggg way :)

Monday Blues

For most people (myself included) the Monday after Superbowl Sunday is a real hard day to work through.  So... to make it a little more fun since it's totally not right now... Happy Post-Superbowl Monday!



Baltimore Raven's Jersey Cupcakes from Kupcakes & Co.



Most of my NY friends are very happy about the Giants winning (except for the Jets fans that are still just ticked off, and we don't talk about the Bills... ever) and there are some transplanted Patriots fans that had mini-riots in their living rooms (too soon?) but for me, I love my hometown team and always will!  Next year... PURPLE NATION baby!

Groundhog Day :)

I don't know what it was doing in Punxsutawney, but here there's no way Mr. Phil would have been able to see his shadow.  So even if our famous ground grizzily did predict another 6 weeks of winter, I say

BRING ON SPRING!



Amigurumi Groundhog @ Planet Jane





Moxie Cupcakes of New Paltz



Cookies & Cream meets Peppermint Bark

Some pics to document my baking efforts this past weekend:

A Rhea Sunshine Original... Choco-Peppermint Cookie Cupcakes

Vanilla Cake + Milk Chocolate & Peppermint Frosting

Topped with Cookies & Cream Sprinkles

Looking forward to working on some Valentine's Day themed designs and maybe even experimenting with candy writing decorations.  Or fondant.  Or both.  :)

In other news, I've been wait-listed by Pinterest... I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.  Hmmm, kinda teetering between "that's alright, I can wait" and "what the heck, are you for real?!"  Anyone else have this experience that you can share with me, preferably to reassure me that this is normal?  (It's ok, just lie to me, really.)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hey All - In honor of my mom's birthday today (I'm not telling you what year she's celebrating; I value my own happiness) here's a cute cupcake design that will make her smile:



my mom LOVES to ski :)

Check out the blog Cupcakes Take the Cake for more snow / skiing influenced baking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

singin' in the freezing rain

happy friday!  i don't know what the weather is doing where you are, but here... it's gross!  however, my fellow new yorkers would say, "shut up rhea, at least it's not snowing."  touche

so as i'm drowning my dreary rainy sorrows in a large, hot cup of caramel mocha coffee, i stumbled across this...



toffee mocha cupcakes by jocelyn @ bru crew life



how stinkin' perfect!?!  so guess what i'll be making this weekend?  ;)  although it's already gonna be busy (hair appointment, helping hubs pick up our new truck, friend coming to visit (and buying our motorcycle), church on sunday morning, and of course the pro bowl on sunday afternoon) i'm definitely going to squeeze in some baking / decorating time.

how are you spending your weekend?  out and about?  keeping it low-key?  going skiing? (that one's for you ma!)  whatever it is, remember to smile while you're doing it because we have an awesome GOD that we serve and HE is incredibly merciful and gracious towards us all.  PRAISE HIM TODAY!

Knitted Heart Mittens

I LOVE FAIR ISLE KNITTING!!

Alright, so I understand that these aren't technically fair isle, but they're really close and still beautiful none-the-less!  And they have that traditional Scandinavian look without so many color strands to handle at one time. 

Just for your own knowledge, fair isle knitting* are patterns that incorporate three or more color strands in the pattern, knitting no more than three stitches in a row before switching colors, the unused yarn is carried behind the work, and the patterns originate from the Shetland region of Scotland. 

*Not to be confused with intarsia (the technique used to make argyle socks, sweaters, vests, etc.), double knitting (used most notably for super thick reversible socks), and mosaic slip stitch knitting (geometrical and Grecian designs, great for coats and jackets).

If you would like the pattern to these adorably festive mittens,

check out this blog:

Knitty: Little Purls of Wisdom

Party Cupcake Pics!

Yellow cake with vanilla frosting and colorful sprinkles!

In orange and gold harvest wrappers!

Displayed in my amazing cupcake tree stand!

 

I'm so happy with how these cupcakes turned out!  :)

Merry Christmas... and happy Friday the 13th!

Hello all you crafty people!!  I'm back! :)  My brief sabbatical turned into a 6 month hiatus and I'm just now getting back to "normal" life (normal only being defined as a setting on one's dryer).  So here's how I'll be getting my feet wet as I'm easing into my creative enthusiasms...

First of all, my sister-in-law rocks solely and completely because she gave me THIS for Christmas:



A Beautiful Silver Cupcake Tree Stand



 So between the cupcake carrying case that she gave me for my birthday, and this display stand, EVERY event should now have cupcakes in attendance!  Event #1 - Ladies Ministry Meeting on Tuesday evening... be prepared for pictures!

Next, even though I have promised myself that I will NOT start any new yarn projects until I have completed or frogged all my UFOs, I'm feeling a little weak on my conviction because I have decided to teach myself how to crochet!  I've watched a couple video tutorials and I'm ready to tackle the chain... I figure it's best to start the way I did with knitting; making a washcloth (btw, I didn't originally intend to knit a washcloth, but at the time a scarf just seemed to take way too long to complete). 

As an aside, I can't believe 19 years ago I taught myself how to knit by reading a book!  I look back and that's just a freaking miracle to me because now I'm going to crochet and it seems impossible without videos, blogs, multi-angle detailed pictures, AND a real life human interface.  I think the Internet has made my brain mushy.

So here's to cupcakes and crocheting!!