Party Cat Hungry Caterpillar Strikes Again!

Perry the Party Caterpillar is my latest version of my hungry caterpillar cupcake cake. Emily ordered this little guy for her little cutie Hudson's first birthday party! And the extra special part about Perry the caterpillar is... he's vegan! Yes, 100% dairy and egg free! Dark chocolate cupcakes made up the body, vanilla "butter"cream for the frosting, and the head and mini cupcakes were vanilla cupcakes. Emily's mom Wendy came to pick it up and just loved it when she saw it, yay! And I got a very sweet email from Emily a few days later with this super kind comment:

"I have to say I am very picky when it comes to cake/cupcakes. I am never really a big fan of cake so I figured that I wouldn't eat much of it, which would have been a good thing! But your cake/cupcakes were simply the BEST I have ever had!.... "

So nice!! I had a blast making this guy, thank you Emily for the great order, and glad to hear Hudson had a ball at his 1st birthday bash.

And while I'm at it... thank you to all of you who have made this caterpillar cake and sent me pictures of your results and birthday parties... what fun it is to know that this crazy Coco Cake creation has been the inspiration for so many cute little kiddie's parties. Brings joy to a caker's heart!

See ya soon, blogworld!

xo Lyndsay

Kelli-Lou, Happy Birthday To You!

It's a true joy in my Coco Cakey heart when I get to make some special delights for the wonderful people in my life! Kelli-Lou is the awesome mom to my dear friend Sharon and her two sisters Kim and Jillian... the three of 'em are ahhhdorable in every way and they remind me of me and my two sisters and how much we love each other and like hanging out while still getting annoyed with each other sometimes but we're sisters so that's that.

Kelli hit the big 'n beautiful 60 this past weekend and Sharon asked me to make some pretty floral cupcakes for her mum! I also found this awesome vintage wrapping paper in the bottom of my craft paper box (I forgot I bought it off Ebay a few years ago when I had what I like to call my "Ebay problem") so I made some darn-tootin'-cute flags out of it! Sharon and her lovely sisters are all vegan, so the cupcakes were deliciously vegan! Egg and dairy free! I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream in two styles: yellow roses and pink rosettes!

I was told there was a wicked young people vs. older people Charades game played at the party, as well as birthday cheer, laughs galore and plenty of glasses of wine down the hatch! Sounds like a truly fun birthday bash.

Happy happy birthday dear Kelli!

xo Lyndsay

Aaron & Jay's Country Fair Wedding Hoedown!

I love it when a bride and groom has such a strong, fun vision -- for instance, Aaron & Jay's country fair hoedown wedding! Picture lemonade, Pop Shoppe soda, live band with banjo and standup bass, and oodles of sweet country charm. Lotus Events helped plan this adorable shindig, held at Cambrian Hall here in Vancouver.

I made 160+ Coco Cake cupcakes, three types of cupcakes in an assortment of colored liners, including gingham and polkadot cupcake liners to match the theme of the wedding! Raspberry Rose (vanilla cupcake filled with raspberry jam, topped with light pink vanilla buttercream and fresh raspberry), Lemon Frill (brightly flavoured lemon cupcake with lemon creamcheese frosting!) and a vegan option of Coco Ganache (dark chocolate vegan cupcake with vegan chocolate ganache!).

Gorgeous photo (second from top) of Aaron & Jay by Ophelia Photography. Hooray Aaron & Jay, congrats on your wedding and all the best to you both!

xo Lyndsay

Sharon & Cam: 10 Years 'N Counting!

Yay!! Our beautiful friends Sharon and Cam celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary at Cambrian Hall here in Vancouver... what an evening of magic and good times... they are the loveliest couple, the kind of people who host amazing parties which you remember long after the last wine bottle has been emptied (or beer bong decimated), and both are so beautiful, generous and good.

For their wedding, my gift was the gift of cakes... delightfully delicious vegan cupcakes! Dark chocolate ganache topped vanilla cupcakes, and peanut butter frosting topped dark chocolate cupcakes! Reese's peanut butter candies used to be Sharon's favourite before she was vegan -- so I tried my best to emulate the flavours of those candies in my peanut butter cupcakes!

It was such a beautiful night--flowers everywhere, a huge spread of yummy food, gorgeous handcrafted scalloped banners made of vintage pillow cases and fabric, and the cutest couple in the middle of it all, celebrating ten years of marriage. Sharon and Cam never had a big wedding back when they tied the knot - they got married at Jack Chow Insurance in Chinatown, Vancouver with just their two witnesses as guests. So now they got to experience the full blown wedding, with so many loved ones and good friends by their side!

Congrats Sharon and Cam!! xoxo

Ayla & Tony Cuteness!

Ayla and Tony got married in Maui. LUCKY, right? Then flew home to a stylish reception at Vancouver's the Diamond bar. Coco Cake was a part of the festivities... dark chocolate gluten free and vegan cupcakes, topped with dark chocolate ganache and pretty white coconut. The Diamond is a lovely space, tall ceilings, tons of natural light and wood accents, a perfect mixture of vintage feel, keeping the sense of history of its origins in Gastown, and luxe but unpretentious modernity. You can tell an establishment is cared for when there is beautiful arrangements of fresh flowers.

Back to Ayla and Tony!!! You can tell they have a lovely sense of style... from the envelopes they sent in the mail to me. Ahhhdorable. Even taped up with fancy designed scotch tape. Love it. Ayla sent me an email post-wedding with this note:

"The cupcakes were amazing and everyone loved them!
They were SO delicious!"

So happy to be a part of their lovely day!

Congratulations you two! :)

Pretty Party

One of my very best friends, the one and only Amy P, got engaged on a recent trip to Mexico with her awesome guy, Stephen! Hooray! It only seemed right to throw her a special little engagement party, complete with pretty-bottled champagne, mini chocolate ganache cupcakes and salted black licorice, Amy's fave.

Aren't those little royal icing flowers so cute? They prettify absolutely anything. You could put them on a meatball and serve them at a tea party, that's how cute those little flowers are!!

Congratulations Burgertime!

xo Lyndsay

Pretty Pistachio Rosewater Cupcakes!

For my BFF Amy's birthday, she dropped a hint a few months ago that she was dying to try these pistachio rosewater vegan cupcakes from the great book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. My hubby was a vegan for four years... until he met meeeee, of course! He always tells this story of how when we first started dating, he came out to a family birthday event and I forced him to eat cake because I said it would be rude not to eat it!! I was the rudie! Sorry honey!! I have a better understanding of people's personal food choices now! Haha...

No worries now, because now my hubby eats cheese like there's no tomorrow. Haha. And even fish. Tough to be married into my family without being lured into Chinese We Eat Everything Land!!

Okay back to these cute cupcakes! It was my first time using rosewater. Hoooo boy that is STRONG stuff! The recipe called for 1-2 TABLESPOONS of the stuff for 1 dozen cupcakes. Since I was making 1 dozen cupcakes and a small cake, I was like... OKEY DOKEY I'll just plop in 4 tablespoons. WOW! For those who love the taste of flowers in their food, (I think a sophisticated or complex palette!) go with lots of rosewater. Thankfully at Amy's party the crowd loved the cupcakes. I thought my rosewater addition may have overpowered the smokey toasted pistachio and fragrant cardamom. Next time I will double the cardamom, and halve the rosewater! And maybe even add a little honey somehow to finish it.

I must say, the texture and fluffiness of this vegan recipe was totally tops. Would definitely make these again, and am excited to try other recipes from this book!

Happy Birthday Burgertime!! :)