cookbooks

It may have been quite here but I haven't stopped baking. For my birthday I've received and bought quite a few cookbooks ( i received lots of book vouchers that I'd thought I should invest wisely ;) ...

I bought Bakerella's cake pop book, Nigella Feasts, The Hummingbird bakery,Tara Ramsay's Family Kitchen, Nigella Express, Yvonne Jaspers Spaghetti aan het plafond (cookbook with dutch celebrities and their family), The Pastry Queen by Rather Oresman and I was given Somja Kimpen kook je slank & fit (belgium health guru) and High tea Party by susannah blake.

Can you believe I still have lots on my wishlist ? LOL yep plenty !

What is your favorite cookbook and which one do you desperatly need to add to your collection ?

Mini Cake Bunting

Mini Buntings on cakes are all the rage, but to be honest all the cutting stamping etc. is a lot of work after you've made a cake.

Thank god for freebies ! Here's a digital freebie for 3 different shades courtesy of the Tom Kat Studio

Download PASTEL pages HERE

Download BRIGHT pages HERE

Download BOLD pages HERE

Cupcake Stores

The cupcake stores are popping up in the Netherlands, here are some that are not more than an hours drive from me

There is one in Utrecht Sweet Things

There are two in Den Haag, Cupcake Chic and Cupies

There is one in Rotterdam, Alice in Cakeland

Have I missed any ?

Can you believe I have not been to one of these ? I think it's time for a cupcake day, touring from one shop to another ! Who's in for it ?

Pink Tea Party

This last weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday in style; a girly pink party with cupcakes ! I will share some close ups that the fab miss delis took of this table

and here's what I served:

Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, Chocolate cupcakes with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream, Marshmellow Pops, Cupcake Cookies, Chocolate covered cookies (only thing not made by me),
Croissants with parmaham, cream cheese and strawberries, Sandwiches with cucumber and cream cheese, salmon with cream cheese and mozzerella with pesto and tomato, Candy Floss

I made the cute "Keep Calm" posters @ this website.

And my garland was cute too with white cake doilies and pink tissue pompoms.

Spongebob Squarepants Party

Spongebob Squarepants is such a big hit in our hit with our boys so when dude #2 turned 6 this summer it was a great theme for his birthday.

Birthday boy (right) loved this !

Rainbow Layer Cake

Celebrating Colin's family birthday party we had to have some cake, didn't have to be perfect but I wanted it to be special so I made a rainbow layer cake.

Looks like a basic buttercream cake but with a big wow factor when you cut the first slice .....

Cupcake ribbon toppers

So easy and yet I hadn't thought of it Tutorial for riboon cupcake toppers (which you could use for any occasion just as long as you have the right ribbon) !