Fire Trucks and Butterflies

This weekend was a busy one at The Sassy Lamb, I had a fire truck cake to deliver on Friday and my first wedding cupcakes on Saturday. I had it all scheduled out but of course ran into troubles late Thursday night when I couldn't get my icing to turn red. It just kept going bright pink which simply would not do for a fire engine cake. The cake was for this girl's dad who is the fire chief and who turned 60 on the weekend. So I trucked myself out to McCalls, which is NOWHERE near Sassy Lamb Headquarters, for the ingredients I would need. Things did not go as planned there either but I managed to finally get a fire truck cake that was bright fire engine red and I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully my client was too!

So I really didn't get started the wedding cupcakes until 9pm which resulted in my being up until 5am decorating! You would think that I might be crying on the kitchen floor, or smashing and burning my kitchen up but somehow I got into a groove and had some fun with it...or maybe i just lost me mind!

Me and this guy became pretty good friends...

I call him Sir Greeny Fondant.

So before I show you the pictures of these cuppies, I should start by explaining the theme of their wedding a little. It was for my friends Jon and Anna who are simply the sweetest and "most meant to be together" couple. Apparently they are super nerds for this violent video game called BioShock. Careful, the video is violent, you've been warned. So they wanted their cuppies to fit into that theme somehow while still being classy. So we went the art deco route, as that is when the game takes place and did a black and white checkerboard floor in fondant...hence Sir Greeny Fondant who would later darken to be Sir Blacky Fondant. And because Jon and Anna have been vegans for the last 4 years, I whipped up what have to be the best chocolate cupcakes (vegan or non-vegan) I have ever tasted...sorry to toot my own horn. Topped them with a simple vanilla icing and tada!

But wait, there's more! Apparently, the morpho butterfly plays a big part in the BioShock game and it also was a big reminder of Jon and Anna's trip to Costa Rica recently so they asked if I could top each cuppie with a butterfly somehow..I considered gum paste, fondant and finally settled on rice paper (thanks Martha Stewart!)

When in doubt, I always ask Martha.

So I set to work hand drawing (well tracing) 60 rice paper butterflies, then painting each one with turquoise luster dust and raspberry vodka and then cutting each one out and sticking them into tiny fondant butterfly torsos. Phew!

and here are the butterflies in stage one.

this is the staging area...where they go from cupcakes to stars!!

and here they are all ready for the spotlight!

So that was my weekend. Spent the rest of it enjoying the insanely beautiful weather. It was mine and Kevy's anniversary so we dined at Table 17 in Leslieville. Sunday nights they do a fixed menu and holy cow! YUM!

Kevy is still drooling over his chorizo pasta and I am still dreaming of duck confit lentil salad...

Go there and eat, we recommend it. But maybe make a reservation, I think we might have been lucky to get in without one. Oh and the playlist (not sure if it was a one time thing) was great. Not sure how Madonna and Prince are still somehow classy and romantic, but it was.

Happy baking!