A much needed nap!! And Brownies!

Oh how I have loved my time off this holiday season.  I needed some R & R after the busy December we had at the shop and because I worked 14 days in a row without a day off (many of those days open to close).   I am so blessed to have a wonderful staff that worked this week so that I could take a nap every day.

You girls rock!!!

As you know in the shop we bake everything from scratch.  Well, last night I was desperate.  I have gone almost 4 days without sugar and many days without a cupcake!!  After playing on Pinterest and many of my favorite blogs, I decided to make brownies...from a mix!!!  Yes, from a mix!!   I used diet coke because I wanted to "be healthy".  Okay, and I was just too lazy to have my husband go out and buy eggs.  I am starting the Daniel Fast in just a few days and I had to get rid of everything in my little apartment pantry.  I have had this mix in my pantry for over 18 months so I finally said okay I will use it.  In every blog I read the diet coke was different so I created my own blend of mix.  This is what I did:

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with Chips Brownie Mix

one 12 oz. can Diet coke

Add one box brownie mix and 1 1/4 cup diet coke.

Mix together by hand until most of the lumps are gone.  

As with all brownies, do not over mix.

Use non stick spray in the pan and add to an 8 x 8 pan.

Bake as directed on the box.

 Brownies bake up more cake like than traditional brownies.  

They baked up very light and fluffy, and I have to say very delicious.  

Scott and I ate them in almost two days.  

Only December 2nd!

We are only on the second day of December and we have been crazy busy with not only cupcakes, but  with lots of exciting extras.  Here are just a few samples of what we have been up to this week.

A sweet little blond named Reese got to take these to school to celebrate her 

2nd birthday.  They are almost as cute and sweet as she is.

Baby Rattles and bottles on sticks and individually wrapped with ribbon today too.  

Heather has been so busy with cookies every day this week.  

Here is a 3 tier wedding cake for a sweet Friday evening wedding.  Lemon and Vanilla tiers.  

The Colors of Fall...

We are definately in the spirit of autumn today at the bakery.  Dominique is busy making acorns, leaves, dots, and turkeys (per my request) in the vibrant colors of fall.  They will go perfectly with our fall flavors...Pumpkin Spice, Sweet Potato Pie, Caramel Apple, Carrot Cake as well as add a touch of autumn to our Purity and Devil's Delight.  It's a great time of year to visit Cupcake Bliss!!!

Perfect Little Pies!

With the cooler temps blowing in reminding us that Thanksgiving is right around the corner we felt it  time to perfect the Breville Pastry Pie Maker.  Karolyn did just that this morning.  Our kitchen is doused in sweet pie aroma...yum!  Golden, flakey crust...Blueberry and Cherry fillings....little slice of Heaven!

It's My Party and I'll Cupcake If I Want To!

Yes, we love to celebrate special occasions!  Yes, we rent out the bakery for such moments!  Last month, we had a group of happy girls celebrating their friend's birthday here at the shop.  We kicked things off with teaching the girls how to decorate their own cupcake.  After eating and unwrapping gifts, Karolyn demonstrated the steps to baking our yummy Red Velvet Cupcakes which were boxed for each child to take home.  The party was a very delicious hit!

Give us a call if you are interested in renting out the bakery for your own special occasion!

Change Is In The Air!

We are so excited about the changing seasons that we have been busy making the store more inviting.  We have added our logo to the two storefront windows, making us feel more official!  When you pass through our door, you will see that our walls are now adorned with pictures and signs adding a certain je ne sais quoi!  Stop in for some coffee and a cupcake (fall flavors are beginning to appear) and make yourself at home!

We're Having a Ball!

Cake Balls are becoming more and more popular around here.  It's a cake rolled into a ball and dipped in chocolate...super moist, sweet and bite-sized!  We have drizzled them pink or blue for baby showers, white for weddings and the color of a party theme.  They come in our little mini cups or on sticks for a Cake Pop.  We try to have them available in the case for walk-ins during the week, but it's best to pre-order (1 dz minimum) for your event.  And with the fall season coming upon us, Pumpkin Cake Balls are going to be rolling out soon!  Mmmm!!!!

Lions and Monkeys and Pups...Oh My!

Oh how we love baking for baby showers!  We had a picture of a baby quilt featuring taxis, cars, and firetrucks with the puppies, lions, and monkeys in each.  So Dominique and Karolyn got to work re-creating each image to go on Chocolate Bliss Bites dolloped with lime green frosting which matched one of the party napkins.   Kara was gracious enough to email a picture.  Boy, oh boy!

Yo Gabba Who?

None of the Cupcake Bliss crew have kids, so we aren't exactly tuned into the ever-changing popular kid's shows.  We had a customer come in a few months back requesting cupcakes decorated with Yo Gabba Gabba decorations.  We all said, "Yo Gabba who?  Who has heard of this show?"  Google to the rescue!  We were introduced to the world of Yo Gabba Gabba, and Dominique and Karolyn set out to replicate the funny characters.  Not only did the cupcakes turn out way cute, we were sad to see our new fondant friends leave the shop.  Yo Gabba Gabba, you stole our hearts...especially you, Foofa!

New Website...Ta-Daa!!!

Today is an exciting day; our new website is now live.  It's been a work in progress for quite some time, and we are so pleased with how it looks.  You will find updated pricing, flavor list, pictures of our cupcakes to tempt your tastebuds and a little bio about our owner, Karolyn.  Sooo...

You are cordially invited to cupcakebliss.com.

Tell us what you think...add us to your favorites...visit often!

Rustic Wedding

A bride who loves our Italian Delight cupcakes and did not want a traditional wedding cake asked us to come up with an Italian Delight Cake for the bride and groom.  The wedding theme was rustic, so Karolyn added crushed walnuts around the 8" cake and dusted the top of the 6" cake with the crushed walnuts.   It was a perfect wedding cake for a perfect day!

Colleyville Chamber of Commerce Women's Brunch

We were honored to be asked to do the center pieces to a fabulous event hosted by the Colleyville Chamber of Commerce.  The Empowered Woman Brunch was a sweet event held at the Piazza in the  Village.  Look how beautiful our cupcakes looked with the center lights shinning on them.

Alex's Lemonade

 On Saturday, we were delighted to see volunteers in our parking lot setting up an Alex's Lemonade Stand.  Alexandra Scott, a child battling cancer, began her lemonade stand in her front yard to help raise money for children with cancer.  What a wonderful sight to see how this precious and courageous little girl's stands continue to pop up across the nation!  Of course, Cupcake Bliss wanted to help, so we baked up some Strawberry Lemonade Bliss Bites topped with our yummy Lemon Cream Cheese frosting...all proceeds going toward this charity.

alexslemonade.org

Monkey Business

The cupcake business is certainly a fun business, and we sometimes monkey around.  So, when a customer came in with a Paul Frank Monkey party plate in hand, we were thrilled!  It's always a joy to work on orders for children's parties...this was no exception.  Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with our standard buttercream frosting were adorned with blue dots, a cherry and of course, Paul Frank Monkey.

The best way to communicate what you want is to bring in a visual for us to see...napkin, plate, invitation.  This Paul Frank plate was perfect for helping us know our customer's vision.  Cute, don't you think??

GRADUATION

Wow, we got through May!!  I don't remember much but my feet hurt and we have one month to go before we hit our official 1 year anniversary.   We had more orders than we thought we could handle.  Well, we handled it and today we had our busiest Saturday to date.  One cake, one pull apart cake and dozens of cupcakes out the door.  I could not do it without my baking assistants Heather and Dominique plus the sales associates.  Here are a few pictures of what we worked on this month.

Graduation pull apart cake, Red Swiss Meringue Butter cream on Red Velvet cupcakes.

Salty Caramel 6" round cake. 

Dominique celebrating her 21st birthday with a morning mimosa and her favorite cupcake, Peanut Butter Banana. 

Graduation caps on Red Velvet cupcakes.

April Showers

This month we have been busy with lots of baby showers and birthday parties.  I have been waiting for so long to make Owl cupcake decorations and we finally received an order for them.  We even made Italian Delights with matching Pink and Green coconut.  So cute!

We also had pink and yellow baby shower decorations too.  Look at these cute baby diapers we did in a yellow and pink tones.

Wedding Season is on it's way too.  We can't wait to see what ideas our brides bring us this year.

Cupcake Bliss | Back to Scratch

Join the Movement!!

We have just joined the Back to Scratch movement.  Visit our entry for the Salty Caramel cupcake as well as finding other restaurants in the area that specialize in Fresh and Scratch baking and cooking.  I believe there is a contest to follow soon so I will keep you posted.

Cupcake Bliss | Back to Scratch

King Cake Cupcakes

We will offer King Cake Cupcakes now until Fat Tuesday.  Here is a quick picture!  Let us know what you think.

This is an almond cupcake, and I added a brown sugar and cinnamon center.  I topped it with a sweet cream cheese glaze and purple, gold and green sugar sprinkles.

Come by and enjoy one with a hot cup of coffee!

End of February!

Valentine's Day came and went so fast and now I have been working 20 days straight.  It does not look as if it is slowing down any time soon either.   With only myself and Heather here, we managed to sell over 600 cupcakes for walk in customers and sold out twice, both times in under 2 hours.  My brother Tim came in to make our deliveries and kept the customers smiling while they waited in line.

I immediately hired another baking assistant who starts next week!  I can't wait.

We are getting ready for our Academy Awards cupcakes this weekend.  We will feature a cupcake from each of the Best Picture nominees this year.  More details to follow on Saturday and we will post pictures of course.  We are also planning on doing a King Cake Cupcake then will follow with special Easter cupcakes.

Valentine's Day Menu

Here is the Valentine's Day Menu.  We are so excited about our first Valentine's Day!!   We will have the following in the case:

Salty Caramel
Chocolate covered Strawberry
Wedding Bliss
Red Velvet
Champagne
Chocolate Caramel

Cheesecake Cupcakes

Whoopie Pies
Chocolate/Vanilla Cake Balls

First Blog Post!

Hello Everyone!  We just got back from Mexico just in time for the Ice Storm of 2011.   Since I was in for the entire day, I decided it is a great day to start blogging.  I have been thinking about it and it just seems like a great time to start.  I will mostly have all things related to Cupcake Bliss, but I will also put up stuff about our travels, pictures, running, and my friends and family.  Please stay tuned as I am learning as I go, but I will try very hard to post at least once or twice a week.


We spent three days in beautiful Cabo, San Lucas courtesy of Lance and Julie Turner.  I was able to spend time with my Express peeps for some much needed R&R.  Heather, Alia and Melanie kept the shop running on Saturday and they did awesome!!!  Here are just a few pictures of us in Cabo, right before Scott almost killed himself with our friends Troy and Tony.  Just kidding, but they do have a great story to tell.