Cupcake Open House

2 dozen eggs, 1 L of buttermilk, 1 lb of sugar, 2.5 lbs of icing sugar, 1 lb of butter, countless cups of pastry flour, and 12 Flavors and 150 Cupcakes later...the Cupcake Open House is all over. It was good to see old faces and some new ones as well. Everyone there for one reason...TO EAT CUPCAKES!

 I teamed up with local Photographer, Bethany MacIsaac to make sure that even if you couldn't make it to the Open House, you would be able to share it with us. She is currently working on sorting and editing the photos of all the cupcakes, I am so excited to see them and share them with everyone. They will first be featured on the Bre's Cupcake Page (which you can now easily get to through the link bar at the top of the page.)  Halifax if you are ever in need of some great pictures, Bethany can help you out. Her ideas are great and she's just the sweetest person to chat and work with. You can find the link to her site right next to the Bre's Cupcake link on the link bar.

Bre's Cupcakes

Let me just start out by saying...about 2 years ago if you asked me to bake a cupcake from scratch or bake ANYTHING I would have laughed and said "I hate baking". It's the truth, I HATED baking. Nothing ever tasted good, things wouldn't rise it was just a disaster. So I just didn't bake, aside from the rare chocolate chip cookie. My my how things have changed.

These days cupcakes are my thing, I actually really enjoy making cupcakes, decorating cupcakes, trying new recipes, new techniques. I love it! So now I make and share my cupcakes with people via Bre's Cupcakes, I love getting orders and hearing other peoples ideas for new cupcakes, and new flavor combinations.

New Business Cards which I LOVE!

The business is still in the very beginning stages most of the orders coming from friends, but I do get orders from kijiji ads and now friends of friends. Everyone has to start somewhere, and Im happy to say that Im happy with how things are going for Bre Entertains and Bre's Cupcakes. =) So thank you all who have ordered from me, who follow me on twitter, FB and the Blog. By doing those things you're helping, and I SO SO SO appreciate it. If you live in Halifax you can enter my Giveaway, for a chance to win a dozen cupcakes from Bre's Cupcakes and try them for yourself.

Recently I have done a few orders and I still have a few to complete, so I thought I'd just share some pictures of what I've been up to these days.

Vegas Themed Baby Shower

 Anyone who follows me on Twitter heard about the Vegas Themed Shower and saw the Vegas sign I made for it. Well these cupcakes are for the same shower, I was so excited about this order when she asked me to do it. I think they turned out great, only downfall was that when set up properly it was HUGE! (I did make all 37 #'s but they aren't all in this picture)

Mini Red Velvet and Chocoalte Cupcakes for the Roulette Wheel.

After this picture was taken, I added MORE Glitta!

These were for my Best Client, for a Baby Shower she was hosting. I also made these for A's sister's Baby Shower/ her surprise Bridal Shower minus the Green. Simple is always a winner.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes for Baby Cash's Birthday

Rootbeer Cupcakes for Fathers Day, which you can see decorated here



Mini's For a Special Celebration



Favorite Color...Yep. Pink!

Cupcake {Giveaway!!}

Lately I've been a little slack on my tweeting, blogging and fb'ing only because I still don't have my computer back. Husband and I are now sharing his laptop, as much as I wanted to chuck my computer off the patio...I miss it!! All my documents, bookmarks, well you know...its all missing. I feel so disorganized without it here. Also my cupcake business here in Halifax is starting to pick up a little bit, so that's taking up a little bit more of my time.

Anyway so..about time for another Giveaway! This time to promote my local Halifax Business "Bre's Cupcakes" All the cupcakes that I blog about here on Bre Entertains are available For Sale in Halifax, NS. I am just starting out trying to spread the word, I will be holding an Open House the middle of July and taking part in a craft fair in August Art Vs Craft Halifax.

Unfortunately this Giveaway is only open to residents of Halifax, NS. I would love to be able to ship or deliver all over but...just not an option at this point.

What do you win? 1 dozen Cupcakes of your choice from Bre's Cupcakes.

To Enter:

-Check out my cupcakes (all throughout the blog) then come back and leave a comment on this post saying which flavor you'd like to win 1 dozen of to try with your friends.

Bonus Entries:

--Follow Bre Entertains On Facebook, come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

--Change your Status on FB to let everyone know about the Bre's Cupcakes Giveaway! Leave a comment saying you did.

--Follow Bre Entertains on Twitter, come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

--Tweet: Hey #halifax want to #win 1 Dozen #cupcakes from @breentertains? Check out www.breentertains.com for details

--Follow the Bre Entertains Blog or the Bre's Cupcakes Blog, leave a comment saying your a new follower.

Each comment is 1 entry, so be sure to leave 1 comment per follow.

Winner will be chosen on July 16th, 2011 via random.org

Good Luck! And don't forget to Share with your friends!

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Lately my computer has been on the fritz which has resulted in a lot of frustration. When your computer decides its going to shut down whenever it feels like it and not open anything....your usually have some choice words for it. So I decided to make a trip home to where the computer genius resides, DAD! Thank goodness for my father and his "nerdeyness". So in return for fixing my computer, and because Father's Day is coming up I made him his favorite kind of cake,in CUPCAKE form. Of course!! 

German Chocolate is chocolate cake with a sweet and sticky coconut and pecan filling and topping. For those with a serious sweet tooth.

I started out by making the usual chocolate cupcake recipe, but instead of using cupcake liners you have to grease your muffin tin really well. This is because you are going to cut the cupcakes in half and fill them with the coconut pecan filling and then spoon some more over the top. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 c Flour

3/4 c Cocoa powder

1 1/2 c Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

3/4 tsp Salt

2 eggs

3/4 c buttermilk 

3 tbsp Vegetable Oil

3/4 c Warm Water

Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside

In a large bowl, or your kitchen aid bowl beat eggs , buttermilk and oil.

With the mixer on slow add the dry ingredients about 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with the warm water. Beat until smooth and combined.

Divide batter evenly among greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for 10 minutes (for mini cupcakes) 15-20 minutes for regular cupcakes. Until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on cooling racks.

 

 

Filling

2 egg yolks

6 oz Evaporated Milk

1/2 c packed brown sugar

6 tbsp butter, room temp in small pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 c sweetened flaked coconut

3/4 c pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Combine yolks, milk and brown sugar in a saucepan. Add butter and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened (about 10 minutes) Pour mixture through a sieve, into a bowl (VERY IMPORTANT TO STRAIN MIXTURE) Stir in vanilla, salt, coconut and toasted pecans. Mix and let cool completely. Use right away, best eaten within 1 week.

To assemble, cut the cupcakes in half. Spoon a tbsp of filling into the center and replace the top of the cupcake. Spoon another tbsp or so on top of the cupcake. Keep in an airtight container for 1 week.

assembling the cupcakes

Cupcake Portfolio... Fondant

So today I spent the day in the kitchen....First thing this morning I tried out a new white cake recipe...fail! I think I figured out that the recipe calls for too much flour. They are fluffy and feel moist to the touch, then you bite into one....DRRRYYYYY! So anyway I took advantage of this cupcake failure! I made a batch of butter cream and a batch of fondant and went to work practicing decorating cupcakes. So ignore the cupcakes and focus on the decor!

Came up with a few different designs that I was happy with but I still need lots of practice, especially bows. 

 Bridal Shower or just a Girly Birthday

Probably use this for almost any occasion you were celebrating.

top view of Daisy Cupcake

Paired with another design to personalize for the occasion

Baby Shower; can be personalized for Boy or Girl

Baby shower, Outdoor Birthday

Buzz Buzz!

Another Bee, this was one of the first cupcakes I did today so its a little sloppy but the idea is still there. Could pair this with a lady bug cupcake and a cupcake caterpillar

 Tame Bachelorette Cupcakes or Diva Birthday

Charlee's Favorite! Ice Cream Cupcake could be used for any occasion this summer!

So today was a busy but productive day (in the cupcake aspect of my house) . Between baking, making icing and fondant, coloring icing and fondant 8 different colors and creating some cupcakes. Only to then clean up my huge mess, do a mini cupcake photo shoot, upload and edit the pictures and finally ....finally Blog about it all and be able to share it with you...Oh yes, all the while being a mom. =)  It was a good day in my kitchen!

Bre's Cupcake Portfolio

Last fall I decided that I would start making cupcakes to sell. Starting small with a simple ad on kijiji to see where it would take me, to see if people were actually interested in cupcakes. So right away I got a few friends of friends interested for their kids birthdays. Perfect Start! Excuse these first few pictures, they are all pre-kitchen aid.



Pink and brown ladybug first birthday

For a little girls Spa Party

Then it was Christmas and I just wanted to focus on family and the holidays so I didn't bother to re-post my ad. WELL!! I received two of the best Christmas presents ever! #1: My Kitchen Aid from my parents...my new toy! #2: My Wilton decorating kit from my husband! Two awesome gifts that went hand in hand! Let the baking commence...

The new edition! YAY!

Makin my life easier! and my blog more exciting!

Anyway so after the holidays I re-posted my ad and continued making more cupcakes to ad to my personal portfolio.  Resulting in cupcakes for every occasion and no occasion...

First time making and using fondant

Chicken Birthday Party

Bridal Shower, First time using fondant on a cake.

Valentines Day!



Sunday Dinners



2nd Birthday!

Again, all the cupcakes for the 2nd Birthday

Cocktail Party



St Patricks Day!



I received a response to my kijiji ad about a picture I had of some bachelorette cupcakes I made, the lady said I should mark my ad PG or "18 and over only" So instead of posting the picture directly on this page I'll link them...
Bachelorette Cupcakes, Bachelorette Cupcakes 2

Finally! About 3 weeks ago I get a response to my ad about cupcakes for a baby shower....this is the best part...FROM SOMEONE I DIDN'T KNOW! haha So today I spent the morning making these cupcakes for her.

I unfortunately did not make these cupcakes, this is my model for her cupcakes. She asked for Modern, loved these and these colors.

This is what I spent my morning making...I am proud to say these are mine! Even if they arent identical! =)

Baby Shower for a little boy!

 About 10 minutes after I finished making these I was chatting with girl I made cupcakes for before. She is throwing a baby shower...and asked if I would make cupcakes for it! Well OF COURSE!! So happy I already have my next project.