The Holidays

I love this time of year. I love the hassle of putting up the lights, decorating the tree only to pick up broken bulbs that our excited pup has knocked off with his forever wagging tail, the way my children meticulously plan their letters to Santa...all of it. And it's at this time of year that I sit back and look at my life and really count my blessings, for which I have a lot to be thankful for.

I am so excited and anxious and... if truth be told, a little nervous to see what this next year will bring. What I do know, is I wouldn't have it any other way.

So friends... sleep well, love much, laugh often and dream big. It's all the little things that will make you happy.

Holly

PS- Here's some new pictures for you to peruse.

Testers, testers, calling all taste testers!

We meet again! So, I can't believe the responses I've been getting on my cupcakes! It's been fantastic!! I have been making all kinds of different flavors and passing them out to my family, my friends, strangers on the street...you laugh but I'm serious! :) So, if you're interested in being part of the tasting crew and you live locally (sorry all my fellow cupcake lovers afar) let me know!

Other news: I've been asked to make cupcakes for a wedding, a birthday party and movie night at my kid's school...and that's just from word of mouth. I haven't done any real marketing yet. I'm waiting on my techie genius Alec to get my website and printed materials set to go before I do any "real" marketing.

I also have a couple of leads for co-oping a commercial kitchen. Wahoo! I'll keep you posted on that.

So, I leave you with some pictures of my latest creations!

Enjoy!

Top 2 pictures: dark chocolate cake, ganache bottom, and raspberry meringue frosting

Middle 2 pictures: banana cake, peanut butter frosting and drizzled chocolate ganache

Bottom 2 pictures: graham cracker crust with dark Belgian chocolate, chocolate cake, marshmallow frosting toasted (S'mores)

Cupcakes, cupcakes, I love cupcakes!

It's raining like crazy right now...Great baking weather! I'm about to try a new recipe I haven't made before and can't wait to see how it comes out! Before I do though, I wanted to post some pictures of some cupcakes I recently made. Thanks for all the support and ideas I've gotten since my initial post! It's awesome!

These were made for a couple of Halloween parties we had. The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla bean buttercream frosting and sprinkles, "scary owls" were chocolate with chocolate buttercream, and lemon cupcake with lemon curd filling and lemon meringue. They were all a hit!

The top picture is the maple french toast and bacon cupcakes I made. The smell of my house while these were baking was amazing! And they were very tasty too! The other pictures are tophats: chocolate with vanilla bean buttercream and a buttercream filling, and dipped in chocolate ganache. Yum!!

Stay tuned...

The Beginning...

Greetings Fellow Cupcake Connoisseurs!

Admittedly, I am new to the blogging scene but I've never been one to shy away from new experiences; so it begins...

My story starts with a need...a desire...to be creative and do what I love. I've spent the last few years starting a family. While I love, love, love my family, I was feeling a little uninspired when it came to my professional life. I started a successful business which I subsequently sold and embarked on a career as a financial advisor. Mind you, in my twenties I envisioned myself as a broker on Wall Street, living the fast life, making lots of money and enjoying my youth. I went to college where I majored in Economics to fully understand capitalism, market trends, etc, etc.. And then, I fell in love. My college sweetheart (who went on to become my husband) was a Vermonter, through and through. I quickly gave up the idea of living the NYC life and moved to beautiful Vermont. One thing led to another, we got married, bought a house, started a family...all the things I never really envisioned when I was in my early twenties. Fast forward to today.

After taking a few side roads, I finally came back to financial planning which is what I sought to do way back when. After a year in the business, I realized that what was important to me back then, certainly wasn't now. This past year, with the markets tanking, and having to sit across from clients who watched their portfolios go down 30-40% and telling them they couldn't retire, I decided to make a change. And that is when my dreams became filled with cupcakes. I was baking a lot to relieve stress and found that when I was creating different cupcakes, I was happy. So, I thought "life is too short to do something you don't love". So, with a smile on my face I walked away from the financial kingdom and put on my apron.

With a lot of love and support from my family and my friends I am embarking on a new adventure. One filled with excitement, creativity and happiness. Happy Birthday Green Mountain Cupcakes!

Stay tuned for updates on this journey, pictures, funny anecdotes and everything in between!

And so it begins...