This might be the coolest ever. It even has French macarons on it!! (poster by Erin Jang, via Oh Joy!)

So, a bit of background first: my dear friend and college roommate, Kristi Crow, is really into this fun band, Honor Society. They were the opening band for the Jonas Brothers on their last tour, and they’ve been hitting the road pretty hard with their own tour lately. The last stop is tonight in Birmingham, and coincidentally it’s the bass player’s birthday as well. So Kristi, being the sweetie that she is, ordered some rock-n-roll birthday cupcakes for the band. I think the fondant guitars and bass drum turned out pretty cute! I’m really happy with the how the starburst on the Les Paul turned out. And of course I had to give the birthday boy a sparkly (fondant) birthday candle next to his Fender J Bass. The most challenging part was probably those pesky guitar strings, made out of royal icing. But hey, those cupcakes sure do taste good, and that’s ultimately all the matters right? Right?

And thanks to Kamin for the beautiful picture!

I want to introduce you all to my friend and colleague, Katie Brandon, and her blog, The Thin Chef. She’s the associate editor of TeaTime magazine here at work, has crazy culinary talent, writes beautiful words, and is just overall a lovely person. You should see her silver foil ballet flats. She even insisted on making dinner for my husband and me after he lost his job, and that really just goes to show that great things come out of bad things! Thanks a lot for your support this week, Katie! It really means a lot!

She can even take a mean photo; some of my faves are below. So go enjoy her blog! Go now!

Aye, matey! This pirate birthday cake is chocolate with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with a fondant Jolly Rogers and treasure map. Shiver me timbers! (Insert any further necessary pirate jargon here).

Decorated, 3-layer, 6″ birthday cake feeds approximately 5-8 people and pricing begins at $25.

Sorry for my absence, especially on the heels of the most fun week ever here at BinB. Man, last week was one for the record books as far as stress level goes, but I always find that looking at something gorgeous almost always makes me feel as least a little better. So for today, Ladurée’s macaron menu. Sigh. What I wouldn’t give to be eating macs at a gorgeous Parisian patisserie right now.

The most classic cupcake perhaps of all, in honor of the most classic rock star perhaps of all. A pompadour of sweet, buttery Swiss meringue buttercream frosting literally floats above a rich chocolate cake. Bonus, this bad boy is topped with sugar sprinkles for a little bit of sparkle, fit for a king, or should I say, The King. Sink your teeth into one of these this week at Spoonfed, or…order straight from me!

Have you guys noticed the abundance of people posing with mustaches lately? Just this week I saw it here in cookie form via Bake it Pretty, here in stationery form via 100 Layer Cake, and here in chocolate at Miette’s Patisserie via Tartlette.

Simply stated: I love it, it’s freaking hilarious, and I want it at my Halloween party. But the problem? I didn’t have a mustache candy mold, and I didn’t have time to order one and have it delivered by tomorrow. So I pulled out my Wilton candy melts, some trusty parchment paper, and my pastry paint brushes, and in no time flat I had….THESE!

Don’t Kamin, Sarah, and Kimberly look simply dashing with their chocolate ’staches? Tomorrow at the party I’ll stick them up in a styrofoam block covered with some cool wrapping paper, and hopefully everyone will see the humor and not think they’re chocolate worms or…well…you can use your imagination.

Step by step, ooh baby…

Here’s how to make ‘em when you’re sans a mustache mold:

1. Paint the ’stache shape onto the parchment in a thin layer. Let it set up in freezer for a couple minutes; it doesn’t take long. And remember you can do several of these at a time.

2. Paint a little more and set the skewer on the side. Back into the freezer.

3. Here’s where my method gets a little less…methodical. I literally glopped on, for lack of a better term, the chocolate. It holds well and mounds up nicely, and since you already have the initial chocolate template has already been firmed up in the freezer, it won’t run past the edges into a big chocolate mess. Let it go back into the freezer for a couple more minutes to set.

4. Now you’re pretty much done, but glop on a little more chocolate to give it some depth and texture. It can stay in the freezer almost indefinitely.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who shared in Halloween Week with me! It was a lot of fun, and we’ll have some post-holiday wrap-up stuff next week. Dunno about you, but I can’t wait for next year!

Photos by Kamin!

I’ve been waiting months to make Oreo truffles for my party. My friends love them. My co-workers love them. And I get the ugly ones all to myself; I don’t even share with Zack. Amy Atlas had some really cute brownie pops in ghost and pumpkin form (right here), and I loved how she put the stick coming out of the top instead of trying to defy gravity and putting the stick on the bottom. Once again I used the Wilton Sparkle Gel, which I’m still feeling pretty mixed emotions towards. I’m so happy with how they turned out, and I can’t wait to keep nommin’ on them on Saturday!

I know you’re dying to know how to make these. I’d tell you, but since these are the brainchild of the amazing Bakerella, you gotta go here. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Don’t worry, condensation happened on the surface because I pulled these out the freezer right before I shot them, which is where they’ll stay until the morning of the party, which is when they’ll go to the fridge, and then to room temp a couple hours before the guests arrive. You can wipe the condensation off easily with a paper towel.

One more just for kicks and giggles…I had just gotten in my Halloween Johnny Cupcakes shirt that morning, so…

And by the way, those amazing skull and crossbone doilies are straight from my all-time favorite pastry decor supply website, Bake It Pretty. Thanks for the awesomeness, Amanda!

And one more thing…Oreo truffles can be made to suit any occasion, so if you’d like for the Atomic Cakery to whip some up for your next occasion, just email malindakay@ymail.com!

It’s a Halloween twofer today, folks! My friend Chantel and her boyfriend Tyler have started brewing their own beer. I’m fascinated by it. What an awesome hobby! Some people knit, I bake, and Chantel makes beer. Rad. A few weeks ago I tried some of her pumpkin ale, and while I’m the first to admit that I’m not a beer connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, I really enjoyed this! She was gracious enough to brew some more for me for Saturday’s Halloween party, and if you ask nicely, she might even brew some for you!

(Gorgeous photo by nonother than Kamin Willliams, who seems to be having a down day, so go to her blog and tell her how fabulous she is!)

Clearly, my French mac and pumpkin spice fever is as strong as ever. I firmly believe, and who can argue with me, that pumpkin and chocolate are culinary soulmates. And the color combination is gorgeous too!

Cocoa Macarons:
3 egg whites
3 tbs granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup almonds
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa

Filling:
1 1/2 cups of your favorite buttercream

3 1/2 tbs pumpkin puree

1 tbs (more or less to taste) pumpkin pie spice

Zap eggwhites in the microwave for about 20 seconds. (This mimics the aging process of the egg whites. You’re supposed to leave them out on your countertop for 48 hours, but personally I don’t have the forthought to do such a thing.) With the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites to a foam, then slowly add the granulated sugar until your meringue is nice and glossy. In the meantime, pulse the almonds in your food processor till they are finely ground. Add in the powdered sugar and cocoa and pulse until combined. Fold the powdered sugar/almond mixture into the meringue until just combined, which shouldn’t be more than 40 or 50 strokes.

Now the (kinda) tricky part: This batter is very thick, so don’t let it sit and stabilize in the mixing bowl. Go ahead and Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium-sized round tip. (I used a Wilton #12.) Pipe 1-inch circles onto parchment paper. Important: let them stand on the baking sheet for at least 30 minutes so they can set up. If you immediately put them in the oven, they won’t get that cute textured side we all love so much. Go ahead and preheat the oven to 280F. Bake for 20 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes; if you have trouble getting them off the parchment, add a little bit of cold water under the parchment and they should pop right off.

Pumpkin Spice Filling:

Mix all ingredients together!