Saturday, May 31, 2008

milestones!




















in honour of the one year anniversary of the launch of http://www.clevercupcakes.com i thought it only appropriate to post one of this week's many birthday boxes!

i was impressed when last week an order came in all the way from london, england until a few days later a woman in kenya ordered these chocolate orange cupcakes with chocolate buttercream for her daughter's 21st birthday.

these cupcakes were also the last dozen to be baked before the start of my well earned one week vacation. clever cupcakes will officially be closed from june 1-9, 2008.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

daycare appreciation cupcakes

after receiving orders for teacher appreciation cupcakes for high schools and elementary schools, this time the challenge was to come up with designs for cupcakes to thank workers at a local daycare for all their hard work. what did we come up with you ask? how about apples, ABC blocks, little hand prints, and the cutest handmade fondant crayons you have ever seen! the crayons turned out so well i had to assure everyone at the daycare that they were in fact edible. the cupcakes were each individually packaged in plastic containers topped with bundles of primary coloured ribbons. the cuteness factor was through the roof on this order! now the only teachers we have yet been asked to thank are university professors...

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Thursday, May 22, 2008

first birthday cupcakes

life is full of firsts many of which occur during the first year of life. what better way to celebrate a first birthday than with cupcakes? for khai's first birthday his mom ordered chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with coconut and blueberry buttercream frostings, yum! one special cupcake was decorated just for the birthday boy. i think khai's mom's words sum it up best:

Thank you very much..
The cupcakes were great.
The concept of cupcakes is wise.
The kids had fun.



Monday, May 19, 2008

spiderman cupcakes

of course the boys got their say as well! for the "head start" program's graduation party the boys chose spiderman cupcakes.


dora the explorer cupcakes

a big achievement of some local pre-kindergarten kids was celebrated last week with clever cupcakes. when the call to make cupcakes for the "head start" program's graduation party was received many cupcake designs were suggested including crayons, graduation caps, and finger painted hand prints. however, it seems even at 4 years old kids know what they want! the girls in the class almost unanimously asked for dora the explorer cupcakes, and that is what they got.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

let's not forgot the classic cupcakes!

i received a very nice thank you recently from a client who ordered some classic cupackes for a wedding shower:

I just wanted to write you a note to let you know how delicious your cupcakes were, they were a big hit at the wedding shower. We really wanted to do cupcakes for the event, but were on a budget and were really impressed by your price. They were honestly fresher and better tasting then any of your competitors that we tried and the service was awesome! Thank you!

this e-mail made me realize that in focusing on our creative cupcakes i feel like i have been neglecting our delicious classic cupcakes. fact is, it has been so busy lately there just isn't enough time to take pictures of all our orders before they go out the door! below are some photos from recent weeks of some of our classic cupcakes that were lucky enough to get their portraits taken.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

golf mini cupcakes

i was a bit worried when an order for mini cupcakes for a golf themed party was received. i rarely decorate mini cupcakes and since they are so small i was worried i wouldn't be able to achieve the amount of detail that i wanted. in the end i was very glad with how they turned out. topped with fondant golf balls, tees, flags, argyle, and embossed golf words they really looked great together. in case you were wondering the flag posts are made from popeye cigarettes!


cupcakes by bluecupcake

in march of this year one of my uncle's dreams came true; a musical he and his friends had been working on for many years finally hit the stage. i would have loved to bake him cupcakes to celebrate his opening night, but since he is in los angeles i had to find another solution. i posted a request on the cupcakes take the cake discussion board asking if anyone in the los angeles area could make cupcakes for him in my place. julie from blue cupcake responded and offered to help me out. she made the most deliciouos chocolate and vanilla cupcakes filled with chocolate mousse and since the musical, "the smartest man in the world", was about einstein's life she topped them with the most awesome einstein decorations! my uncle was so surprised by his special cupcake delivery, and so impressed by the decorations that he brought the cupcakes to the show and shared them with the cast.

this mother's day i got to return the favour. julie asked me to prepare cupcakes for her mother and mother-in-law in montreal and i gladly obliged. the cupcake giving circle is now complete! if you are in the los angeles area be sure to check out blue cupcake.

another first


More Cupcakes!
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes
the craziness of mother's day lead to another first; our first forgotten order! i felt crushed when i received the message from a client whose mother did not receive her mother's day cupcakes. she had placed her order so early it accidentally got filed with those that had been delivered during the week before. i expressed my sincerest apologies, refunded the client, and offered to deliver her cupcakes the following day. luckily she was very understanding and graciously accepted both my apologies and solution. now time to figure out a more efficient filing system to ensure this never happens again!

mother's day

this was our first mother's day at clever cupcakes. we offered a "just for mom" special of vanilla cupcakes with raspberry, lemon, and vanilla buttercream and the option of adding beautiful fondant flowers. orders came in from near and far. and when i say far i mean far; we received our first order from australia! unfortunately we also had to turn down several requests to ship our cupcakes to the US. it looks like i am going to have to explain more explicitly on our website that we only deliver to addresses in montreal, canada.


Thursday, May 8, 2008

"mario" and his nintendo cupcakes

it turns out that the 31st birthday nintendo cupcakes were actually for a whole nintendo themed party! a friend of the birthday boy got this great shot of him contemplating which cupcake to eat first. i was so glad to see this photo, because with most orders the cupcakes are delivered in a white bakery box tied with a nice ribbon so i don't get to see the recipient's reaction to the designs, nor do i get to see them enjoying their cupcakes. i wonder which cupcake he ended up chosing?

do you have pictures of people enjoying clever cupcakes? if so e-mail them to clevercupcake@clevercupcakes.com and we will post them on our blog!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

balloon cupcakes!


Balloon Cupcake
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes
and finally we are onto may! last week a little boy who loves balloons turned 3 years old, so his mom decided to celebrate with a balloon themed party including balloon cupcakes. that's where we come in. we topped this little boys cupcakes with handmade fondant decorations made to look like balloons before they are inflated which all together spelled out his name. there were also cupcakes topped with 3-D balloons with licorice strings. happy birthday alexander!


nintendo super mario brothers cupcakes

some orders are so much fun to make i think i should be be paying my clients instead of the other way around! i grew up playing super mario brothers so having an excuse to make nintendo cupcakes for a second time was great. on top of the 6 designs that had been done previously i added the bricks, question mark, flower power, coin, 1up mushroom, and my new favourite; blooper! these cupcakes were ordered for a 31st birthday party. mario's cap has the birthday boy's initial.

"Thanks again for the cupcakes. EVERYONE loved them and my boyfriend thought they were fantastic! I hope to use you again for my next event and I'm sure some of my guests are going to be contacting you in the future.


high school teacher appreciation cupcakes

when the order was received from a local high school for teacher appreciation cupcakes i couldn't wait to get started. my mother was a teacher and while i was a good student i was definitely on the bratty side so i appreciate all the hard work teachers put in on a daily basis and was excited to be a part of thanking them. the plan was to have all 96 cupcakes individually packed to be put as a surprise in each of the teacher's boxes. we had already done a similar order for an elementary school but i wanted to make sure the decorations for this order were slightly more mature. i kept the book, apple, and pencil designs, updated the A+ test design, and added graduation caps, as well as the school initials. I was really happy with how they turned out, and so was the school vice-pricipal.

"Just wanted to let you know that the cupcakes were a huge success. The teachers' loved them. I got compliments on them all day long. You really went all out - thank-you. I was really impressed with your decorations - you even checked out our school colours - wow! They looked really great in the containers all lined up in the teachers' mailboxes! Thank you so much - everything was perfect."


birthday boxes from near and far!

my favourite orders to fill are those sent from people far away to their friends, relatives, or colleagues in montreal. i somehow feel a sense of responsibility to properly convey their sentiments. the most popular item ordered by out of towners seems to be the clever cupcakes birthday box, though it is also popular with offices in the city. it really is a party in a box; vibrant colours, cupcakes, candles, balloons, what more can you ask for? in april we had birthday boxes ordered from people in many US states including massachusetts, pennsylvania and virgina as well as a bunch of orders from ontario. we are yet to receive a birthday box order from overseas. the first person from another continent who places an order for clever cupcakes and adds a birthday box will receive the birthday box for free!

Monday, May 5, 2008

sweet 16 cupcakes


Sweet 16 Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes
how cool would it have been to have cupcakes delivered to your classroom when you were young? we'll for her 16th birthday one one lucky girl was surprised with these chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buttercream at school. her mom was thrilled with how they turned out, but disappointed she didn't get to taste any.

"thanks so much they look delicious and i cannot believe she didn't even save me one!!

little blue car cupcakes


Car Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes
word of mouth is a great thing! this order came from a woman who worked at the company who had ordered the fashion birthday cupcakes. she enjoyed them so much she decided to order some for her 3 year old son's birthday who is a car fanatic.

argyle cupcake


Argyle Cupcake
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes
this cupcake was just so cute i thought it deserved a post of its own!

men's fashion line birthday cupcakes

this order was received at the very last minute. they only information provided was that the cupcakes were for the birthday of an executive of a large clothing company and they should have a fashion theme. i went to the company website for inspiration and came up with these cupcakes based on an outfit from the company's spring line.

bustier and tuxedo engagement party cupcakes

another very exciting order came from a local television and radio celebrity. she had seen the bustier cupcake on the clever cupcakes website and wanted them in red for her engagement party. she asked if i could suggest anything for them men, so i designed her tuxedo cupcakes for her engagement party as well. I was a bit stressed knowing our cupcakes were being eaten by a room full of her celebrity friends, so i was relieved to hear from her after the party.

"everybody loved the cupcakes!"


despite all my rage i am still just a rat in a cupcake box

the orders that are the most fun to do are those that allow for creative interpretation. one such order was for rat themed cupcakes. after some though i decided to make our clever cupcakes delivery box into a little rat maze with a hunk of cheese at the end. the fondant rat turned out a little too realistic to eat if you ask me!

montreal canadiens cupcakes

growing up in montreal it is in your blood to be a habs fan. our hockey team hasn't won a stanley cup for 15 years, but this april marked the first time in many years that they had a fighting chance. many people showed their support for their hockey team by hanging flags from their cars, i choose instead to make montreal canadiens cupcakes.