Cupcake Project – Chocolate Banana Baklava Cupcakes

Chocolate Banana Baklava Cupcakes

Looking for something different in the cupcake world? Well here I present to you Chocolate Banana Baklava Cupcakes from the Cupcake Project.

Take baklava (the middle Eastern dessert featuring buttery phyllo dough, nuts, and sticky sweet honey), add a layer of brownie, mix in some banana chunks, bake in jumbo silicone cupcake liners, and you get chocolate banana baklava cupcakes…Chocolate banana baklava cupcakes are more labor-intensive than most cupcake recipes that I make. Click here for the recipe…

What do you think? Is this a recipe you are interested in trying?

Cupcake Recipe Tips – Baking With Children

Hope everyone got a chance to take a look at the beautiful purple wedding cupcakes yesterday. Today we are taking a look at tips for baking with children from Cupcake Recipe Tips:

Baking gives kids an opportunity to learn important skills. In measuring they learn fractions, while cutting helps them with division. The oven buzzer can teach units of time. Mistakes made in measurements or a skipped step leading to disappointment can prove to be useful in teaching the virtues of patience and precision. Read the full article here…

I think almost everyone of us has happy childhood memories of baking with a family member. For me it would be baking Christmas cookies with my mother, Italian treats with my Grandmother or icing treats with my step-mother. I was blessed, surrounded my strong women that loved to bake. Of course Dee and Meghan share a similar experience, as that is what helped inspire them to bake and start Gramma Dot’s.

So please, share with us your favorite/strongest childhood baking memory. We’d love to hear all about it.

Wedding Cupcakes – Purple Wedding Cupcakes

Purple Wedding Cupcakes

Sorry for a lack of post yesterday, it is amazing how the day can get away from you.

Today we are looking at some pretty purple wedding cupcakes from Wedding Cupcakes. As much as the cupcakes themselves are pretty, they way these are being presented is what really makes them great. I love the different shades of purple on the edges of the tiers, the purple flowers on the top and how the flowers on the cupcakes are almost all aligned. It just all works together so well.

Purple and lavender seem to be a growing trend in weddings, and this gorgeous purple wedding cupcake tower is an excellent example of how to bring your wedding colors to life in your wedding cupcake display.

What do you think? Do you like this look or would you do something different?

Hey there, Cupcake! – Pig to Cute to Eat?

While I won’t be including him in the Most Beautiful Cupcake contest (or should I?) I just couldn’t imagine eating this cute little piggy from Hey there, Cupcake!:

Pig Cupcake

Hey there, Cupcake! is located in San Diego, California and I must say, they have a very skilled Fondant Worker. What do you think? Eat or save the pig cupcake? To me he just looks to cute and happy with his nose all scrunched up 🙂

Top Blog Posts Update

First edition of our weekly top blog posts update and we have had a bit of a shake up. Dollar Store Crafts – Sushi Themed Baby Shower Gift came out of no where to take second spot (but couldn’t quite reach #1), Pink Cake Box – Rose Wedding Cupcake Cake Tower just keeps climbing while Dabbled – Making Angry Birds Cupcakes, Sweetapolita – Fondant Asparagus, and Epicurious – 10 Edible Flowers to Grow in Your Garden have dropped off the list.

Has one of your favorites been kicked of the top 10 list? Are you one of the people helping the sushi themed baby shower gift take over?

Let us know what you think…

Party Cupcake Ideas – 50 Amazing Wedding Cupcake Ideas

Party Cupcake Ideas shares with us 50 of the best wedding cupcake ideas. Including:

28. Art Nouveau Cupcakes
If you are looking for something different to the normal flowers on a cupcake theme, then SUGARBLOOM CUPCAKES & MACARONS may have the answer. They have designed a set of Art Nouveau Cupcakes, which are amazing. Using strong black lines of icing to create the swirly vines, they top them off with delicate lilac flowers and petals. And as fabulous as they look, they sound mouth watering irresistible, chocolate almond fudge with dark chocolate buttercream, yum! Click here to see the who list

I think these ones are so beautiful. Take a look at the list and let us know which are your favorites…

Dessert Comes First – Baking Mini’s

Mini desserts, what could be better? You get all the yummy taste but in little bite size pieces! I love mini desserts of all kinds. I think they are so cute. So when Dottie Dee showed me this blog it immediately peaked my interest:

I’m deeply suspicious of miniature pastries, “mini me’s” of their more massively sized counterparts. For me, the allure of the undersized is in fooling oneself about the quantity consumed; before you know it, the box’s contents have been decimated. Read the full article here…

What do you think about mini-sized desserts?

 

Dollar Store Crafts – Sushi Themed Baby Shower Gift

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Sorry for the late post today folks, business has been crazy!

Anyway, I don’t know most of our readers (and as such you don’t know me). If I had to describe myself the word “sushi” would definitely come up, maybe multiple times, however the word “baby” would not. I have been married for almost two years but there is no baby here nor is there going to be anytime soon. Don’t get me wrong, I love babies, I love babysitting, holding them and playing with them, I just don’t want one. Maybe one day, I said maybe, but I just don’t know if motherhood is for me. But when Dottie Dee showed me this baby shower gift, wow, if I do have a baby, this gift would definitely be for me:

Faux food gifts are a fun idea that’s been floating around out there for a while. You’ve probably seen diaper cakes or sock cupcakes, but here’s a new twist! Jolene from Creative Dollar used an assortment of baby essentials to create “sushi”, which she presented all wrapped up on a plate. Hers was a baby girl gift and included hair bows; for boys, you could use more socks or other small soft goods instead. Sushi-loving moms-to-be will love this creative presentation! Click here for the instructions on how to make one yourself.

Sushi Baby Shower Gift

What do you think? Cute idea? Would you make one yourself?

New Pages

Hello Ladies and Gents!

We have a couple new pages to show you today…

The first is our Top Posts page.  This is a list of our 10 most popular posts (by views) and is updated every Sunday. Take a look and let us know if your favorite Gramma Dot’s post is listed there.

The second our Favorite Flavors page. This is a page is for you to help us! We want to know what your favorite cupcake flavors are, and if there are any flavors that Gramma Dot’s doesn’t make that you would like to see offered.

We are here for you, to share our love of things sweet by filling your bellies, so we want to hear from you readers…

Local Table Talk – Lavender Blueberry Jam

Well happy Monday everyone!

I hope all of our readers out there enjoyed their weekend. Here in Hamilton I got to enjoy the Locke St Festival and the Jame St Supercrawl. And we are going to begin the week by looking at a local blog Local Table Talk. They are kind enough to share lesson 101 on canning:

Before your jam making session you also have to pick up some jars. For beginners Laena advises using the jars with the two part lids because it is obvious when they have sealed. You can reuse the bands or rim part of these lids, but not the rubber part because that is the part that seals during the canning process. Make sure that you are buying jars that are for canning (it should say on the box) not just any jars. Click here for the step by step instructions…

This jam looks amazing and I cannot wait to give it a try. The blueberry lavender jam looks delicious but raspberry is my favorite. What is your favorite kind of jam?