The Smiling Cupcakes

The Partick's Housewarming/HBD Silvy!

2011-07-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

So a couple months or so ago I thought I would get ambitious and create my first vertical cake EVER, and man, can I tell you, what a learning experience. I definitely didn't have all the materials needed for a tall 8 layer cake during one of the hottest and wettest weeks of the summer AND I was sorely understaffed (:P). But Silvy flipped over it.

The 8 layers consisted of alternating Oreo & Chocolate cake..

And a crap load of fondant (also a huge learning experience)

Silvy & moi

I Dream of Foodie

2011-07-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

How could my love for food not translate into my work???

I created this over the years.. it must’ve been a process of at least 1-1.5 years. I drew them individually by pencil and then painted them in Photoshop, final assembly in Illustrator.

You can find this and a tons of other works by yours truly at sueillustrations.carbonmade.com

Take a looong yummy look at all these goodies-- how could anyone not love food!!?.. It truly boggles my mind.

A very special Christmas at ACS

2011-07-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

So this last Christmas was my first Christmas at ACS. And let me tell you, the holidays were TOO kind on the waist! --I just had to contribute :P

You wouldn’t even mind the chill with these!

(Enough for the whole department n then some)

I’m positive it was the inspiration of these carrot noses that I bought the fondant..

Special Cookies

2011-07-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Nooo, not that kinda special. ..They do look pretty special though, eh? :P

Ori-Harry-Rian were visiting last summer..

And what do 6 yr old boys love most?


And who doesn't love sea creatures??.. ok, maybe these were more for me.....

cute?

..Super cute!

Last summer I baked these coffee sandwich cookies for Rodi + his coworkers for his bday

Some Favourites

2011-07-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favourite random bakings Ive done in the last year.

For a stretch I got really into molasses cookies (chewy, of course)

Whole oats cookies..

Surprise! Peppermint Patties in whole oats cookies

Honey-Avocado cake. For my Siam family (they love them avocados)


Butter Tarts. Shockingly easy to make, I highly encourage it :) Mmm.. Ill need to make some more soon..

HBD!: Good Times

2011-07-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

These photos are way old. They're photos of Elise's birthday... omg, 6 years ago!! O_O;; There's also her birthday after (Sushi cake), end of season celebration cake for The Polar Bears, and Adrian's birthday last year. And although I wrapped the Geek Cake well in clingwrap, it couldn't have saved it from the faceplant it took literally around the corner from Adrian's house.. stupid hummer drivers, thinking they rule the roads.. Rodi breaked so hard to avoid head-on collision I felt the cake hit the back of my seat before the floor..

Elise & Me

Carnival-Cookie-Cake (it was devoured in mere seconds!)

Sushi Platter Cake (her following birthday)

The Polar Bears Mint Cake (very refreshing!)


Adrianˇs 25th Bday (..seconds after almost			being run off the road by a hummer)

Terribly Overdue!

2011-07-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hello All!
I'm crazy sorry for not keeping up with the blog in the past YEAR >_<;;
So much has happened I don't even know where to start!

I've gotten a twitter @susubee8 and got excited over blogging about The Smiling Cupcakes again because @annnbug and I want to create a project together soon. That'll be exciting!

I'll post my goods from the past year this week; try to keep up! It'll be baked goods overload!!
Post soon! xoxo

Great turnout!

2010-09-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

So Welcome to Wendyland went well!
It was total hell to get to Queen St W, everything that could possibly go wrong with a road went wrong on Bathurst going south. But when we finally got to Come As You Are, things went quite smoothly. A cozy and lighthearted store, actually complemented Wendy's works, kind of a naughty and sweet theme overall. Plus the cupcakes added a little more sweetness!

At first there were a few stragglers that wandered in showing polite interest (the rain that literally poured like a waterfall 30 minutes before the show didn't help bring them in though), which was a shame. But as the night continued it filled out! Faces I wasn't familiar with wandered in at first, which I'm happy made Wendy happy :) Then familiar faces came and hung around. As the night went on there was lots of socializing, catching up, laughs and of course, a lot of sugar overloads!

The famous Artist Wendy Ding!

The girls working at CAYA made me feel good when they dug into my cupcakes even before people showed up for the show! haha

It was sweet that my friend Bernard (drenched from the humidity) trekked down. We also saw Alisha, Milo + his adorable brother, the Dings (lol), Adrian & Erica, even Michelle Lee. A great mix of people off our fb lists haha it was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any more pictures than these since they could potentially break all sorts of rights and censorship lol

Michelle - bootlegging some of my goods!

I would say overall it was a great success, I had a lot of fun! It was the best to see a group of random people we know and catch up past close (it went 30 min long, we could've easily gone til midnight!). Too bad not more people came down opening night, I understand a 2 hour opening wasn't long enough.

Welcome to Wendyland will be going on until the end of September so be sure to check it out!-- there won't be any cupcakes though :P

Welcome To Wendyland Event, TONIGHT 7-9PM FREE CUPCAKES!

2010-09-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

So, this week I completed 4 different types of cupcakes to match Wendy's themes for tonight and created my mini-promos to hand out at the event :) it's been a busy week already and I'm pooped! The only consolation I'll have is people coming out to the event tonight at 701 Queen Street West to eat as many free cupcakes as possible!! I don't wana go home with any leftovers!

<--my darling little promos (3"x1.5")
One will be handed out with every cupcake eaten tonight!

And now the real fun part-- the cupcakes!

(Faux) Ice Cream Cupcakes

Banana Chip-Chocolate Chip Chip Cupcakes

Maple Waffle Cupcake

Jelly-Filled Donut Cupcakes

Visually, I would say the donuts and the ice cream cones are my favorite - but who knows maybe I'll
fall for one of the other 2 tonight ^-^;; MMMYUMMY! cant wait!

The more the merrier tonight so don't be shy, wear your fat-pants!

Free Cupcakes Update

2010-08-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

And for those interested in eating free cupcakes at the first event my cupcakes will help host, remember to drop by Welcome To Wendyland, Thursday, September 2, 2010. The show starts: 7:00 PM, ends at 9:00. Location: Come As You Are, 701 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M6. Check out the facebook invite!

I've planned to make 4 styles of cupcakes to suite the theme of the Artist's work: Ice Cream Girl, Chips Girl, Waffle Girl and Donut Girl. It's going to be interesting!

Did I mention it's all free?

See you Thursday!

The Cupcake Girls Rock!!

2010-08-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's been 5 days since returning from my trip to Sechelt, BC (a ferry ride north of Downtown Vancouver). My bestest bff and her boyfriend (Elise & Felix) are doing great - and why wouldn't they be?? Sechelt/Vancouver (as most who have already visited know) is a Canadian hidden treasure. Although when we visited the main island/city, places looked awfully familiar and that's because it looked like parts of Toronto - but nevertheless, gorgeous all over.

Being only 5 km by 3 km big, I could run Downtown Vancouver.. and maybe I should have since we visited 2 specialty cupcake shops in one evening while there. I was looking forward to visiting the women from the W Network's show "The Cupcake Girls" (http://www.wnetwork.com/Shows/TheCupcakeGirls.aspx). I brushed up on their sitcom and website before leaving for BC and was so excited to visit their shop on Denman St. Originally, we werent going to visit it because it was a little walk before our hotel but Elise made the valiant effort to plan our visit around seeing both shops. Conveniently, the second shop, Big City Cupcakes, was just half a block away from our hotel.

And now, can I just say I know girls rock but The Cupcake Girls kick royal butt! Their cupcakes taste even better than what they look like through the tv and even the window display case!
Don't let the tiny shop on Denman deceive you, it was SO worth every penny for their scrumptiously decadent and thoughtful flavors. Elise bought their best half dozen and I can completely understand why they were the most popular.

(CW: Feelin Razzy, Red Velvet, Lemon Drop, Oreo, Cherry Sundae, Koo Koo)

We even went back a second time (on our way to the airport) to try their Carmella. And if you don't know me by now, caramel is my kryptonite.

As for Big City Cupcakes, a friend suggested to Elise we visit it and when it was so accessible, why not? Their shop had no playful images in the windows (or even open windows at all!) Just giant cupcakes sprawled across their building and black stone walls, inside and out. I couldn't have chosen a better word than Elise had; "corporate". The Cupcake Girls shops are cute, pink and made into a complete fantasy land where you would more than happy to have your week's fill of sugar and cake - like a great cupcake bakery should look like :P. One of the young employees there even asked if I watched the show and how she loves "all those types of cupcake shows". (She's just like me!.. way to relate to the customer. I'm such a sucker.)

Big City Cupcakes still had their signature cupcakes (we ordered half a dozen, 3 w/ choco cakes and 3 w/ vanilla) but none of them were as ginormous and fluffy as the cupcakes from Denman.. and the employee at BCC didn't really seem particularly interested in cupcakes.. or eating much at all for that matter :-S.


(CW: Truffle, Strawberry Shortcake, NY Chocolate Cheesecake, After Dinner Mint, Lemon Drop, Toffee)

So, for anyone planning to visit Vancouver, you must take the time to visit one of the Original Cupcake shops there. They're opening their 6th shop, so I'm sure you'll be able to make it to (at least) one of them. You can also order all their wonderful flavors at www.cupcakesonline.com, but trust me half a dozen will only give you the taste for yummy cupcakes!

Support Toronto Artists.. And Eat Free Cupcakes!

2010-08-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

This month marks the beginning of my newest venture, the Smiling Cupcakes!

It's taken me years of experience and months of contemplating over whether or not I should pursue custom baking seriously or not. And the answer is yes! :)
To mark the official beginning of The Smiling Cupcakes, I've created an original logo and am planning on getting temporary business cards printed for my first (ever) upcoming event!

The event is called "Welcome to Wendyland", the first solo show starring a close friend of mine, Wendy Ding (www.wendyding.com). Everyone is welcomed to attend opening night, September 2 at 7:00pm, at 701 Queen Street West, Toronto. Wendyland continues through to September 30 at 9:00pm, so although it would be fantastic for all of you to make it opening night, you can still catch her amazingly colorful and playful illustrations any time during the month of September.

I will be there opening night attempting to start my custom cupcakes and baking venture as the refreshments lady :P Come say hey, check out some wicked artwork from the new upcoming Toronto-grown talent, Wendy Ding, and some enjoy some free cupcakes!

Anyone and everyone with the love for art by Toronto-based artists - and free custom cupcakes - don't be a stranger Thursday, September 2, 2010. Come support your local artists!