Cakes by Look

Lisa & Ryan

2011-07-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, You Guys! Know what the secret best part of making wedding cakes is? (I mean, besides the butter, obviously.) It's getting all the amazing pro pictures after the fact. I could (and do) lose days staring at the photographers' websites. Oohing and aahing, gasping & sighing over the detail shots and the way the lighting totally makes that bride's skin look like porcelain, omg. Can we get that lighting installed in our bathroom? Please? Home Depot should totally offer that.

Gabriel Van Wyhe, of www.vanwyhephotography.com, shared these fantastic shots he got of our couple Lisa & Ryan enjoying their cake cutting.

First they cut the cake. (Does Lisa not have the BEST facial expressions?)

Annnd then:

(I think they liked it... This face says it all, right?)

Here are few detail shots of their tower:

More than one way to top a cake...

2011-07-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

SanNi & Daniel went with a nautical tattoo inspiration:

While Mary & James pay homage to Latin roots with a Dia de las Muertos piece:

Katy & Michael appreciate a proper monkey:

Shannon & Rob

2011-04-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

These pictures just came in from Peter Kearns Photography. Thanks, Peter!

Shannon & Rob were married at Golden Gardens Bath House in Seattle.
We crafted not only a wedding cake, but also a groom's cake with a custom robot & guitar sugar sculpture.

First, the wedding cake. Four tiers, covered in white chocolate fondant with dragee & white chocolate shell details:

And the groom's cake. Also covered in white chocolate fondant, made to look like a stage with a faux wood finish and topped with a sugar robot & replica of the groom's guitar:

And the whole cake table:

Shannon & Rob cut the cake:

And a bonus shot of ME. I attended this wedding, so here I am showing off the wares:

Goth/Rocky Horror

2011-03-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

Check out these great Goth/Rocky Horror themed sweets we made for a 40th birthday:

Cool Cat

2011-03-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

These incredible pictures are by Yvonne-Wong.

Two sweet little kitties were sculpted in the likeness of the couple's cats. They're made of sugar and sat atop the cutting cake.

Sometimes You Just Don't Want To Let Them Go.

2010-11-16T21:31:00.001-08:00

People who've met me have almost certainly heard me say, "No. There is no such thing as a cake that's too pretty to eat."

I might just have to eat my words.

I made this gorgeous cake for Colleen & Leon's 60th (!!!) anniversary celebration last weekend. When it was finished, after I'd placed the last little silver dragee and secured the figures on top, I almost wouldn't let the client take it.** I love it that much.

The client supplied a picture of Colleen & Leon on their wedding day in 1950. We sculpted these little sugar toppers in their likeness to sit atop the cake:

The cake itself was a three tiered, white-chocolate-fondant covered beauty. Each tier was a different delicious flavor combination:

A fresh lemon cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.
A chocolate hazelnut cake infused with Frangelico, ganache filling and chocolate hazelnut Swiss meringue buttercream.
A pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cheesecake filling and fresh ginger Swiss meringue buttercream.

We accented the cake with royal icing piping, silver dragees and a lush sugar bow. As always, everything you see here is 100% edible.

Let's take a closer look at that bow, shall we?

**Not to worry - the client managed to pry it from my fingers and I received reports that it was a hit at the party.

Oh, The Cakes You Can Cake

2010-09-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Stacy & Dan's Dr. Seuss inspired wedding cake speaks for itself.

See for yourself:

You can see more pictures and read all about their extra-rad affair, here, on Offbeat Bride.

Photos by the talented Ben Blood.

Craig & Katja's Wedding

2010-09-07T20:54:00.001-07:00

Our crazy friends & kitchen mates, (unbelievable Tandori Chicken... check out their company here: Tandoozy,) Craig & Katja, were married this past July. We, of course, made their wedding cake.

Craig & Katja were wed at the 2010 Critical Massive event. It's a week summer camping festival featuring music, art installations, etc. Sort of the Pacific Northwest mini- Burning Man. It's held at a nudist colony in beautiful Mount Vernon, WA.

Hands down, without a doubt, the most fun (and slightly insane) venue at which we've ever set up a cake.

Their photographer, the talented Todd Gardiner, (who took all these photos, might I add, while wearing a kilt, combat boots and not much else) was nice enough to share these photos of the love birds and their cake.

Tiramisu

2010-09-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

A pick me up, indeed!

We made this sweet little tiramisu cutting cake for Jen & Chris's back yard wedding. I LOVE the luxe simplicity of this little cake with the bright peony accent.

Behold:

Photo by Aaron Last.

Retro Cherries

2010-09-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute little tower for Lindsay and Maxx. They were married at Pickering Barn in Issaquah.

The little cherries on the cake match the retro table cloths:

And here's the whole tower. Look at those gorgeous flowers:

Hot Pink Studded Cheetah Print?

2010-08-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

Duh!

(C'mon, you KNEW we would....)

Eye Candy

2010-08-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

'Tis wedding season and we're up to our elbows in cake....

Here's a quick preview of some cakes we've done over the past weeks.

Lavendar Sugar Flowers

2010-07-12T19:35:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of quick snapshots I took of a little cake and cupcake tower we set up on the Skansonia this past weekend.... such a cute little cake!

This set up is completely edible. The flowers are hand made of sugar paste.

And here it is with the delicious cupcake tower in the background:

Introducing: Ice Cream Cake!

2010-06-21T07:56:00.001-07:00

Fwd: Ice cream cake pics, originally uploaded by lookcupcake.

This cute little guy was our initial collaboration with Parfait Gourmet Ice Cream (www.parfaiticecream.com). It featured our chocolate cake filled with their mint stracciatella ice cream, a whipped cream frosting and luscious ganache poured liberally over the top. Like a brownie sundae, in cake form! It's pretty much gauranteed to be the best thing you've ever eaten and it's coming to our menu, available for order, very soon.

Mmmmmmm!

Butterflies & Flowers

2010-05-23T19:07:00.001-07:00

Just a quick peek at an adorable little 1st birthday smash cake we sent out last weekend. Too cute not to share:

A closer look at the sugar butterfly:

Lingerie Shower Cupcakes

2010-04-19T19:54:00.001-07:00

Bow Chika Wowow...

Check out these snappy little cupcakes we put together for a lingerie shower:

Stacy & Joe's New Year's Wedding

2010-04-12T15:37:00.001-07:00

Fantastic photos by the incredible JFK Weddings (www.jfkweddings.com). Talk about capturing the emotion of the moment!

Stacy & Joe, one of America's most adorable couples EVER, were married on New Year's Day. Their reception was held at The Grand Hyatt Seattle. The blue & chocolate polka dot theme fit perfectly with the venue decor.

The cutting cake, complete with chocolate sugar paste monogram:

Stacy & Joe get down:

...and then they get on down:

Time to cut the cake.

This tower is TALL.

All that work and then the sweet, sweet reward:

And, quite possibly my FAVORITE picture of our cake, ever:

Awwwww! Congratulations, Stacy & Joe!

So Adorably Sweet You May Need Insulin

2010-04-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Introducing.....

Mini Wedding Cake Cookies.

We make a butter cookie so good they'll make your mama cry and now we're putting them to excellent use. These make gorgeous wedding favors (because who wants yet ANOTHER organza bag of jordan almonds).

On with the show:

Yash's First Birthday

2010-04-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Yash is turning 1! I got to meet his gramma when I delivered the cupcakes. She was hand painting jungle animals on wooden picture frames for the party goers to take home. Sounds like the makings of a great party to me!

Yash's jungle animal mini cupcake display:

Yash's parents wanted to honor another little girl that shares Yash's birthday. Her name is Anushka and she's turning three. We made this cute little mini mouse themed display just for her.

A Rockabilly Penguin

2010-04-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Wild Things

2010-03-28T14:07:00.001-07:00

This week's cake obsession? Where the Wild Things Are!

For Brooks's first birthday at Woodland Park Zoo:

Spring has SPRUNG

2010-03-23T11:23:00.001-07:00

Spring has SPRUNG, originally uploaded by lookcupcake.

Spring minis are at The Chocolate Box (108 Pine, Seattle).

Having a party? Easter brunch? Drop us a line, we'll make some just for you.

Happy Spring!

Picture Overload

2010-01-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

We've been busy little cake mavens and here are the photos to prove it:

Disco Monkeys? You bet! These were hand modeled from sugar paste. We collaborated with Madeline's European Cakes on this project. They made the cake, we made the monkeys.

Monkey #1:

Monkey #2:

Monkey #3:

And the whole swinging disco roller party:

Then is was time for Ethan's Christening. Such a cute little cake:

With sparkles, of course:

An art director in northern Washington with a hospital client needed some appropriately themed cupcakes to photograph for their greeting cards:

Lastly, a quick snap of our dear friend Tom's poker birthday cake:

Hans & Shannon's Wedding

2010-01-07T13:33:00.001-08:00

Hans & Shannon were married at The Chinese Room in The Smith Tower, downtown Seattle. These pictures were taken by the amazing joysha fajardo.

And In They Roll

2009-11-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

November marks a great time of year in Cake Land. The weddings start using warm, earthy fall tones. We get to whip up pumpkin spice and rosemary lemon confections.

And, the really big warm fuzzy for us, the professional wedding pictures from the summer season start rolling in! We've got a TON of them to share and they're all incredible. Let me tell you, Seattle has no shortage of AMAZING, awe-inducing talented wedding photographers.

This first batch of photos is from Megan and Jim's wedding in Eastern Washington. I couldn't be more pleased with the display:

What a fun project this was! We provided a total of 8 cakes for this wedding, each a different flavor and motif.

A Good Run of Sundays

2009-09-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

(Actually, most weddings are on Saturday but that's not a song lyric, now is it?)

Here's a look at just some of the places Look has been in the last week...

Jason & Darrah got married at Golden Gardens Bathhouse

Gretchen & Todd held their reception at the Fircrest Golf Club:

Kathy & Chris were married at The Lake Union Crew rowing club:

And last, but certainly not least, Susan held her birthday celebration at McCaw Hall. (Complete with a private performance by The Pacific Northwest Ballet.)

Numero Uno

2009-08-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

There's nothing more special than a little one's very first birthday. We have the good fortune to be a part of a LOT of first birthdays and the magic doesn't escape us. It's a huge moment for the parents, the kids are at the peak of cuteness and the photo ops are endless. Take, for example, the requisite high-chair/baby/cake picture.... ever seen one cuter than this?

We didn't think so.

We created these special little cupcakes, cake, flowers and butterflies just for this occasion. The butterflies are hand made from sugar paste; our very own design.

Our little cake looks like it took a bump at it's destination, but it's still absolutely adorable (if we do say so ourselves.)

A Look Back

2009-08-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

These were so worth the wait. Here's a set of photos by the incredible Airika & Gerald Pope (Warning: visiting Airika & Gerald's site has been known to steal hours from one's day, create wistful romantic feelings and render awe induced speechlessness. They're really, really good at what they do.) from Samantha & Jonathan's wedding last summer.

Tarina & Michael's Wedding Tower

2009-08-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Tarina & Michael were married at the beautiful Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie, WA. The couple requested a two tiered cutting cake in ivory with a sugar paste bow to top their tower of cupcakes.

The tower was accented with fresh flowers.

The bow was hand sculpted from sugar paste. Can you tell it's not from fabric?

The cupcakes were a mix of some of our favorites - La Nina de Chocolate Diablo, The Feather Boa & Summer in Your Hand.

Wiggs & Dave at The Pan Pacific

2009-07-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Wiggs (of I Am the Beholder fame) and Dave got married. Their reception was at the beautiful Pan Pacific hotel in Seattle and we provided a veritable SEA of mini cupcakes for their reception. This bride has gorgeous style (monochromatic silver & grey with pops of bright yellow? Awesome!) and we loved her vision for the cupcakes.

All 525 mini cupcakes were placed at varying heights on a curved table that ran the length of the room.

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4 flavors (one vegan) gave their guests tons of options. We kept the frosting all cream colored, except the Summer in Your Hand which had raspberry frosting, bright yellow sugar flowers and silver dragee accents:
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Jessica & Andy's Wedding

2009-07-21T09:28:00.001-07:00

Jessica & Andy were married at The Center for Urban Horticulture near the University of Washington campus in Seattle last weekend. What an awesome, unique wedding!

Jessica is a gardener and clearly quite crafty. She (with some help from friends) made 22 cake platters, from fantastically random plates, bowls & glassware, to serve as table centerpieces at their reception. Fittingly, we iced the cupcakes to look like flowers and arranged them on the tables atop their diy cake plates.

Here is the wonderful end result:

And for the grand finale - this GORGEOUS cake plate was made by Jessica's pottery instructor, just for the occasion. This platter adorned the head table where Jessica & Andy sat.

Simply Seattle & The Chocolate Box Celebrate an Anniversary

2009-07-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Simply Seattle and The Chocolate Box (where, incidentally, you can now get Look Cupcake minis any time you want!) celebrated their business anniversaries in June.

Simply Seattle turned 20 and The Chocolate Box turned 2. Look Cupcake was called upon to provide the cake for their celebration.... of course the occasion called for CHOCOLATE and a little gold gild. Here's the result:

This was a Mexican spiced chocolate cake with alternating layers of chocolate ganache & cinnamon cheesecake filling. We iced it in Kahlua Swiss meringue buttercream and gave it a healthy drizzle of chocolate ganache. The plaques are white chocolate and a little gold dust added the sparkle.

I heard from the staff at The Chocolate Box that this baby was a big hit.

A Tower at the Top of the Needle

2009-07-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

David & Danielle (seriously, this couple could not be any more adorable) got married last month at the top of Seattle's iconic Space Needle. Guess who provided the (vegan!) cupcake tower and cutting cake? I'll give you a hint.... it was us.

On with the show:

The tower, with the view from The Needle in the background.

These cupcakes & cutting cake are all vegan with 100% edible decorations. (Even the monogram topper!)

Latte cake, green tea cake & vanilla chai cake.

David & Danielle are about to enjoy their cake...

Says the (glowing! She's GLOWING!) bride, "The cupcakes (and cake) were great... we got a ton of compliments. And we will definitely call you for the one year cake... yum! We love your cakes :)"

Thank you, Danielle & David, for letting us be a part of your day!

Free Minis at The Chocolate Box in Seattle!

2009-07-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to try Look Cupcake's magic but just not needed an entire dozen? You're in luck! Come on down to The Chocolate Box (just West of Pike Place Market) and have a free taste. We'll be there from noon until 3pm on Sunday, July 12th handing out the goods and talking shop.

Hope to see you there!

What: Free mini cupcakes

Where: The Chocolate Box (108 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101)

When: Sunday, July 12th, Noon - 3PM

Girls Just Wanna Have (Fun) Cake(s)

2009-06-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

Fun, girly cakes? We gots 'em.

Actually, clients gots 'em now. But we hads 'em. While we were makin' 'em. Let's just get to the pictures...

Sofia's 3rd Birthday Princess Party Cake.

We were fortunate enough to do Miss Sofia's 2nd birthday cake and cupcakes last year. They were such a big hit, she (ok, her mama) asked us to do this year's also.

Here's the birthday girl's special cake, complete with sparkly orange tiara.

Gaby's 30-Something Swirls Birthday Cake

My dear friend, Gabriela, turned 30-something last week. She requested a two tiered orange & yellow cake. Gaby is crazy girl and this occasion called for a crazy cake.

Behold:

Under the Sea

2009-06-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

Nicole & Tim's Under the Sea wedding cake & cupcakes:

This entire creation is 100% edible. The starfish & shells are made from white chocolate, the sea otters are sugar paste and the coral is royal icing.

I have to give major props to the bride, Nicole. After she saw pictures of our previous creations, she sketched out this design and let us run with it. We LOVE the end result.

Introducing: The Emperor's New Grove

2009-06-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Our latest flavor creation:

Orange infused chocolate cake, ganache filling and Valencia orange buttercream.

Poured Some Sugar on Me?

2009-05-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

Or... in a mold, anyway. (Come to think of it, keep the sugar off of me. That stuff is HOT when molten!)

Some poured sugar beer bottle cupcakes as a 40th birthday surprise.

The bottles & ice cubes are made from poured sugar. Details (including 6-pack carrier) are in sugar paste.

Down the Rabbit Hole

2009-05-04T21:31:00.001-07:00

A client ordered Alice in Wonderland cupcakes for a baby shower this past weekend. Here's the end result. I was very pleased with the outcome. They got lots of oooohs and aaaahhhhs by people walking by the shop window as we were packaging them up.

Enjoy!

Choo Choo!

2009-04-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

For a happy little birthday boy, straight from the Isand of Sodor.

Easter, Princess Towers & A Messy Bench

2009-04-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Sounds like the makings of a great dirty joke, eh?

As this is a FAMILY blog - there will be none of that.
(Call me - we'll do happy hour. Dirty jokes, ahoy!)

*ahem*

Some pictures of a cute little Easter cake we made:
Just a little six inch round chocolate hazelnut cake - filled with hazelnut ganache and frosted with hazelnut Swiss meringue buttercream. We made the nest from white chocolate and filled it with cute little robin's egg candy.

A close up of the nest:

And now, a tower fit for a princess....
Actually, this tower was made to hold the replicated family crest of the birthday boy. Crest, Lion & Crown are all edible.
The crown gave us some trouble, this is actually the second incarnation - made on the fly. And for some reason - we didn't take pictures of the finished product. But here it is in it's mid-finished glory. (Perhaps the birthday boy will provide pics of it at the venue?) This was delivered to Purr Cocktail Lounge on Capital Hill in Seattle.

(Pay no attention to the mess on my bench behind the tower. It's a bit like the The Wizard of Oz - the reality of the work isn't quite as GLAM as we'd like to make you think.) :)

Shannon's Big 40

2009-04-06T10:19:00.001-07:00

Update: These pictures just in.

A little cake we did for a 40th birthday party. (I've heard that we may be getting some pro pictures of this one... stay tuned for those!)

A fun cake for a fun lady. We reproduced (with some minor tweaks) this cake from a picture provided to us.

An Enchanted Garden Wedding

2009-04-03T10:30:00.001-07:00

More professional pics coming in from last summer's weddings. Fabulous work by Derek Pearson Photography.

A tower of minis topped with a stacked cutting cake.

Lookcupcake.com is down - but on the mend

2009-03-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

An alert client clued me in that our site, www.lookcupcake.com, has been down since last night.

After calling everyone even remotely involved with the site (host, domain registry company, etc.) I've discovered that good old Washington Mutual bank is to blame.

It's more than a little mind boggling, but here's the sequence of events:

1. Washington Mutual tanks and is bought out by Chase bank.
2. Washington Mutual (now Chase) sends Look Cupcake a replacement debit card for their accounts - a spiffy new one sporting a Chase logo.
3. WaMu/Chase promptly inactivates Look Cupcake's OLD WaMu-logoed debit card.
4. Look Cupcake's domain registration is due to be renewed. Because we like to think ahead, last year we selected the "auto-renew" option and entered our trusty debit card number for payment.
5. Debit card doesn't work. No one notifies us. Internet goes KABLOOEY.

As of this evening, we've re-entered our domain name server information and are waiting for the site to re-propagate. We've been told that it could take up to 72 hours.

Please accept this as a HUGE apology for the inconvenience! Please, please, please give us a call at (206) 228-2788 and we'd be happy to talk you through our flavors and any information you might need.

~Rhienn Davis
Owner
Look Cupcake

UPDATE: The site just loaded for me. YEAH! Victory!

A Fall Wedding

2009-03-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

I received these fantastic photos today from the incredibly talented Winnie Westergard, of Westergard Photo.

Colleen & Phil got married at in an awesome loft space on Capitol Hill in Seattle. This couple had an awesome sense of funky style (sparkly red shoe boots under your fitted champagne wedding dress? Yes!) and I loved everything about their set up.

Speaking of set up... the running joke in the kitchen is that this is the "work behind the magic." (We try hard not to take ourselves too seriously.):

And here are the tower pics:

Little Betty Blue Lost Her Holiday Shoe...

2009-03-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

What can little Betty do?
Give her another
To match the other
And then she may walk in two.

Pink & blue mini cupcakes for a boy/girl baby shower. The baby booties are molded white chocolate.

Pink for the baby girl to be:

And blue for the boy:

Easter Fun With Fondant

2009-03-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was in the test kitchen, playing with Easter cupcake designs and decided to have a little fun with the fondant. I love busting into the colors like a I'm a big kid with new tubs of play-doh.

A little Easter Duck:
(I found the egg cup at Target and thought it would be fun to put mini cupcakes in for pictures. It's the perfect size!)

And here are some minis decorated like Easter eggs:

A New Twist

2009-03-07T21:29:00.001-08:00

On a really popular design....

We get orders for these pink tiara cupcakes on a regular basis. An order went out today for a girly-girl's 30th birthday party.

We made them frilly and pretty, just for the occasion.

A full size chocolate cupcake, with a special decoration for the birthday girl:

Mini chocolate cupcakes with raspberry creme filling, vanilla buttercream and pink tiaras:

Mini vanilla cupcakes with raspberry creme filling, chocolate buttercream and pink tiaras:

Update: I just received these photos from the party. Looks like the birthday girl enjoyed her cupcakes!

Don't Tell Anyone - But I'm a Big Sap.

2009-03-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was approached and asked if I could make a personal sized cake with the words, "Will You Marry Me" written on it.

My reply: "AWWWWWWWW! Of COURSE I can - when do you need it? Right now? I'm going to drop everything and do it right now. No, NO - these other clients won't mind not getting their orders, there's a girl getting a proposal!"

Ehm.

(You'll be happy to know that I came to my senses and everyone else who placed orders are probably blissfully munching away on their delicious cupcakes right now.)

So, David just wanted a little cake with which to propose. And I was happy to oblige:

The board (obviously) says, "Will U Marry Me?"

Here it is with my ring on the top -

Update: She said yes. :)

The Tiki Tragedy

2009-02-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Look Cupcake participated in a wedding show on board the Skansonia yesterday. It was fantastic. If you're getting married in the Seattle area, you should check the boat out. It's beautiful and the staff there is wonderful!

For months I've had an idea rolling around my head for a display cake based on a tiki tattoo design. The Skansonia wedding show was the perfect excuse to create it. So, create it I did and I was THRILLED with the design. Until (dun, dun, DUUUN...) it had a little accident.

The cake took a tumble. Ruined.

Here's a picture of the scratch & dent Tiki cake. *Sniffle*

I'll be working on recreating this guy in the near future.

Whelp...We've Arrived.

2009-02-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

Look on cakespy.com:

http://www.cakespy.com/2009/02/looking-good-sweet-treats-from-look.html

Jessie, I'm totally wearing my cuppie tae kwon do shirt at the wedding show this weekend. In your honor.

Monkey Business

2009-02-14T10:57:00.001-08:00

How stinkin' cute are these guys? They were ordered from all the way across the pond as a Valentine's Day surprise for someone locally.

The animal faces were hand made with fondant and placed on delicious chocolate cupcakes.

A close up of the panda:

And the monkey:

Monochromatic

2009-02-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Something about the green tulle around all the shades of brown in this box struck me as really pretty.
(The tulle looks a little seafoam green in this picture, but is more kick-arse lime in real life. Photog skillz - I can not haz 'em.)

Chocobombs: (chocolate cake, ganche filling, whipped truffle frosting, buttercream chocolate chip flowers)

A closer shot of the little flower. This is piped from buttercream onto a chocolate chip and then placed on top of the cupcake. Another little chocolate chip is added as the flower's center.

Skillz

2009-02-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

What happens when someone with photography skills take pictures of a Look Cupcake mini sampler box?

See for yourself:

Jessie - of Cakespy fame - took these awesome pictures of the little sampler box I left for her yesterday.

Awesome shots, Jessie!

Lavendar & Ganache

2009-01-31T10:09:00.000-08:00

This cake was a surprise for a dear friend's birthday. The cake went to Maggiano's Little Italy in Bellevue last night where we ate (oh - how we ate!) dinner before heading upstairs to the swanky bowling alley.

My husband and I decided we would sneak the cake in without anyone in the party seeing it. After circling the block twice we finally figured out how to get IN to the parking garage. Then, we went down. And down further. I kept glancing back at the cake, thinking about how far I was going to have to carry that thing. (Cakes are deceptively heavy. I'm guessing this one weighed at least fifteen lbs. Also, this cake was too tall to fit in a box - so no box.) At some point, we started heading East and down (Eastdown? Downeast?) and perhaps crossed in and out of several alternate dimensions. By the time we finally parked, we hadn't a clue where we were or how to get to where we needed to be.

So I heft this purple & chocolate cake and start schlepping through the parking garage, up several elevators, down a few more and finally cross a skybridge to the proper building. In case you were wondering...yes, you do get odd looks and comments when you carry a purple and chocolate cake through a parking garage.

The Maggiano's staff was fantastic and we pulled off the surprise (although, we had to let the birthday girl's husband in on it because they kept trying to order chocolate cake for dessert.)

The bottom tier was chocolate hazelnut cake filled with bittersweet ganache. The top tier was vanilla cake filled with salted caramel.

A Hint of Summer

2009-01-28T13:02:00.001-08:00

It's no secret that mid-summer is prime wedding season in this part of the country. That time of year is busy busy BUSY for Look Cupcake. I spend every waking moment (and quite a few sleeping moments) making sure that we're making couples' wedding confection dreams a reality. Now that we're in the "slower" season - regrouping and gearing up for the busy season to come, I've been trying to think back and remember all the amazing work we put out last summer. And, honestly, my mind was coming up with blurs of color and moments of hauling towers in and out of the van. So last week I set out to contact some of the incredible photographers that worked on our weddings and obtain their amazing shots of Look Cupcake's handywork.

Kayla Bosma of Kayla J Photography sent me these amazing pictures today from Alex and Sang-Do Lee's wedding on The Skansonia.

Alex & Sang-Do chose hydrangea as their flowers and we set out to create a tower that would work well with the gorgeous purple flowers.

Here are Kayla's gorgeous shots:

A Big Hug for Mama Earth

2009-01-27T23:01:00.000-08:00

Daa da da dum!

Hey look, we've got new earth friendly packaging:

We're committed to conserving where ever we can. Our new packaging is completely compostable/recyclable - even with that pretty window that looks into the very soul of our filled cupcakes.

In fact, in the next week we'll be changing our box labels to an earth friendly kraft paper label. We think this little guy is going to be pleased with his new home:

Valentine's Day Special

2009-01-21T12:03:00.000-08:00

A box of chocolates? Pshaw!

A box of spiced Mexican chocolate cupcakes with Kahlua Especial frosting?

Yes.

A Wedding Cake Cage Match Smack-Down

2009-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night, January 21st, 2009, from 6-8pm at The Canal in Ballard -

The Seattle Wedding Cake Decorator Cage Match!

(Ok, I don't think there's actually a cage - and odds are no one will throw any folding chairs- but still! Who doesn't love a cage match?!)

I will be there, playing Flunkie Extraordinarre to one of our favorite wedding cake brethren, Dan (The Fancypants Don) Mikosz of Decadence Custom Cakes. Decadence and Look Cupcake share commercial kitchen space and while we have COMPLETELY different cake styles, we're pretty good buddies.

This is one of Dan's cakes. Click on the picture to visit his sight and check out more of his mad scroll-work and swiss dot skillz:

Dan (and his faithful lackie - me) will be taking on several other Seattle area cake decorators.

AND - one lucky, pre-registered bride will win a free wedding cake of her dreams!

Come on down for the show of a life time and free cake samples from several of Seattle's premiere wedding cake bakeries.

A New Beginning

2009-01-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

I promise not to blog about not blogging. Let's just say it's been a whirl wind and I'm trying to get back on the proverbial blogging wagon.

To get (re)started:

Last weekend Look Cupcake created a STAR birthday cake for a future rollerderby queen. (I may have made that rollerderby queen thing up.) Taliah turned 10 and her birthday was at the Skate King in Bellevue, WA. Here are some pictures of her fabulous Look Cupcake cake:

This is a 2 tier, fondant covered and decorated cake. All the decorations are 100% edible.

The bottom tier is french vanilla cake, lemon curd filling and strawberry swiss meringue buttercream frosting.
The top tier (for the grown-ups!) is spiced mexican chocolate cake, kahlua ganache filling and kahlua swiss meringue buttercream frosting.

A close up of the wee rollerskate:

And here it is all dressed up with birthday candles:

A few additional housekeeping type items:

You can now follow Look Cupcake on Facebook (we're young! and hip! and... whatever else you crazy kids like these days) here: Look Cupcake on Facebook

And on Flickr here: Look Cupcake's Flicr PhotoStream

And, as always, on our company site here: http://www.lookcupcake.com/

Lions, Tigers & Dinosaurs, OH MY!

2008-05-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

I had two jobs for kid's parties this Saturday. The first was a T-Rex loving little guy who was turning four. (He has a great ROOOOAR! He showed me when I delivered the cake.) The cake was yellow cake, sour cream chocolate filling and chocolate swiss meringue buttercream frosting. The dinosaur was sculpted out of fondant and painted with paste food colors.

The second party was for a dear friend of mine (we were partners in crime on the dance floor, back in our wild and woolly days) who's little man was turning two. He had a jungle animal themed party so we went with a lion cake and lion, tiger, zebra and monkey cupcakes.
The cake was Summer in Your Hand (lemon cake, strawberry cheesecake filling and strawberry swiss meringue buttercream. To keep the flavors in tact but still achieve the desired colors, I did a fat crumb coat of strawberry frosting and then a thin decorative layer of colored vanilla frosting.
The cupcakes were yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.

Free Minis?! Ahhhh Yeah!

2008-05-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

The Blue Saucer and Look Cupcake are hosting a little event on Saturday, May 31st. Free mini cupcakes (while they last) from 10am - noon. Come on down!

Also - click here to check out the buzz (from the blogger responsible for cakespy.com): Cakespy Blog

Instant Gratification

2008-05-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

Jonesin' for a Look Cupcake? Have IMMEDIATE filled cupcake needs? Detox setting in?

We've heard you! (And, who are we to deny anyone their sweet, sweet pastry fix?)

So, we've got an exciting announcement...

Beginning this Saturday, May 17th, you'll be able to pick up a Look Cupcake or two at Blue Saucer Cafe in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle!
Blue Saucer cafe is located at 9127 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle.

Make sure to pick up a Hellfire Mocha while you're getting your Look fix. They made me one while I was there last week and OH MY GOSH - spiced chocolate fans, unite! Delish.

A little shout out to Billie (the owner) and her staff. The place is adorable and right in the heart of the fun little Maple Leaf neighborhood. (Just up the street from Home Cake decorating shop, the Seattle cakeaholics' mecca.)

We'll be holding a Look sample event at the cafe in the near future. Stay tuned for date and time information.

A Pot of Pretty

2008-05-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

I made this cupcake bouquet for The Official Look Cupcake Graphic Artist. He's going to surprise his wife with it for Mother's Day. They happen to have two unbelievably cute little girls (one of which, I'm told, does The Robot.) These little flowers were really fun to make. I went a little bananas piping them last night so I packed up some extra boxes for the girls to give to their mama.

Half of the cupcakes are Summer in Your Hand (lemon cake, strawberry cheesecake filling and strawberry swiss meringue buttercream.) The other half are Chocolate Hazelnut (chocolate cake with hazelnut syrup, hazelnut chocolate ganache centers and hazelnut swiss meringue buttercream.)

The butterfly and monogram are made of piped chocolate and white non-pereils.

Here are the bouquet (the toothpicks were to keep the cellophane from touching the frosting)and boxes:

My Day Job - Now They Won't LET Me Quit

2008-05-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took in a big order of minis for my day job. They turned out amazing. People were twittering about them all day. I decided to garnish my lemon/strawberry cakes with mint and I think that will become the new standard topping for those cakes. It just makes them so fresh and even more summer-like.

I also debuted my chocolate hazelnut minis at this event. This is my new favorite flavor. Chocolate cake with hazelnut soaking syrup, chocolate hazelnut ganache and hazelnut swiss meringue buttercream. I topped them with shaved bittersweet chocolate. And..frankly..I'd sell my soul to be able to eat one of these each day.

And now for the pics:

A Pretty Package

2008-04-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

At the suggestion of my trusted advisor and day-job boss, Jeannine - I've got a new packaging "thing" going on.

I was struggling to find a way to juggle cake boxes, paperwork, business cards, etc. As usual, Jeannine had the answer.

Witness, "The Info-Packet." Lovingly attached to the top of the cake box with a logo sticker:

And, the flavor card (it's a tent card so you can let people know what they're getting into):

Repeat Business

2008-04-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Nic at T-Mobile is turning out to be one of my best customers! Here are some pics of the cakes I did for her last night.

Dark chocolate cake, ultimate raspberry filling, vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, magenta fondant T and silver dragee accents.

Monkey Lovin'

2008-04-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

My husband doesn't like chocolate. I'll wait a second while that sinks in.....

Yeah, I know. It's not normal. In fact, when I found this out on our first date I informed him that there wasn't much chance of us forming any sort of relationship. My love for chocolate runs deep. Obviously, I figured out that this would only mean MORE chocolate for me and I married him. I'm quick like that.

Anyway, due to his dislike of chocolate I've mastered some pretty good non-chocolate desserts over the years. One of the classics is Banana Pudding. I'm not talking about the kind in the box. I mean good, old fashioned, from scratch, homemade banana pudding. With real bananas. And creamy vanilla pudding made with whole milk, topped with freshly whipped heavy cream. My banana pudding has been known to nearly cause riots. It tops the list of my all time most requested dishes.

Since all roads lead to cupcakes around here, I'm sure you can see where this is going. I've been working on developing a banana pudding cupcake. The latest incarnation turned out fantastically.

First I drop a Nilla Wafer (do not - I repeat - DO NOT attempt to use generic Nilla Wafers) in the bottom of the cupcake liner.

Then I mix up banana cupcake batter, pour over the Nilla Wafer and bake. The result is a somewhat carmelized top to the cupcake with a very moist center.

The pudding is cooked up next. I'm not sure why people use instant pudding... the real stuff is almost easier to make. It consists of egg yolks, flour, sugar, vanilla, a pat of butter & milk (cocoa powder if you're going for chocolate). It's as complex as, "heat & stir until it's pudding." The pudding is rich, creamy and just the right amount of sweet. I let the pudding cool and then fill the cupcakes with it.

Finally, I whipped up a swiss meringue buttercream frosting. The whole thing was topped off with a mini Nilla Wafer and a carmelized banana slice.

Yum.

Pictures to come...

Cupcakes Draw Crowd - Baker Can't Keep Up

2008-04-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

One of my day job coworkers ordered 3 dozen mini cakes to share with her department for her birthday. I brought in WAY more than she ordered (I know this place...confection causes a feeding frenzy) and did some custom decoration as a birthday present. They turned out really cute and people are going NUTS. Here are some pics:

Yellow cake with ganache centers and whipped truffle frosting:

La Nina de Chocolate Diablo:

How Many Cupcake Bakers Does It Take....

2008-04-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

Exciting times are ahead for Look Cupcake. Our new business site has been built and will launch annnnnny minute now (oh please, Interet Gods, smile upon us) at lookcupcake.com. This blog will now publish at lookcupcake.blogspot.com. You'll find a link to this blog on the business site.

Our graphic artist (Hi David! Like how you belong to Look Cupcake now?) is putting the finishing touches on the OFFICIAL Look Cupcake logo. Let the branding begin!

The recipe testing and tinkering is always in full swing. A couple nights ago I decided to try a new chocolate cake recipe to serve as the base cake for La Nina de Chocolate Diablo cupcake.
The cake turned out VERY heavy, fudge-like and moist. To give it that Mexican Chocolate kick, I add a spice blend that includes cinnamon & cayenne pepper. Not enough to make it hot - just enough to really make the chocolate pop in your mouth.

I topped this cake with edible silk. No - really. A Kahlua Swiss Meringue Buttercream that was described by someone who tasted it as, "edible velvet - I wish I were the size of my pinkie and could just lay down on it." Finished with an extra dusting of Diablo powder (powdered sugar,cinnamon & cayenne), it was seriously the shiznit.

The finished product:

A Formal Whipping

2008-04-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Tested a new recipe last night. I brought these cakes into the office today and by the reaction, I'm going say they fall in the "winner" category.

Tuxedo Cakes with Whipped Truffle Frosting

Yellow Cupcakes

Chocolate Ganache

Bake up into a handsome tuxedo swirl.

And - the top hat. Whipped bittersweet chocolate ganache becomes Whipped Truffle Frosting.

A Geology Experiment

2008-04-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

I tested out a fantastic new recipe last weekend. I must apologize for two things. Firstly, the picture quality leaves something to be desired. (There was a little camera "issue.")
Secondly, the tardiness of my post... the last week has been a whirlwind of exciting Look Cupcake business activity. Yummy times ahead in the land o' cupcakes.

I had a novel idea. Everyone loves individual lava cakes. You know, the ones you order at the restaurant and when you cut into them a gush of warm, liquid chocolate lava oozes onto your plate? Yes, those. They're usually baked in ramekins but why not a cupcake version?

The butter and chocolate go into a bowl for melting.

Eggs and sugar are beaten together until...

thick and foamy, like this.

All mixed together and ready for baking.

As with all good experiments, there's...experimenting! Here I'm trying different cup/liner styles and different fill amounts.

Just out of the oven. (Obviously, more batter per cup is better.)

The lava dome.

They sink as they cool.

With a simple powdered sugar/cocoa garnish.

End result: These were AMAZING. The centers weren't liquid, but ended up very moist, gooey and brownie like. I've decided I'll finish them with with a light buttercream and fresh raspberries.

A T-Mobile Update

2008-03-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

Nic laid out the cupcakes in the shape of a T. She's smart like that! :)

Here's what Nic had to say about the cakes:

"The T-Mobile cupcakes were deeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!!! Well and simply perfect!!! A huge hit... well and they made me look good, so that's all that matters..hahaha - just kidding. But, I ordered more than needed for the meeting so I was able to hand them out to my Directors and send them home with an extra for their wives. Rhi -- you rock! I actually got emails telling me that "I rock" so I must pass the love. Good work girl --"

A picture of the cakes in action:

Look Cupcake Goes Mobile

2008-03-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

T Mobile that is.

A friend was charged with catering a company meeting and asked me to do some cupcakes. I kicked around ideas for matching their logo and ultimately came up with what you'll see below.

And the flavors? Ohmagosh the flavors....

Vanilla chai spice cupcakes with cinnamon cheesecake filling.And fresh ginger buttercream frosting. (I honestly considered climbing into the mixing bowl and just rolling around in the frosting. Hands down my favorite creation so far.)
Magenta fondant disks, imprinted with a T and flanked with silver non-perils.
All boxed up and ready to go.

TheA Bomb

2008-03-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes?
Nope.

Guess they can't all be successes. I'm not actually sure what happened here. Back to the drawing board...

Princess Confection, Part II

2008-03-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

A continuation of The Fabulous Miss M's Princess Party goodies...

So, enduring a three year old princess party is maybe not reeeeally high on the list of all parents' (dads...I'm looking at YOU), "Things I'd Love to Spend My Saturday Doing," list. Since we didn't do cocktails, I supplied the next best thing. CAKE, with a cocktail twist.

A pink feather boa cake made of...

Coconut cream cakes. Seen here, cooling:
With mojito cheesecake filling. Zesting the lime:
The cake was frosted with pink buttercream and coated with white flaked coconut. See, like a feather boa:And this is where we pour out a little vanilla extract for our fallen homies. I piped these BEAUTIFUL white chocolate tiaras to top the cake. They were amazing. Oddly, the day of the party there was sunshine and the tiaras melted (despite turning on the car's A/C and all of us freezing) on the way to the party. A moment of silence please...

And that concludes our pink princess sweets segment.

For The Princess

2008-03-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

My friend KT has the daintiest little peanut of a daughter. We call her The Fabulous Miss M. Last weekend Miss M had a princess party for her 3rd birthday. I supplied the confection.

Warning: What follows may cause you to require an insulin shot. It's that sweet.

For the Princes & Princesses:
Lemon cupcakes with strawberry cream filling, green buttercream frosting and topped with a pink marshmallow fondant crown, complete with silver non-peril jewels.

The lemon cupcakes cool.
The strawberries macerate for the strawberry cream filling.

The cupcakes are filled.

The marshmallow fondant was tinted the requisite princess pink and left to rest over night.
The crowns are cut, embellished with silver non-perils and painted with luster dust.

The crowns are molded so they'll stand up.

Finally, the green buttercream is piped on to the cupcakes in a swirl and the crowns are put in to place.

Voila!

Next up, the parents are treated to a pink feather boa cake. Stay tuned...

(There's Nothing to) Look (at) Cupcake

2008-03-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there.

I know it's a bit...empty... around here right now, but stay tuned. Amazing things will be appearing in a matter of moments.