We love our brides here at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes, and more than that, we LOVE giving you a little break when we can.  Just call us at 843-342-2611 to get details or grab that date while it’s available.  Don’t forget to check out our wedding tab here, too, for package information.

Happy Mother's Day

If you’ve read this blog before you know that I credit two important women in my life with inspiring me to open Sweet Carolina Cupcakes.  My Mother provided the business inspiration and my Grandmother,  the baking lessons.  While I owe a long and storied post to the guidance that my Mother has given me, this one is about my Grandmother.

In the early days of our little Cupcake Bakery we experimented with a variety of Chocolate Buttercream formulas.  Some were too much “of this” or not enough “of that.”  It seemed like we would never find the perfect mix.  Sitting alone in the bakery after a long frosting test session, buzzing from all the sugar and chocolate sizzling around my bloodstream, it suddenly hit me like a renegade bag of flour falling from the top shelf…My Grandmother’s Fudge recipe!

She used to make the most delicious rich creamy fudge you’d ever tasted.  She even occasionally modified it slightly to make a frosting for a cake that she called “Heavenly Chocolate.”  That was the ticket.   We set out making some test batches to see how it would work.  A tweek here and a tweek there, and finally, we had it.  Sweet Carolina Cupcakes’ Chocolate Buttercream frosting was born!  A rich, creamy concoction owed to the years of baking perfection that my Grandmother had performed.

She loved baking.  It seemed not an event would go by during my childhood that wasn’t blessed with some new and different baked item that she was experimenting with.  Like so many women of the Post-War years, she spent most of her time in the kitchen trying new recipes.  She fastidiously jotted down every one that she ever tried.  All of them. The good ones, the bad ones, and the ugly ones…She and her friends would trade recipes. They would make collective recipe books and give them as gifts for the holidays.  When I inherited this library of foodie-goodness, I had no idea where it would take me.  Today, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Now, I’m not about to give away the recipe.  No sir.  Not for any amount of money or a dream date with George Clooney.  I will tell you this, however; like any good recipe it is based on a few pure, simple ingredients: Grade ‘A’ Butter,  Cream, Cocoa and Sugar.  The rest you’ll have to figure out for yourself.  It’s “heavenly.”

So this post is to say thank you to my Grandmother for not only giving me a gift of delicious Chocolate Buttercream, but for being one of the most wonderful women in the world.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Royal Wedding Cake

 Royal Wedding Cake just in time for your viewing party tomorrow!

In the bakery today and tomorrow.

We're baking Red Velvet every day!

Due to extreme demand we are now baking Red Velvet cupcakes each and every day here at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes.

We know that you love our Red Velvet Cupcakes, and really who could blame you.  We love them too!

So Red.  So Velvety.  So delicious.

Now you can love them anytime you visit us.  Take some home to the kids or just gobble them down right here.

Eat all you want.  We’ll bake more.

In other news we are now offering a wider daily selection of our flavors rotating on a seasonal basis.  We’ve just put up our Spring and Summer menu on our Flavors page.  Check it out!  At present it doesn’t have any of the linked pictures, but not to worry.  Our marketing guy is working as we speak to get new images linked to the page.  For now you’ll just have to stop by the bakery to see what they look (and taste) like.

C’mon by today and help us celebrate.

One of our faves...Classic Vanilla

Hi Y’all. It’s been a while and I just wanted to dash off a note to let everyone know what’s been happening lately around our little Cupcake Bakery.

Since the Hilton Head Bridal Show back February we’ve been busy baking tons of Cupcakes, and Whoopie Pies for all the great folks who have visited us.  WOW.  From the pace we’ve been keeping the last 6 weeks, you’d think it’s the peak of Summer vacation season already. We love that you love our Cupcakes.  If you know us then you know we’re doing the Happy Dance.

Several of our Cupcakes got a bit of press recently from our friends over at the Cupcake Blog. A cool daily blog posting pics of wonderful cupcakes around the web. It’s good to be noticed.  Again, Happy Dance.

If you’ve stopped by recently you might have noticed we’re doing some redecorating.  We’re trying a new store layout in an effort to make our Cupcakes more visually appealing to you, our dear Customer; and easier for us to handle as well.  Hopefully you’ll like it.  It’s been a lot of work ( thanks Dad!) and not quite done yet, so we’ll save the pics for another post.

This week is the Heritage Classic Golf Tournament here on Hilton Head and we’re staying busy serving Cupcakes to all the Plaid-clad folks who have descended upon us.  We love it.  It’s been really great meeting all the wonderful visitors from all over who not only love Golf, but love our Cupcakes too!

Thus far it’s been a wonderful Spring around these parts.  We’re really gearing up for an incredible Summer as well.  So, if you’re coming to see us this Summer drop a note in the comments telling us what flavors you’d like to see.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll put it on the menu when you’re here.

Wedding Dessert Table by Sweet Carolina Cupcakes. Click on the image to view the slideshow.

Here are a few pics we snapped at the 2011 Hilton Head Bridal Show last weekend.

Click on the image above to view the slideshow. We had a great time meeting all the lovely folks who came out to make the event a success. If you missed it this year, mark your calendars for next year.

If you’d like to see more of what we do, check out the Sweet Carolina Cupcakes Flickr page.

All of these and more are going to be on display this Sunday, February 20, at Hampton Hall from 1-4 PM. The 2011 Hilton Head Bridal Showcase sponsored by our old friends at Hilton Head Monthly magazine is THE place for ‘Brides and Grooms To-Be’, Wedding Planners, Cupcakers <wink>, Wedding Photographers, Dress Makers and the Wedding Curious to gather and see what our little Island Paradise has to offer for this year’s Wedding Season.

Hilton Head Bridal Showcase 2011-screenshot from www.hiltonheadbridalshow.com

(Attention Brides To-Be: Make sure to bring a photo of the Happy Couple to the Bridal Showcase for a chance to have your wedding featured in a 2-page spread in Hilton Head Monthly Magazine.)

We’ll be working around the clock for the next 2 days getting the Sweet Carolina Cupcakes’ presentation dialed in just right. Stop by the booth for a taster Cupcake and to check out our new Dessert Table offerings. Susie VanAswegen, our new Cake Designer, will be there to field all of your Wedding Cake questions, and to show off some of her amazing talents.  It’s going to be great!

See you there.

Now back to the kitchen…

Screen shot of google.com/weddings

Typically that means folks are coming from all over, to a place where they don’t normally live, in order to celebrate the most important event in their lives.

At Sweet Carolina Cupcakes, most of our Wedding Clients come from places far and wide. Think: from Atlanta to California to Wisconsin and parts beyond.  That can present a number of challenges.  Not the least of which, communicating all the details with everyone involved.  Add to this unfamiliarity with venues and vendors, and you’re looking at quite a challenge.

Enter,  Google Weddings.

What?  Google Weddings?

Yes, you heard us correctly.

Google has jumped into wedding planning with Google Weddings. A full featured Wedding Planning portal that houses wedding-specific templates in Google Sites, Google Docs and Picnik for save-the-dates, wedding websites, planning materials, invitations and more.

Naturally the next logical question is: Why?

The simple answer: Streamlined communication.

Google Weddings gives you, the Happy Couple,  a set of tools to coordinate all the little details of your big day across the web, so they can be easily and quickly shared with family, friends, guests, caterers, photographers and even your Uncle Larry from Montana.

Cupcake Wedding: Hilton Head Island, SC

We love this kind of stuff.  Even though we practice the humble art of cupcake baking, secretly we’re tech nerds at heart (well, at least our marketing guy is…).  We see ourselves using this to help our cupcake clients plan that Big Day.  Perhaps, even your Wedding Planner will adopt Google Weddings as part of their tool kit.  Why not? It looks like a great resource.

We’d love to know if you think Google Weddings could help you with your Wedding Planning task.

Give it a shot.  So, whadayathink?

Image by PetitPlat Food Art - Stephanie Kilgast via Flickr

“Cupcakes are the new Wedding Cake.”

That was the rallying cry from Wedding Designers nationwide over the last few seasons. So if Cupcakes are top of the heap, then it only goes to reason that something new may come along that is just as cool and kitschy which challenges the rank of Cupcakes.

For a while now we’ve been hearing about the “New Cupcakes.”  Every new dessert fad to come along recently has been heralded as the new alternative to Cupcakes.  Of course we think Cupcakes ARE the new Cupcakes, but there’s always room for speculation. Right?

So, what is a Dessert Table?  If it is indeed the “New Cupcakes, then we want to know.

A Dessert Table is a choreographed collection of dessert items, including Cupcakes, built around a central theme and color scheme.  These collections are often presented as a way to highlight a particular event or design especially at Weddings, but you can also find them at Parties, Galas, Balls, Shindigs, Hoe-downs and/or Fiestas alike.

Hmmm, interesting; but that still doesn’t tell us why they are the “New Cupcakes.”  So, let’s see:

Dessert Tables are trendy and fashionable: Check.

Dessert Tables are cute and colorful: Check.

Dessert Tables are fun and playful: Check.

Dessert Tables are turning up at Weddings everywhere: Aha!

So, that’s it. While we love Cupcakes, when we see a trend emerging at Weddings from London to L.A. we start to take notice.

There are several specialty bakers around who are now focused on Dessert Tables. Amy Atlas Designs being the premier purveyor of this new style. Amy’s designs range from elegant and modern to playful and child-like.  Of course if you do a web search you’ll find tons of examples, the ultimate design can take almost any form. Think Cupcakes, surrounded by a selection of Petit-fours, Whoopie Pies, Cake Pops, Artfully sculpted Cookies, colorful Candied Fruits and even handmade flavored Marshmallows!

Ok, now you really have our attention!

We’ve gotta get on this train. No doubt.  Never to be ones who rely on our past success, we always strive to push the envelope and provide our customers with the most interesting dessert options.  Sweet Carolina Cupcakes will now begin to leverage the expertise and skills of our cake design team and begin working with Dessert Tables.  We plan to roll out our prototype Dessert Table design at the Hilton Head Bridal Show on February 20 at Hampton Hall.  Look for all the neat things listed above and maybe some Top-Secret designs as well. 

Soon after the Hilton Head Bridal Show we will begin offering Dessert Tables to our Wedding Packages just cause we think they’re neat-o and we’re sure you’ll agree.

Would you be interested in a Dessert Table as an alternative to a traditional stand alone Wedding Cake?

We want to hear from all you “Brides-to-be” out there. Tell us what you’d like to see on your Dessert Table.  Really.  We want your input here.  Don’t be shy.  I see you looking.  So tell us…