Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Results Are In...

The Creative Cupcake Contest hosted by Thoughtfully Simple is finally over and the winner was selected today. The judges were Tori from Thoughtfully Simple, Amy Atlas from Amy Atlas Events and Kimberly from The TomKat Studio.

The winner was announced on the Thoughtfully Simple Facebook fan page. This is what they said:

We have a Creative Cupcake WINNER! From the top 3 cupcakes, Kimberley Kerkezi Stoegbauer , Amy Atlas Events and myself unanimously selected this Bowling Cupcake as the winner. Congrats Stacey Natal! You have one $100 to get "your bake-on" and custom cupcake toppers from The TomKat Studio !



bowling-4


Can you believe it?!? I won!! I'm so excited!! Thanks so much to everyone that voted for me! You're the best!!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Rainbow Cake Pops

Last week was such a hectic week with it being the last full week of school here in NYC. Lots of fun projects and celebrations!

My daughter requested (more like demanded) that I bake something for her class for the last full day of school last Friday. I've done a bunch of different cupcakes throughout the year so I wanted to try something that would still be fun, yet a bit different. Since I'm an avid reader and fan of Bakerella, I thought I'd try my hand at cake pops.

If you're not familiar with cake pops, they are exactly as they sound - a cake lollipop - cake on a stick. Isn't everything more fun when it's on a stick?!? Bakerella makes the cutest most elaborate cake pops. I can't wait to get her book which will be coming out soon! Since this was my first time, I thought I'd do the most basic - a round cake ball.

For a more detailed explanation on how to make them, you can check Bakerella's site. Here, I'll explain how I went about it.

First step is to bake a cake. I baked from scratch but you can definitely use a box mix. I like to bake from scratch because it's not as sweet as the box mix.

IMG_2070-sm



Once its completely cooled, put it in a bowl and break it up into small crumbs.

Cake Crumbs



I also like to make my own buttercream icing, but again you can use the canned variety.

Buttercream



Mix everything all together and start forming balls and place them on a cookie sheet lined with either wax paper or parchment. Once they are all done, pop them either in the fridge or freezer. You want them to set up and get firmer.

I thought it would be fun to do a rainbow of cake pops so I got candy melts from Michael's in purple, blue, yellow, orange and red. I also got the lollipop sticks there as well.

I was too lazy to go back to Bakerella's site to check on the directions so I'm not sure if you're supposed to put the lollipop stick in before or after you freeze them. I did it after, but I'm thinking it may be before.

So, I worked one color at a time. I put the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl and nuked it in about 10 second intervals, stirring each time and making sure it was completely melted. Then you take the tip of the lollipop stick, dip it in the melted candy and then stick it about halfway through the cake ball. When the candy hardens, it helps to keep the stick in the cake ball.

Once the sticks are all set (this only takes a few seconds), you start dipping! You want to get as smooth and as even a coat as possible and make sure the whole cake ball is covered. (easier said than done) You can use a Styrofoam block to inset the lollipop in to help while it dries.

Rainbow Cake Pops - 4



If you want to put sprinkles or any other topping on, you want to do it right after you dip - while it is still wet.

Some of them I used rainbow sprinkles,

IMG_2082-sm



others I used colored sanding sugar

IMG_2080-sm



No one would believe that there is actually cake in the middle.

But there is....

IMG_2168-sm



I couldn't just leave it like that. Being the packaging freak that I am, I had to dress them up a bit. I put each pop into a clear cello bag and tied with a coordinating ribbon.

Red

Red Cake Pops



Orange

Orange Cake Pops



Yellow

Yellow Cake Pops



Blue

Blue Cake Pops



Purple

Purple Cake Pops



I think I like the blue one the best. For that one I used satin ribbon. It really dressed it up. I think these would be great at baby showers, bridal showers, or even used as party favors.

Rainbow Cakepops



My daughter, her teacher and the whole class was happy. There were even some parents there and they seemed to like them also. Who could say no to a sweet treat in the middle of the day?

Have you ever tried to make these? If not, give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Made It To The Top 3!!

As many of you know, I entered some of my cupcakes in a contest hosted by Thoughtfully Simple. Voting went on for a couple of weeks and ended yesterday. I am soooo happy to say that Total City Girl cupcakes made it to the top 3!!!

The judges - Thoughtfully Simple, Amy Atlas and The Tomkat Studio will be making the final decision today and announcing the winner tomorrow.

Just wanted to give a huge thanks to everyone that helped me get this far! I couldn't have done it without you!


I'll let you know the results tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Cupcake Contest - Vote For Total City Girl!!

If you've managed to hang in there for a while and have been reading this blog, you've heard me talk about some of the cupcakes I've made. I LOVE making cakes and cupcakes!!

Well, last night as I was reading some of my favorite blogs, I came across a contest over on the Thoughtfully Simple blog. Can you guess what it is?? I guess the title of my post gives it away.

They are looking for the most Creative Cupcake!

You can enter three cupcakes so these are the ones I've chosen:

Bowling Party Cupcakes

bowling-4


Teacher Love Cupcakes

teacherappreciation-3


and last but not least, my Meatloaf and Mashed Potato Cupcakes.

Meatloaf & Mashed Potato Cupcakes - 2


The voting goes on until June 27th and you can vote every day, once per day. So, I'm asking for your help!! Please head on over to this link and vote for Total City Girl!! If you can pass it on to everyone you know, that would be helpful also! You can mention it on Facebook and if you're on twitter, you can tweet the link.

I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Nap Time = Etsy Time

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Good I hope.

My weekend started out nice and slow on Saturday and then got a bit crazy on Sunday. I definitely liked Saturday better!

I was supposed to go shopping with my little one but then she decided to take a four hour nap. What did I do during that time you ask? ETSY!!! You never know how long these naps will last and especially for her - she doesn't typically nap so I got started right away.

Last week I worked on some new headband designs for some orders I had. I liked the designs so much I decided to add them to my Etsy Shop. Listing on Etsy is pretty time consuming, but in the end it's worth it.

I had some extra cute, low paying (or should I say no paying) models to work with...

citrusbuttonhb-5



ladybughb-2



partgirlpnkblk-2

The pink and black Party Girl headband just above was recently featured in a treasury.

I managed to get 9 new designs added. Perfect for the summer. You can see them in the Total City Girl Etsy Shop

Let me know what you think!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Creative Weekend

This week I'm going to be really busy on the "mom" side of things between parent teacher conferences, dance recitals, half and full days off from school, not to mention the laundry piling up again!!

This weekend however, I did have a nice break to just be creative. Saturday I had 8 hours of uninterrupted time to myself to do the things I like to do most - design, create...MAKE THINGS!!

Here's a sneak peek of some of the things I was up to...


Summer Headbands

This and more soon to be updated to my Etsy shop this week.

What did you do this weekend? Anything fun?

Friday, June 4, 2010

{Celebrate} National Doughnut Day

Yes, yet another reason to celebrate! June is such a fun month!

The other day I told you that June is National Candy Month. You have a whole month to have fun with that one. Today though is National Doughnut Day - celebrated the first Friday of June. Normally this would be perfect timing because every Friday afternoon after school, the girls and I have a playdate with our special friends and we always end up at DD. We're usually in that place so long, the guys behind the counter start giving our kids donut holes just to keep them quiet. Today of all days, we're not having the playdate!! They're giving away free donuts if you buy a drink.

Should I take my girls anyway?

Did you get your free donut today? What's your favorite?

Went to my favorite photo site - flickr - to get some doughnut inspiration for you guys.

holey doughnuts!
by kathrynivy.com


Doughnuts on China Plate
by such pretty things


The Loop
by camknows


Doughnut
by Abby Draycott


Pets de Nonne 2/2
by Le Petrin


Happy Doughnut Day!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

{Celebrate} National Candy Month

Did you know that June is National Candy Month? Yes, now you have an excuse to dive into a bowl of your favorite sugary confections.

What's your favorite candy?

How often do you indulge?

I notice I gravitate towards red or pink candies - pink cotton candy, red cherry Twizzler Nibs, red lifesavers, red and pink jelly beans, red candy apples (not the cinnamon kind). There's definitely a noticeable trend there. I wonder if there's a hidden meaning behind it. Hmmmm.

Well, I thought it would be fun to browse through flickr to see what's going on out there in the candy universe. This is what I found. Hope you like it! Credits are listed under each photograph.

cottoncandy
Total City Girl (that's me!)



Waves...
Xia and her Chinese Box



Happy Valentines Day!
Silverbird_4



Pommes d'amour
Fabrice Terrasson



sweet box
regcas

See, I've given you a reason to celebrate! Go out and get yourself your favorite candy.

Your dentist will love you.

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