New Website And A Few Other Changes

The Muffin Top has been getting a makeover. Not only have I been working on redesigning our website, but our menu and services have been updated as well. Check out the new website to see some of our changes!

 

Here are a few things that are different now: 

* We got a new logo! 

* We have added The Muffin Top cupcake trailer! We are so excited about the trailer and can't wait for you guys to come see us. Become a fan of our facebook page to find out where she will be parked throughout the year.

* New cupcake flavors! We have added some tasty flavors like Nutella, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, and Chocolate Covered Cherries

* We have a smaller menu. This is actually a good thing! Although we love baking any and everything, we have decided that concentrating our efforts on doing a few things really well is the best recipe for our success and for bringing you the best sweets and treats possible!

*  You can buy The Muffin Top breakfast items and whoopie pies at Royer's Pie Haven in Round Top!

Take a look around and let us know what you think!

Can We Start Over?

It's been almost 8 months since my last post. Ridiculous, I know. To say that this last year has been a whirlwind would be an understatement, and blogging just didn't make the priority list. Let me catch you up on what has been going on these last 8 months.........

We bought an Airstream trailer!

We wrecked the Airstream trailer :(   (more to come on this story in the near future)

We got the trailer fixed and Kyle made her look pretty again

 

 

 

We made LOTS of wedding cakes!

 

We got MARRIED!!

We made our own wedding cake and cupcakes....of course!

We finished the trailer and she made her big debut at our wedding!

We honeymooned in Jamaica for some nice rest and relaxation......ready to be there again!

I'm sure I missed some things in between, but that about sums it all up. I have been working on redesigning The Muffin Top website and updating our menu, so stay tuned. I promise I wont let another 8 months separate us again!

Vintage Wedding

I know that I am cutting it close on my promise of a second wedding post this week, but 2 posts in one week on this blog is almost a miracle in itself!

Two weeks ago one of my best friends from high school was married to her high school sweetheart. Emilie is one of the most creative people I know. She has always been ahead of the fashion trends and a DIY queen since we were in high school. I knew that her wedding would be a showcase of all her (and her incredible mother) creative talents.

Emilie and Andrew chose a traditional ceremony at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Brenham, but opted for a vintage inspired reception at La Bahia Hall near Round Top, TX. Emilie and her mom spent months collecting silver platters and pieces at garage sales and thrift stores. Every table was adorned with mix-matched silver pieces and layers of vintage lace. The hall was decorated in shades of pink, grey and white.





Emilie wanted to carry this theme into her desserts, so she chose an assortment (7 flavors and 14 total cakes!) of single tier cakes each topped with antique wedding toppers borrowed from a friend who had collected them over the years. I was so excited to put together this dessert table. Emilie and I have very similar styles, so I knew that if I put the table together just how I would want it for my wedding then she would love it too. I actually emptied out my own dresser and hauled it up to the venue to really incorporate the look that Emilie had created throughout the reception. I really love how it all came together! This is by far my favorite wedding that I have done so far! Unfortunately, I was not able to get Paige Meyer Photography to capture this one, so you are just going to have to put up with my poor photography skills.

 

 

The cakes varied in size ranging from 6" to 10". We estimated serving around 300 people, so we had a total of 14 cakes. Flavors included: * Almond pound cake brushed in a cherry schnapps simple syrup, raspberry balsamic filling and almond cream cheese frosting  * Vanilla cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting  * Chocolate cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting  * Lemon cake brushed in a lemony simple syrup, lemon cream cheese filling and frosting  * Vanilla cake brushed with a lemony simple syrup, lemon curd filling and lemon cream cheese frosting  * Strawberry cake with fresh strawberries and strawberry buttercream frosting  * Coconut cake brushed in a coconut simple syrup with coconut buttercream filling and frosting.

 

 

Hopefully I will be able to get photos from Emilie later to show you all the beautiful decor throughout the rest of the reception!

A Shabby Chic Wedding

The last two weddings that I have done have been some of my favorites by far! I love it when the bride is willing to do something outside of the traditional 5 tier white cake with swirls or ribbon or fondant...... not that any of that is bad, but a little creativity really makes a huge impact. I'll share one of the weddings with you today and the other later this week.


For this wedding I was lucky enough to have Paige Meyer Photography come along and get some great shots of the dessert set up. The bride wanted her wedding to have a shabby chic atmosphere, so the ceremony and reception were hosted at Welcome Hall and decorated with beautiful pastel pinks, greens and yellows. For the cake the bride wanted an assortment of mini cupcakes and a small bakery style cake to cut and save for their one-year anniversary. We brought in an old farm table and cabinet (from Paige's house) to display the cupcakes on. It turned out so cute, and was the perfect set up for the venue and the atmosphere that they created.  The groom chose to serve his favorite pie from Pie in the Sky in Houston, TX. 

I just love this photo. The little flower girls kept crowding around the table staring at the desserts. Eventually one of them would reach out and try to touch a cupcake, but someone always caught them before they could snatch one away. How cute are their tutus?!

The Engagement: Kiss & Tell

If you are still reading this blog I thank you! How does that verse in Proverbs go? "A true friend sticks closer than a brother with your blog even when you fail to post."

Well, friends I have some news! This past Saturday the love of my life asked me to marry him, and I said YES! (Well, first I said no, but I'll get to that in a little bit) For all of you who have been asking and those of you who just love a good engagement story, here is our kiss and tell.

This past Saturday my parents hosted an Easter party for family and friends. A few weeks ago I suggested to Kyle that he invite his grandparents since they had been wanting to come down, and Easter weekend would be the perfect time for them to come. Little did I know that he had already invited them and had been scheming with them and my family (and quite a few other people) for over a month. I look back on all of the ridiculous comments that I have made lately and feel so silly now. Anyhow, the party was coming to an end and only a few friends and family were left hanging out and cleaning up. My mom sent me inside to change Luke's diaper (which of course wasn't even dirty) to get me away from where Kyle was setting up. My dad came in to get me a few minutes later telling me some ridiculous story about a note left on my tray of cookies and that I needed to see because it was so funny...blah, blah, blah. (I'm pretty gullible, so these crazy stories and instructions didn't phase me a bit....pathetic, I know.) I headed out to the barn where the food had been set up to find this mysterious note. I didn't find a note, but I what I did find was Kyle standing in the doorway to one of the side rooms of the barn that he had set up to look so beautiful and romantic and a special song playing in the background. As soon as I saw him my heart flew out of my chest and I immediately was teary-eyed.

Kyle led me into the room to sit on the couch, got down on his knee and began to say the most beautiful and sweet words to me. To be truthful, I can't remember what those beautiful and sweet words were, but I do know that they were special, ha! When he said the words, "Will you marry me?" I responded, "I love you so much, but no." Really, I can't explain to you why I said that. Maybe because I thought it would be funny to see that shocked look on his face, or maybe because I just have a really cruel and strange sense of humor. I'm not sure. I'm messed up people! I left a good pause in there for dramatic effect and then followed up with a good laugh and resounding YES!! We kissed and did mushy things that I'm sure you don't want to read about, and then came out to greet our family and friends. My hands were so shaky and my heart was beating so fast. The whole moment was surreal. All I know is that I was and still am overwhelmed with joy and happiness, and that I am so excited to marry my love and best friend!

This ring belonged to my grandmother. My grandfather bought it for her as a birthday present one year.

How To: Pineapple Flowers

All of this beautiful weather we have been having has made me want to eat lots of fruit and make lots of fruity desserts. I've been on a strawberry cake kick for the past few days.... as well as a fresh squeezed lemonade kick, yum!!




Strawberry cake is paired best with cream cheese icing....white chocolate cream cheese to be exact. Cream cheese icing isn't the best for piping cute designs or borders onto your cake or cupcakes, so what else can you do to make your cake look just as good as you know it tastes? Adding flowers to cakes and cupcakes is always a simple way to make your desserts look pretty and presentable. Sugar flowers can be tedious and time consuming (you also have to have all of the necessary tools), so I like to use real flowers whenever possible, but there are occasions when I just want to try my hand at being a little more creative. When I saw this tutorial on one of my favorite blogs I knew that I had to make these pineapple flowers asap! They really are very easy, and turn out beautifully!! Check out the tutorial on Annie's Eats.



Add these pineapple flowers to your next cake or batch cupcakes to create a beautiful dessert to share with your friends or family. I will definitely be making these again soon. I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather as much as I am!

.... Hay

CoupleCake Wars Results

I keep forgetting to update you all on the results of the CoupleCake Wars competition that we competed in the weekend before Valentine's.

The competition was a bit misleading...... focusing much more on the Valentines/love aspect than the cupcakes. Needless to say, we did not excel at the Newlywed-style game (only scored 2 out of 5). Since we bombed that game we had no chance of winning overall. Not to worry, we ended up tying for first in the cupcake competition, which was the only part that we (I) cared about. We had so much fun competing and truly appreciate all of our family and friends that came to support us!

(I think Luke wanted a cupcake)

Here are some links that talk about the competition. One of them doesn't mention us as winners of the cupcake challenge.....jerks (just kidding!....kind of). This photos are the same in each article but the text is different if you care to read through it.

http://www.culturemap.com/newsdetail/02-16-11-behind-the-scenes-at-houston-own-cupcake-wars/

http://www.culturemap.com/newsdetail/02-13-11-love-and-cupcakes-houston-first-couplecake-wars-are-a-perfect-match/

(We made a pretty good team!)