extraordinaire, setting up an elaborate origami snowflake project. Near the teacher was Dana, handing out handmade snowman costumes for each child to wear during the sing-along portion of the festival.
It was obvious that the parent volunteers had spent countless hours on their contributions. And then there I was, like a deer in headlights, clinging to a container of store-bought cupcakes covered in florescent icing that was sure to stain every child’s teeth (as well as Dana’s hand-made costumes). I felt defeated.
This was my life story when it came to desserts. I always wanted to create something special for Office parties, holiday dinners, and neighborhood barbeques, but would inevitably succumb to confusion and intimidation and hit the grocery store bakery department instead.
Clearly, things had to change, so I rolled up my sleeves and faced my fears head on by putting myself in charge of desserts for my oldest son’s kindergarten class. I was determined to make sweet, memorable treats that the kids, teachers, and parents would enjoy.
This time, I didn’t waste hours worrying that my ideas might not work, or wait until the last minute before deciding it was too late to start. After putting my boys to bed, I spent a little time each night trying out different ideas using sprinkles and candies and whatever else I’d found in the baking aisle. I soon realized that decorating was the fun part—and the part that made the biggest impression.
I had decided to focus on cupcakes, because each child would get their own, thus avoiding tantrums over who got a bigger piece and who got the piece with the icing flower on top. I came up with a few really cool ideas and couldn’t wait to try them out.
When my son brought home a school flyer for the annual Thanksgiving Feast Party, I knew this was my chance.
I made a batch of cupcakes and topped each one with a miniature, edible rendition of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. On the tiny dinner plate were turkey slices made from sliced almonds. Surrounding them were nonpareil “green peas,” mashed potatoes made from a dollop of plain white icing, and cranberry relish made of chopped red gummy bears. I even impressed myself when I added some brown-tinted piping gel as a smooth, translucent gravy that pooled in the “mashed potatoes” and gently blanketed the “turkey slices.”
I proudly brought my cupcakes to the school. The children loved them, but even more interesting were the reactions of the teachers and parents: They couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces. As I answered countless questions (“Did you make these all by yourself?” “How did you do it?” “How long did it take you?”) it finally hit me: I didn’t need a culinary degree or years of baking experience to make really cool, really delicious, and really impressive treats. I had what I needed all along.
From that moment on, the fire was lit. I went from messing with cupcakes and store-bought candies to creating a new kind of “cupcake”—mini cakes carved and decorated into fun three-dimensional designs. Before long, friends and neighbors had me creating all sorts of cakelets for birthdays, showers, and special occasions. People just couldn’t get enough of these adorable, customized, personal-sized cakes.
That’s when I launched Cupcake Envy, specializing in custom cakelets and coordinating cupcakes. When we figured out how to ship our cakelets, we quickly received orders from all over the country for cakelets in every design imaginable.
As impressive as cakelets look, the truth is anyone can make them. I’m proof that you don’t need any baking skills or artistic talents to bring one to life. As you’ll see in the following pages, all you need are a few tools and a lot of imagination to transform a single serving of cake into edible art.
Let’s face it: There’s only so much you can do to dress up a cupcake. But once you think outside the wrapper, the possibilities are endless—no experience required.
Chapter 1
Basic Tools and Ingredients
Those old sets of decorating tips for piping buttercream roses are just the tip of the iceberg. Today, you can walk into a craft store and find at least two full aisles of cake decorating tools, pans, and gadgets. So with all of the choices, how do you know what you need? Who even knows what to do with some of these fancy decorating tools and shimmer dusts? In this chapter, I will go over everything you need to make the cakelets in this book. I’ll show you which decorating tools are must-haves, and how to use them.
BASIC PANS
You don’t need to make a huge investment in tons of different pans to make the designs in this book. Most of the designs use standard cake pans you likely already have:
LOAF PANS (9 X 5-INCH) Cakes bake up narrower and taller, perfect for square shapes like dice and treasure chests.
MUFFIN TINS You can stack these to make tall figures like ghosts.
SQUARE 8 X 8-INCH AND RECTANGULAR 9 X 13-INCH CAKE PANS These are perfect for two-dimensional designs, such as T-shirts. Or you can stack layers to make designs that stand up, like purses and shopping bags.
Because many of my designs are carved out of a larger piece of cake, even if you don’t have these pans you can still make a cakelet. Just find an oven-safe vessel (even a skillet will work) and bake a cake in it. Just try to pick a pan that will fit the cakelet design with as little waste as possible. By choosing the right pan, you can save batter for another project or for coordinating cupcakes.
9 X 13-INCH CAKE PAN
LOAF PAN
SPECIALTY PANS
The baking industry has responded to the call for mini cakes by offering specialty pans in a wide variety of shapes. These are the most versatile and the ones I use most.
KING-SIZE MUFFIN PANS Perfect for coffee cups, tree stumps and giant cupcakes. Put two jumbo muffins together and you have a wine barrel.
MINI WONDER MOLD
MINI BALL PAN
KING-SIZE MUFFIN PAN
MINI BALL PAN (SMALL HALF-BALLS) Great for creating sphere-shaped cakelets such as Christmas ornaments and sports balls.
MINI WONDER MOLD (MINI CONE-SHAPES) Great for dress bottoms, teacups, and igloos. Put two domes together and you have the makings of a Fabergé or Easter egg cakelet.
TIERED MINI CAKE PAN SETS These sets come in a variety of shapes—circles, squares, rectangles, octagons, and even topsy turvy. Since these sets usually come with three different sized pans, you can mix and match the shapes or use one of the pans for example, the rectangle pan to create the perfect shopping bag or suitcase cakelet.
TOOLS—THE NECESSITIES
Every project in this book requires this set of basic
