Week ending 30 August 2009

Another week has passed, and on Tuesday, it's officially Spring. Mind you, my plants all think it's Spring already... the grape vine over my pergola is budding, as is my weeping Japanese Cherry, and my Silver Birch trees... I don't think they really got a decent Winter at all!

But onto Cupcakes - the whole reason you read, right?

OK, OK!

The first two shots are my own "official" photos of the magazine shoot cupcakes. In the magazine they will be on a stand, and presented with a matching cutting cake, but I was playing around with some silk flowers in a vase and thought that they would make a lovely backdrop. I'm thrilled with the shots, and they now take pride of place in my design book... I only hope that the magazine shots live up to my expectations!



Camelia Rose Cupcake

Double Dogwood Cupcake

Now, onto orders, customers and this week in the kitchen.

First up was an order for some pretty cupcakes for a birthday party for a little girl, who just loves purple and pink. And daisies! So I combined all three elements and out popped these sparkling daisy cupcakes, with pink and purple fondant over vanilla bean buttercream (Vanilla bean and Chocolate fudge cupcakes), topped with a sugarpaste daisy and an edible glitter centre.

This week was packed solid with customer appointments, and it was a bit of a challenge on Thursday to get everyone covered, as I had to rearrange Tuesday night appointments as we had another Barney of a storm in Melbourne, resulting in a loss of power, and no way out of my garage (the door motor seized, blocking out even the manual override lever!)... so 3 appointments had to get squished into an already crowded Thursday, but we pulled it off, and got to everyone on time... thank you to everyone for understanding my dilemma!

Then during a design session, the "final" design for the next magazine shoot has completely changed - twice! But it's now completely settled, the cutters ordered, and we have also had word of the shooting date - September 22nd... so revealing the final design is a way off. I think you will be pleased though. I know I'm excited to get to work on it!

And my new website has had a facelift! I got to playing around during a sleepless night (after the power came back on on Tuesday night, actually!) - I hate the wind - and have come up with a completely new design for the website, as well as a new logo (which you can see in the pictures above, as well as on the greeting page, below)... have a look and let me know what you think. For now the "Sweet Boutique" is having a holiday while I investigate shopping carts, but it will be back.

Next week: Just when I think that I'll have a quiet moment to (a) get housework done (how does that iron work again??) and (b) re-acquiant myself with my husband... the phone rings, and the diary is suddenly full again! Now, I'm not complaining for one minute, it is after all, this is a business that I'm running!, I'm just, well, busy! Too busy to iron anything it seems, and too busy to roast a chicken for my husband on our anniversary (I know, the shame!) - which was last Thursday!

Tomorrow, however, is a new day, and, if my luck holds, that chicken is doomed!

Have a great week everyone!

Week ending 23 August 2009

This week has passed in a blur... it's now only a week until Spring, and before we know it, Christmas decorations will be going up! What happened to the first half of this year, where did it go??!!

On Monday night I received a call from the RDNS (Royal District Nursing Service)... they were planning a special afternoon tea to thank their staff for a great effort, and would I be able to fit them in? Well, fit them in I did (the RDNS was a huge help to my husband and I after he suffered an incredibly serious illness last year), and below is the result... I was really happy with how they looked, they fit the brief perfectly (not pretty, but classy and elegant), and best of all, the client was thrilled.

These cupcakes were a mixture of Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Fudge and Citrus Delight cupcakes. All with ivory fondant over vanilla bean buttercream, and decorated with white royal icing accented with edible lustre, and white mini blossoms and pearls, also highlighted with edible lustre.

Also on the workboard for this week was to get the designs finalised for our next magazine shoot, coming up in early September. I'm pretty happy with the final concept - now the challenge is to translate that concept into cupcakes! I'll give you a sneak peak once the cakes are done... then the magazine itself doesn't publish until all the way into next January! (which is only 4 months and one week away - ack!!)

This week we also had another Target shoot... the shot looks fantastic, and the catalogue will be in letterboxes in about 6 weeks. I'll post the page up once I see it.

Next week is jam-packed with client appointments, and we also have a little girl's birthday to celebrate... I'm looking forward to those! Then it's head down and bum up as we plunge head first into the wedding season...

Target Catalogue is out now...

The cupcakes look great (it's a shame they only ended up using 2), but I was really surprised by how the cake looks - completely different to the stylist's specs, and certainly not as I delivered it! You can see for yourself in the catalogue shot below, vs the cake shot I took before delivery - just a wee difference!!

You can get a better look in a real catalogue, or you can also see it online at target.com.au

Still, better than nothing!

(And the next shots are due in about 6 weeks time...)

Week Ending 16 August 2009

What a week! Whew - I can't say that I'm sad to see the back end of it! But, what with all the "go, go, go" this past week has been a great one!

First off, we had our magazine shoot on Tuesday, for Complete Weddings, Melbourne edition. It's for issue 31, due to hit the shelves in December. Here is a sneak peak:

I'll post up a image from the magazine once I see it, but it will be a while away yet! The great news from that shoot is that our cakes were also used as props for another section of the magazine, so that's very exciting!

Next up, we had a 21st, with a Spring Racing Carnival theme.

The cupcakes are a mixture of chocolate fudge and vanilla bean, all decorated in pinks and greens. The matching cutting cake is a 6" diameter vanilla bean cake, with a biot feather topper in the style of a fascinator. The colour combination is really striking; unfortunately the photo does it no justice at all, as it was taken inside the venue with artifical lighting just on dark.

Our next client was for a Christening. I just love creating cupcakes for Christenings! This lucky baby celebrated her Christening in style with White Truffle and Raspberry cupcakes, decorated in my signature whimsical style in tones of crystal pink and white. Just perfect for a little girl!

And finally we wrapped up the week with a small table at a Bridal Fair at Killara Estate Winery. The weather was terrible (but a typical Melbourne day!!), but we had a great turn-out, and were kept very busy indeed!

Next week will see us on the road again on Tuesday, seeing some very interesting people, and more flower making for yet another photo shoot!

Oh, and the next Target stores catalogue should be out early this week (from memory!) featuring not just our cupcakes, but a cutting cake as well... I'll post up the images once it's released!

And last but not least, our competition winner!

We had some great entries, and I was very surprised to learn that there are more Treat Seekers around than Sweet Buffs... there could only be one winner, and the winner is (drumroll please!)

DaisyJulz!!!!

DaisyJulz, if you could please contact me at sweetcupcakesandtreats@hotmail.com with your contact details so that you can claim your prize!

Thank you to everyone who entered... and even though there was only one winner this time, keep a look out next month for a new give-away with multiple winners!

Week ending 08 August 2009


The first week of August certainly has been busy! The phone has been ringing off the hook again with Spring wedding and birthday equiries, lovely, thank you!


We also had a wedding today for Nils and Linda, held at the Little Road Chapel in Iona (nr Garflied). This is a lovely little place, with a restored chapel and reception rooms. The bride and groom chose a simple but elegant combination of purple and pearl/off white. The day dawned perfectly clear, which was wonderful after all the rain we've had in the past week!







This week also sees the introduction of a new feature: "Vintage Classics". Every few weeks, I'll track down a classic recipe from our childhoods, and present it here. The first off the list is the iconic Australian Honey Joys. Who doesn't remember these from our school fete's and CWA street-side cake stalls? They are also one of my husband's favourite treats (who knew?), so more than a few batches of HJ's were consumed this week once he saw what I was up to!







If you have any special requests for a treat from your past that you are unable to dig up, let me know, and I'll try to find it out for you.



Next Week: Working on some exciting projects - a magazine shoot, a bridal expo (will post the link tomorrow), and a Christening.

Don't forget to enter the draw for the Steet! Treats hamper, to be drawn on August 14th!