Cupcake decorating parties

Something new we recently launched here at Frost This Cakes are cupcake decorating parties! These parties are an easy way to keep kids entertained at a birthday party or a fun way to start girls night out or a bachelorette party.  We come to your location of event, saving you the trouble of driving anywhere. We bring everything you need, from the cupcakes and the frosting, to fondant and candy toppers. 

We start with freshly baked cupcakes, in a flavor of your choosing. We bring a variety of colored frostings in piping bags with various frosting tips, which create a plethora of different design options. We provide general guidance and direction on proper techniques, as well as one on one assistance if needed/requested. 

We provide all sorts of fun stuff to top off your cupcake: sugar sprinkles in a variety of colors, m&m's, Reese's pieces, Reese's peanut butter cups, mini snickers, candy eyeballs, and more. We also have fondant toppers, made by you! We provide a variety of colors of fondant as well as the fondant tools needed. You will be able to make large and small flowers, butterflies, stars and other small toppers for your cupcake.  The rest is up to you. With creativity and a fun imagination, anything is possible!

The parties are fun for anyone of all ages. If you have any questions in this, feel free to ask! 

Grocery store vs bakery cake

So why go to a bakery or home baker instead of using a boxed mix or getting one from your local grocery store? With the many choices available in your local grocery store, a boxed mix surely makes it easy (and cheap) to whip up any flavored cake. From vanilla and chocolate to carrot and german chocolate, most mixes are under $2 per box. Then for another $2, you can get a can of pre made frosting including shelf stable and non-refrigerated cream cheese frosting? Add some oil, eggs and water and presto, you have a cake. But, have you looked at the ingredients in a box mix?

In a world where so many of us are concerned with processed foods and high fructose corn syrup, I am amazed at the amount of people that still opt for boxed mixes. Here is the list of ingredients off a box of Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix: enriched bleached flour, sugar, corn syrup, cocoa processed with alkali, baking side, sodium aluminum phosphate, mono calcium phosphate, corn starch, modified corn starch, nonfat milk, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or cottonseed oil, propylene glycol mono and diesters of fatty acids, salt, distilled monoglycerides, dicalcium phosphate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, xanthan gum, cellulose gum and artificial flavor. Phew! I think I counted 21 ingredients... For a cake... Not including the oil, water and eggs. Not including the frosting or any fillings. I'm curious what ingredients are in the cream cheese frosting.

Can I tell you what goes into a Frost This chocolate cake? Unbleached flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, brown sugar, butter, eggs, milk and cocoa powder. 10 ingredients. And we try to use local, fresh ingredients when available. That's just one of the reasons...

If you get your cake at your local supermarket, yes, you will save a few bucks. You can pick up a dozen cupcakes for $6 where you are looking to spend atleast $20 from your local bakery. So why spend the extra funds at a bakery when the supermarket is just so cheap? Because you will get the personal touch. If your son is really into science, do you think the local grocer will take the time to research science cakes, find out their favorite flavors and colors and make it come to life like this cake?

Or if your unique 10 year old has an odd obsession with rubber ducks, mustaches and the color purple, will the local baker take the time to make this cake?

The local supermarket has one or 2 decorators that need to whip out 50 cakes, that all look the same and the most personalization you will get is happy birthday (insert name here)

On those occasions that are special enough to you that you want to celebrate with cake, why not choose someone that can help you make your child's face light up with excitement, or your dad be even more excited to retire.

Fondant vs buttercream

Wedding season is coming! One of the most frequent questions I get asked when meeting with brides is, "what is fondant?" Fondant is sugar and water mixed with gelatin and food-grade glycerine, which keeps the sugar pliable and creates a dough-like consistency. It's basically an edible sugar play dough.

So how does fondant work? I don't make my own fondant (yet) I buy it pre-made, called rolled fondant. (It's called rolled because you have to roll it out like pie crust to use it). You have to really knead it to make it soft and pliable. You can color it any shade using gel colors, but for wedding cakes, most brides opt for white. Once the fondant is rolled out large enough to cover the cake, it is placed gently over the cake, then smoothed over, removing the excess. The cake itself has a thin layer of buttercream frosting to allow the fondant to adhere to the cake.

Most people think fondant is the only option when it comes to decorating cakes, especially wedding cakes. From Cake Boss to My Fair Wedding, every cake show on TV uses fondant on their cakes. But fondant isn't the only way to go.

I am finding more and more brides are opting for buttercream or cream cheese frosting over fondant because fondant really doesn't taste that good. Although it is edible, fondant should really be treated like an orange. You peel the orange peel back and eat what is inside. This is the same with fondant. You peel the exterior fondant back and eat the moist cake and buttercream frosting inside. Why aren't cupcakes covered in fondant? Because people like the sweet creamy taste and texture of frosting.

For anyone that doesn't know, buttercream frosting is confectioners sugar and butter or shortening mixed with a few other ingredients. Choosing buttercream or any other frosting over fondant is usually a good way to help save money and stay within your budget. Fondant is more expensive than buttercream, costing $20 for a 5 pound box from your local craft store. Sometimes using fondant is more difficult than buttercream because of the physical work of kneading and rolling it out, causing prices to increase. Ombré cakes are all the rage right now and it's very easy to pull this look off using buttercream instead of fondant. Using buttercream is an affordable way to personalize your cake and make it unique.

Wedding Cake Basics

Wedding season is just around the corner and with that also comes our busiest time. In speaking with brides, we have learned that most really don't know what they want. I have found that the consultation is key in helping the happy couple decide on what cake they want and how to make their cake fit their budget. First, we (the bride and myself) decide on where to have the consultation and tasting. Some choose to come to the bakery but most decide on having it in their own home. Having this done at their home can help them feel at ease and not pressured. But don't worry, I bring everything with me, including the cake, plates, forks and napkins.

The bride can bring up to 3 additional guests and can choose 4 different cake flavors. She can choose something off our menu, or something else, as long as we have time to perfect the recipe in time for the tasting. We want this cake to be as unique as the couple that is getting married. Why be stuck with the standard menu if there is something else that you are dying to try? In addition to the 4 cake flavors, she can choose 4 additional frostings. The cake and frosting is served separately. To explain, 4 individual cupcakes are baked, served unfrosted, then 4 individual servings of frosting and/or fillings. Everyone can mix and match to decide on what flavor works for them. I find this process works best as the couple can choose THEIR cake, not have the cake chosen for them. I have had brides choose a flavor combination that I never would have put together, but once I tasted it she was right on...it was delicious!

Then once all the deliciousness has been tasted, we start to work on a cake. I use the cake serving guide by icedjems.com as a guide in determining the right size cake. In this economy, most brides and grooms are very budget conscious. Is a 4 tiered cake right for their budget or would a smaller cake with a sheet cake be better? Are cupcakes a better fit to side step the caterers cake cutting fee? All of these options are explained fully at the tasting and hopefully one fits their budget. For example, some caterers can charge upwards of $3/slice for a cake cutting fee. This is an additional $300 charge for a wedding of 100 guests. This fee does not apply to cupcakes.

All of the cakes we do start at $3.25/slice, whether its a wedding or birthday cake. Just because we are making a wedding cake over a birthday cake doesn't give us the right to increase our price. This cost includes a basic buttercream cake with minimal detailing and decoration. Prices do increase, however, depending on the decoration and detail of the cake. A fondant covered cake is $4.25/slice. Want sugar flowers instead of fresh flowers? The cost is $5/slice. Sugar flowers are very time consuming and sometimes painstaking work, which is why they cost more. Fondant vs buttercream, sugar flowers vs fresh flowers, fresh fruit filling or jam? Again, these are my prices. I can't speak for other bakers, but all of these options need to be considered when deciding on the cake and having it fit in your budget.

Valentines day

With Valentines day just 2 days away, things have been a little crazy here. Our bakery offers cake pop bouquets as an alternative to flowers (and cheaper too only $20!). For those that have never experienced a cake pop you are missing out. A cake pop is like a cake lollipop. First, you start with baked cake, crumbled up. Any flavor of cake works. I have found that using cakes with something baked in them, like chocolate or peanut butter chips, gives a little trouble when inserting the stick. Then, it is mixed with frosting (any flavor) and rolled into balls. Be careful with the amount of frosting used. I have seen some recipes call for 3/4 to 1 entire can of frosting. That Is too much. You only want to use enough frosting to moisten the cake and so that the cake holds its shape when formed. (We always use home made frosting at the bakery)

There are a few ways to form the pops. You can roll them into balls like a meatball, the typical shape. Or you can shape them using cookie cutters. Once they have been chilled, (dont freeze them or the chocolate will crack once dipped) they are dipped in chocolate. A little trick, dip the stick in chocolate before sticking the ball or it will just fall right off the stick. Now comes the fun part, decorating! Use whatever you feel. Nothing is off limits. I prefer using sanding sugar. It gives a nice little crunch into the moist cake inside the chocolate. Don't be fooled by the cake pop pans and cooking sets that are out there now. They are not the same! You will get a very cakey, dry ball that sticks to the pan and falls apart. It's not worth the money, even with a coupon! (And im a diligent couponer too, but that's for another time)

Cake pops may be tasty and look nice but they are hard work, and time consuming. So here is what a completed cake pop bouquet looks like. I think they are better than flowers...and tastier too!

About Me & My Blog

Hi, I am +Diann Hall , self taught baker. Let me start off with this disclaimer: I didn’t go to pastry school. I don’t proclaim to be the best baker in the world. What I do have is a love of baking and a passion for making people happy.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, (and hopefully reduce judgment on any technical mistakes I may make) I’d like to fill you in on how I got here. Right out of college, I got a job in the corporate world, the lovely world of insurance. I spent the next 11 years working long hours with an even longer commute in a high demand, high stress job. I was promoted several times, working my way up to Claims Field Unit Manager (fancy title huh?)  When planning my wedding with my now husband, we were in search of the perfect wedding cake. None of the bakeries we contacted were open to trying new flavors or going beyond status-quo.   In addition, those cookie cutter cakes were expensive! I always liked to bake and was a huge fan of the extreme cake shows that were on TV. I noticed a local craft store was offering cake decorating classes and I thought, why not? So I signed up and took the 4 week course that was offered. I was hooked. I continued taking every course the craft store offered. After completing all the courses I decided I would make my own wedding cake (because brides don’t have enough stress already).

After the wedding, I continued making cakes for friends and family events. I experimented with recipes, different decorations and making cake pops, bringing all my new creations to the office for “official testing”. When I became pregnant with my son, I learned he had a cleft lip & palate. My company had a limited amount of leave time available so we were limited in day care options. That paired with the fact I really wanted to stay home with him versus day care, led us to where we are today.  I slowly started out of my home kitchen but the business quickly grew. I had overtaken the kitchen with all my cake, cupcake and cake pop supplies and could barely cook a meal. That’s when we decided to buy a bakery and expand the business. 

It’s been a few months since I bought the bakery. I currently only sell wholesale or directly to customers by appointment only.  I plan on opening a small bakery in April with limited hours. I am now the proud owner of +Frost This (www.frostthisnh.com) in Greenville, NH.  We make specialty cakes, cupcakes and cakepops to order.  We like to involve the customer from the beginning including design and cake flavor, setting us apart from the standard bakery, which uses frozen, cookie cutter designs and flavors.  We also use local ingredients when they are available.  We also try and make cakes affordable. Who really needs to spend $8-$12/slice for cake? It’s a cake not diamond!!  In this blog, I hope to educate everyone who reads it on the cake buying/ordering process.  Since I am a wife and mother of a young child I hope to give insight on how I balance my career and home life.  How am I able to sit and complete 200 cake pops in two days with a one year old pulling at my pants calling Mama? I hope to figure that out myself! I want this to be interactive. Please don’t be shy and post comments, questions or even start a discussion on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/frostthiscakes .