Collage Collage & Coco Cake Cupcakes!

My super powered gal pal Erin Bonnifero launched her incredible new project this past Saturday, September 12: Collage Collage! A shop, look and learn experience, Erin's lovely, bright and welcoming shop features the best (and most stylish!) educational books and toys, and a lovingly curated selection of work by local artists and crafters. Not only is it a great space to pick up a special present or birthday gift for the little minis (or majors!) in your life, but Erin is also teaching art classes for kids, and hosting crafty birthday parties!

I can't wait for my sisters to take their kids there! (They're not quite old enough yet... !) PS... "Where's Brody?" (my nephew) in the above pictures... wearing the adorable shirt Rich and I bought for him in Amsterdam... Brownie's Chicken colours! (Brownie's was our old fave fried chicken place in Burnaby in the 1980s... I couldn't find one darn image of it online though! Boooo! Brownie's chicken had a really cool bear as their mascot, and their colours were yellow and brown)...

I was honoured to be part of the party times, and I was so stoked for Erin that I went insane in the membrane overboard with hundreds of cupcakes in all shapes, sizes, colours and flavours! I even made a cute little cupcake stand just for the party. Seeing all of those cute kids chomping huge bites out of buttercream topped cupcakes made me totally giggle with glee.

Check out Erin's beautiful new store at 619 Kingsway in Vancouver. Congrats on all your hard work Erin! I just know Collage Collage will be a smashing success!

xo

Blim Art Market, September 20th 11-5!

GOOD EVENING VANCOUVER!!

No, this isn't GM Place... just little old me at Coco Cake cupcake headquarters, just wanting to let you all know that I will once again be at the Blim Art Market, this Sunday, September 20th! 215 E.17th Ave in Vancouver, at Main Street. After a long break over the Summer from this radically awesome art/craft/good times/snack food/music/vintage clothing/records and books market (I was worried about melting buttercream in the hot summer sun!), the market has now moved back indoors to Cambrian Hall.

4-flavour Coco Cake tasting boxes will be available for $12! If you would like to pre-order one, just shoot me an email at lyndsay@cococake.com by Friday at 12 noon. Lovely picture above by the one and only Amy P!

This month's flavours:

Vanilla Buttermilk Raspberry Jam (buttermilk vanilla cake filled with raspberry jam)
Chocolate Caramel (caramel filled chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream-- new flavour!)
Coco Cake Toasted Coconut Dream (yummy coconut cake with creamcheese frosting and toasted coconut! One of my faves!! Only if you love coconut like me... are you coconuts?)
Lemon Love (luscious lemon cake topped with lemon creamcheese frosting-- Coco Cake fan fave!))
Chocolate Ganache (vegan chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache-- go vegans!)

Please come early for the best selection! I will be there at 11am! Hope to see your smilin' faces.. and if you are a blog reader, please say hello! And on that note, I have a small query: who ARE you all? I would love to know... please leave me a comment to say hi, and let me know what you do, who you are...! 'Cause I think it's so cool and awesome that you take the time to come here and read my blog and I totally appreciate it. Let's make it a two way blog!!

xo Lyndsay

Jonathan & Leah's Sunny Autumn Wedding!

Ain't it great when the sun continues to stream its lovely rays in to your life, well into September? I was worried there for a while last week when I had to put a wool sweater on and JEANS, and socks even!! I was rummaging around my closet trying to find my flannel pyjamas when the summer sun knocked back on my window. I am happy it was around for Leah and Jonathan's big wedding day! When Fall really does hit, "no biggie"-- it's fun crunching around on orange leaves and baking pumpkin pies and being cozy in scarves and pea coats.

Leah had a lovely colour palette chosen for her wedding, espresso brown, cream and champagne. She also chose Coco Cake for her admiration of a "vintage" aesthetic... Perfect for me!! Cupcakes were mini Coconut Dream and mini Lemon Love, in espresso brown liners. I loved creating her cutting cake and matching flags, and especially the cake topper. I used my treasured (I'm a nerd!) craft paper collection and some vintage Letraset in a Futura font to create the topper. When I arrived at the wedding to set up, the room looked lovely, with so many gorgeous and modern flower arrangements-- Leah is a florist, after all! Sigh. I love flowers.

Congrats Leah and Jonathan!!

Mini Mini Mini Mini

Ain't they cute??

I had an awesome time on my vacay, though I couldn't even stay away from baking for 10 days-- I baked a blackberry pie (we picked berries on Pender Island), banana chocolate chip bread and the weirdest cookies I've ever made. The sailboat has a teeny tiny oven that has NO TEMPERATURE GAGE, you just light the thing and there's a visible flame, so you have to "set it and forget it". Though I didn't forget it. I sat reading a book, peering into the little oven window. I read 2.5 books on my trip, a book from the 1960s called "A Summer Place" -- scandalously juicy for the time. Plus Mordechai Richler's "Solomon Gursky Was Here" which was laugh out loud funny. And, most of a boring old business book. But the biz book will be helpful as I continue to work on a larger, exciting project! Actually the book wasn't so boring. It made me sweat with fear a little!!

Crazy cupcake times ahead this weekend... Choo choo.. Stay tuned, dear blog friends and readers!!

xo

Sailin'... Take Me Away...

Hi everyone! I am off on a sailing vacation around the gulf islands of British Columbia. Hoping to do some relaxing, fishing, swimming, reading, exploring, with only S'mores to bake! My favorite!! I can give my buttercream-piping wrists a well deserved break!

This gorgeous picture of vanilla buttercream topped vanilla Coco Cake cupcakes was taken by one of my best friends, Amy Pelletier! The little sailor dude in the tugboat was my favorite bath toy when I was a kid, splashing around in the bath. Little did I know that I would be marrying a sailor some 25 years later... ! Now I call this toy Little Richie. Heehee!

I'll be back on September 7th, with tons of crazy cupcakes to work on when I get back!

Have a lovely rest of the summer. Fall will be fabulous too!

xo Lyndsay