To the Birthday Boys!

My friend, Mary contacted me and asked me to make hockey themed cupcakes for her son Matthew's THIRD birthday and Elmo themed cupcakes for her nephew, Brendan's FIRST birthday. It was fun to personalize the hockey batch with the actual team players' names and numbers, loving that little Matthew's number is actually 3! The guests get to feel just as special as the celebrant when they get to eat a cupcake made just for them.
For the Elmo batch, I had some trouble. I am confessing here on my blog that I have never been able to achieve a true "red" fondant or frosting. My black and red fondants are store bought and and this was the first time I'd have to figure out getting the true red into my frosting.. After two days of trying, all I got was hot pink. That wouldn't do for Elmo. I researched the internet for solutions and they all seemed time consuming, and time was not on my side so I called in the pros. Really, I did! I called the best bakery here in Levittown and was helped out eagerly by two bakers who invited me in with my batch of virgin white frosting and they actually taught me which food coloring and how much of it would do the trick. I was amazed and how they did not even charge me for their time and for the pearls of wisdom I gained in less than 10 minutes. Bakeries are my biggest competition, all I got on them is the delivery and promise of to make every single batch as personal as I can. They have the skills, the multiple ovens and staff yet I was humbled by how generous they were! Order cupcakes from me but if you absolutely MUST go to a bakery for anything else like cookies, pastries or pies, run to Dortoni in Levittown, NY. I was warned though that the red frosting did alter taste and darkens with time and the food coloring is so concentrated, that your teeth, tongue and lips get to stay pink/red for a while too!
Anyway, Elmo looked pretty darn cute! I hope that Matthew and Brendan's dual birthday celebration was a hit. Thank you Mary for having so much faith in me!!