Happy Hostess House

I visited my first baking specialty shop today.  I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of flavorings, decorations, and such were available, and I was definitely not disappointed.  First, let me attest that Happy Hostess House has just about every cookie cutter known to mankind.  Tiny bitty ones, big giant ones, and everything in between.  And they have candy-making supplies and molds, too.  And wedding cake decorations, and all kinds of shaped cake pans (including some really tiny loaf pans that are just adorable), and oh, my gawd, they had so many kinds of colorings I had no idea what to do with them. 

I had to tear myself away from tiny little jars of sparkly glitter.  One of the ladies who worked there says she likes to use a horsehair brush to dip in the jar, then tap over the cupcake to make the glitter fall on the cupcakes.  And they had all manner of sprinkles and candy to put on top, too.  This will most definitely require further investigation at a later date.

The ladies at Happy Hostess House were helpful and happy to help this noob with her shopping.  I picked up six flavors of LorAnn Oils to try out.  At $1.45 each, I figured why not?  So I got Natural Lime Oil, and Caramel, Key Lime, Chocolate, Eggnog, and Bavarian Cream flavors.  They're so concentrated, you should use an eyedropper to add the flavors slowly, tasting as you go.  You can see the eyedropper on the left of the picture.

I'm looking forward to trying some of these in my buttercream!  Doesn't Key Lime buttercream sound yummy on lemon cupcakes?

I also got a new decorating tip, an Ateco 108.  It's a nice, big tip, and it'll be interesting to see how the swirls will look with this.  Maybe I'll practice some flowers, too.  Successful shopping accomplished!  $12.50 for the lot, too.  :-)