SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS!

To your Family from mine....wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

May there be joy, health and happiness in the New Year! Cheers!

TIS THE SEASON....

Yes, Tis the Season to be doing a lot of baking! Fa La La la la la la..la...laaaa!

CADEN'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!

Caden got to celebrate his 1st Birthday with family and friends at a lovely park overlooking the ocean in San Clemente. For a November day, the weather was outstanding of a mild temperature of 85 d and the sky's were impeccably blue. It's so nice to live in California!

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS!

Otherwise "Day of the Dead" in English! These were a last minute idea that I had for the Halloween page I had on my website www.ditziecakes.com. I couldn't believe how many orders I got for this cupcake. The flavors were to be simple...either deviluscious, vanilla bean or a dark red velvet. The work however on these was just solid laborious. Can I make them any simpler next time? Nah, I just love making things complicated. Anyway, they were a crowd pleaser. I had made the Day of the Dead for an old friend of mine who works for Brighton. You know the really great place that designs handbags, wallets, jewelry and accessories. I hope your fellow employees enjoyed the cupcakes this afternoon Catherine Hong! Sorry, I didn't get a chance to see you today. But let's try it again!

THE BEAUTY OF FLOWERS!

I was so honored to do make these cupcakes for Susan's 40th Birthday! Not only did I get to make them for her...but she also invited me to her party! What a great job I have and what a great clientele I have been blessed with! Thank you so much Susan!

LIAM'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!

Today, I delivered these cupcakes for Liam's 1st Birthday party held at a quaint little park in Laguna Beach overlooking the ocean! Half the fun is seeing how people pull together a unique theme to celebrate their special day! Alison was blowing up at least twenty beachballs for the children and adults to play with! It was so nice to see a party coming together! I hope they liked the cupcakes....because I really had a lot of fun making them.

WE CAN DO IT!

I really couldn't help myself on this Rosie the Riviter idea! I really like Palin and this reminds me of the strength and courage of the ladies during World War II. The image most iconically associated with Rosie the Riveter is J. Howard Miller's famous poster for Westinghouse, entitled We Can Do It!, which was modeled on Michigan factory worker Geraldine Doyle in 1942. Gosh! I wish I can make a hundred buttons out of this so I can pass them out before our November vote!

KRISTA AND GEOFFRY'S WEDDING RECEPTION

Autumn is here and Krista and Geoff were having a reception to all their guests who couldn't make it to Canada to see them say their vows. I couldn't wait to play off their Autumn Theme. To pull it all off, my brother made me me this outstanding cupcake tier! I wish I just had better photographs to show you...but it looked amazing!!! Thanks BuBu!!!

HAPPY HALLOW!

Don't be frightened....these scary little cupcakes are sure to be a treat!! I love Halloween and this is my favorite time of the year....besides Christmas. Be sure to check out more on the website! Boo!

AUCTION FOR THE ST. JOSEPH'S AUXILARY!

Today I had to put together a gift basket that will be auctioned off for the St. Joseph's Mission Hospital Auxilary fund raiser. It will be a wonderful evening at the Ritz Carlton with a diner and splendid Fashion Show. I am looking forward to the event and to see how much my little girl's gift basket is going to make for the this great event. It has a gift certificate for a three dozen, one of my children's aprons I designed with the infamous cupcake pattern and a "fabulous" chocolate tank top with the Swarovski crystals that I posted once before. Wish me luck!
And Voila! Here is the Gift Basket all wrapped up with a pretty pink bow! Isn't she pretty?

THE ARRIVAL OF LAINEY!

MEGAN AND KATELYN'S 2ND BIRTHDAY!

These little girls just celebrated their 2nd Birthday! What a great theme of sweet little fairies making lots of wishes with a good sprinkling of pixie dust! Happy Birthday Megan and Katelyn!

NORIE'S FAREWELL!

So my very bestest friend that I have worked with over the past eight years finally did it! She has made that final decision of working for her very own well being. (check out her website www.selectyarn.com) I am so proud of her and all of her well talented accomplishments. You know Norie, that days I head up to LA....your friendship will be greatly missed. However, we will make time to see eachother often and to catch up on the great things that are happening in both of our lives! I will look forward to this and all the great memories of working with you! Love your friend always, Andie

CHRIS AND ANNIE'S WEDDING!

It was a beautiful evening in Temecula Wine Country and Chris and Annie were ready to say their vows at the LongShadow Ranch Winery. The choice on their menue was cheesecake so I made a wonderful white chocolate raspberry which was also the main top tier cake and a strawberry chocolate. Um! Luscious chocolate dipped strawberries on the chocolate chip cheesecake cupcakes...I was ready to eat them all! Anyway, the cupcakes made it there on their one and a half hour trip into Temecula unbelievably cool from the ice packing surrounding them!
I was relieved and will in knowing this make cheescake for yet another Wedding for who ever requests it! No worries!

ALOHA! TROPICAL LUAU!

Aloha! All of you tropical vacationers! Well, if you wanted to get a taste of those islands and missed yet another opportunity to get away like I did or if you just wanted to reminisence of the wonderful time when you were there ...I hope that these new flavors will remind you of those tropical delights! I am currently putting together a Luau party and these cupcakes are going to be on the menu. This one is called LAVA ROCKS. Keep checking in...because I hope to be adding more flavors soon!
Hmmmm......take me away to Coconut Island! This one is so nice and light and fluffy. The only thing that is holding it down is a dollop of dark chocolate in the middle! I really like this flavor....especially when it is splashed with Malibu Rum!
Kona Coffee and Chocolate Hazelnut! It really sounds like the perfect thing to have for a morning breakfast....yum! This is not your ordinary chocolate cake...it has a wonderful fusion of kona coffee balanced with the rich dark chocolate base and finely ground hazelnuts. Nicely balanced to the cupcake, is the delicate flavor of a chocolate hazelnut buttercream. This is a very elegant cupcake that could be a fine after dinner dessert. Bon Appetit!
White Chocolate and Guava will take you to a whole other island with this one! A nice tropical guava and white chocolate cake with a guava cream filling and of course topped with a decadent white chocolate frosting......it's so nice!
I think that I finally perfected this recipe! Every nuance of flavors now seem to balance well together. Pineapple and orange work well together as a nice Buttercream Frosting and the pineapple lemon curd fills the light and fluffy pineapple cupcake! Very happy indeed!

SHANNON AND KEVIN'S WEDDING!

The Wedding Day had a date for August 3rd, and I had about three weeks to plan something wonderful! Hydrangeas were part of the floral arrangement and I conveniently had the exact hydrangea cutter in my tool drawer....I was excited to bring it out again!

Hopefully, I will be able to get better photos of the cupcake tower that day...because mine were not as successful as I hoped them to be!

DOWN BY THE SEA!

Imagine being swept away by a cupcake delicately splashed with Malibu Coconut Rum... Yum!This cupcake can be enjoyed with or with out the adulterated version. But it sure does taste good this way! The coconut and macadamia nuts give it a nice bite and the frosting is coconut heaven!

FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!

You Look Fabulous!!! These dark chocolate tank tops are delicious! Each one is made with Swarovski Crystals and beautifully packaged in clear boxes that have been tied with an adorable pink dotted ribbon. What a special treat!And this is how these adorable chocolate tank tops look on you! They look just as good as that yummy vanilla bean cupcake!