Autumn Wedding Cupcakes

Wow … Christmas sure got in the way of my cupcake making!  And writing.  And a lot of other things, too.

The cupcakes for wedding #2 came out really well.  The candies were a hit, too.

We finally settled upon Carrot Cake cupcakes, Snickers cupcakes, and white wedding cake cupcakes.  Although we were using previously tried flavors, the decoration needed personalizing.  The wedding colors were the colors of fall leaves, with orange being the dominant. 

I made the white cupcakes with the same recipe as I used for the sunflower cupcakes earlier.  Our bride-to-be really hadn't requested anything particular as decoration and I really wanted them to be pretty and special for her.  Up until now, I really hadn't done much with flowers.  All I could come up with was a deep yellow rose, leaves … it was just very abstract in my mind.  Not having made roses since my class a year earlier, I wasn't entirely sure I could do it, but … I did!

Unfortunately, I didn't have the brains to take photos of the process.  It really was kind of a struggle, though.  The edges of my rose petals were incredibly jagged.  I know a little bit makes it look more "natural" but this was AWFUL.  It was hot in the kitchen so I thought the frosting consistency was wrong.  I tried making it really soft.  Didn't work.  Tried really tight.  Didn't work.  FINALLY thought to go get a new rose tip.  Mine was a tiny bit bent.  Amazingly, that was the problem! 

 So … I made a bunch of yellow roses.

And then … I put them onto the newly frosted cupcakes and added tan leaves, burgundy flowers and green vining leaves.  Um .. I may have gone a little crazy.  But they sure were pretty!

I was disappointed in my Snickers cupcakes.  They tasted perfect, but I topped them with chocolate trees trimmed with fall colored leaf sprinkles.    I couldn't think of any way to frost the cupcakes with seriously gooey caramel, so I simply pushed the tree into the top of the cupcake and sprinkled a few leaves on top.  Also … I didn't take the height into consideration.  When we started putting them in my smaller cupcake stands, they were too tall and we ended up having to almost place them flat on top.  Thank goodness the cupcake was universally loved!

Here are the steps for the trees:

Cupcakes for Wedded Bliss

It's over!  My baby boy is married to a wonderful girl and they are off on their honeymoon.  And I didn't embarrass them OR myself - the cupcakes were apparently a hit.  :)

There have been many times in past "projects" that I have maybe "bitten off more than I can chew" and afterward swear I will never do that again.  This is NOT one of those times.  

Despite getting only 6 hours sleep in the 48 hours prior to the wedding and having my feet and legs swell from standing for so long -- it was a TON of work, but I would SO do it again! 

The last couple of weeks were just too busy with wedding preparations, experiments, events, and baking (plus my oldest son had a surprise closing on his first house the Friday before the wedding, so we added some celebrating and moving to  all the other things necessary for the week of the wedding!)  I never really had a chance to write anything or edit any photos, so I'm getting a little caught up here.

• Lizard Confetti Cupcakes:  I found a lizard candy mold and pressed black pre-made fondant into it, then used a  fine decorating tip (#3, I think) to decorate them.  They turned out really cute!

• White Chocolate Frosting:  I made another batch of the chocolate cupcakes with the white chocolate icing and increased the amount of white chocolate.  What I found is that I still have to increase the amount of powdered sugar and it really didn't accomplish much.  I also discovered that this frosting does not travel well - particularly if it's hot outside.  And because it never really sets up, it's next to impossible to remove the cupcakes from the cardboard holders without squishing the frosting and sometimes the cupcake, too.

• FINALLY got the sunflower cupcake decorating perfected!  I'm really pleased!
• The little black and white sugar decorations I used on the white chocolate cupcakes a) weren't as large as the ones I printed and used when I was experimenting and b) because they were small, the white on white color disappeared into the frosting.

• A vintage hatbox - the clear plastic kind with a "quilted" lid and base - will work to transport a cake that is larger/taller than a typical Tupperware type cake taker.

• Purchasing cardboard boxes and cupcake inserts is the ONLY way to move 130 cupcakes from one location to another.

• Once cream cheese and buttercream frostings are WELL set up, they travel pretty well and are reasonably easy to remove from said boxes.  Squishy frosting that never really sets solidly (aka white chocolate) is a big problem.

• I learned how to use gum paste to make awesome sunflowers to decorate the 8" cake - all by myself <patting self on back> and they were delightful!

• Purchasing an 8" styrofoam dummy cake to practice is an EXCELLENT idea.  I was able to play around with colors, sizes, and ideas to see what worked without taking a chance on the real cake.  (I'll post a photo of the real cake soon!)

 

I'm still cleaning the kitchen.  There was a lovely, very fine layer of powdered sugar in my baking corner and I swear I used just about every piece of baking equipment in my kitchen.  Most of that is already clean, so today's main project is reorganizing and putting things away AND washing the cupcake stands.  The kitchen looks rather barren without all the cupcake equipment that has lived there, fairly permanently, for the last 3 months!

I'll post some photos of the finished cupcakes soon.

Countdown to W Day Begins

Holy cupcake, Batfriends!  That little alarm just went off in my head.  The first wedding is less than a month away now! 

Yesterday, I decided I'd better try my own version of Funfetti.  We're going to use pink and black sprinkles and I put them in Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake mix.  And I added 1 tsp of clear vanilla just to see what happens.

So far, 24 cupcakes have been pretty reliable from the cake mixes I've used.  I intended to make 24 and try to squeek out a 25th so I could frost 5 in each design in each different cupcake wrapper to see how it comes out.   You know that saying about the best laid plans…

The BTB (Bride To Be) chose the 5 different cupcake papers.  2 are single colors (fuchsia and black) and the other 3 are patterned.  When I loaded the papers into the cupcake pans, I noticed that the single color ones seemed lighter weight but didn't think much of it. 

Pink &Black Liners are the tiniest bit shorter

When the cupcake batter was scooped into the cups, I only had 22 and managed to get a 23rd by scraping and scraping the bowl and taking a little bit from each of the other cupcakes.  What the heck?  I set them side by side and found that the plain black and plain pink ones are slightly shorter.  Unconsciously, I must have put more batter in the larger cups.  ALSO -- so far these papers haven't peeled!

I'm feeling a little more secure after decorating the cupcakes - I know I can do it now.  BTB approved all decorations and the amount of the jimmies used to make the custom funfetti cake.

I learned:

1. I'm blind.  I couldn't find the black and white wedding decoration sugar thingies at Country Kitchen, so printed the picture of them, cut them out and stuck the paper on so BTB could see what it would look like.  Almost.  We stopped by Country Kitchen and asked … the black & white sugar thingies were there all along.  I just couldn't see them!
2. If I'm piping on the frosting, don't put a crumb coat on - it looks weird.
3. The fancy carrot decorations look a LOT better than the little ones, even if in a cluster.  (Although, I wonder  how they'd look if I added fuzzy tops by hand.)
4. I am still not happy with my sunflowers. 

5. Am I the only one who thinks the black jimmies on the pink frosting look like mouse (pardon me) turds?

6. Speaking of looking like turds…. I need a LOT more practice using the large round tip to frost.

7. I still don't know why these cupcake papers haven't peeled.  The pink and white swirl ones and the zebra stripe ones are made by the same company that makes the ones I had so much trouble with (lemon cupcakes).  The only difference I can find is that there is a cupcake logo on the bottom of the troublesome liners.  Maybe those are different than the others?

 

8. For safety's sake, I need to bake most of the cupcakes in white Betty Crocker papers and then put them into the decorative ones.
9. The pink frosted cupcakes were supposed to have black lizards with pink features.  A squiggled blob of black frosting doth not a lizard make.  I could be in trouble here.  

Easter Egg "Nests"

Jelly Bean Easter Egg "Nests"

Before I started dinner on Easter Sunday, I wanted to make those cupcakes I'd been wishing so desperately to make for two weeks.  

The goal this time was to use a white cake mix to determine if it would be an acceptable "wedding cake".  When I took the cake decorating class, I was shocked to learn that they actually use the same old cake mix from the grocery with the addition of a little bit of almond flavoring.

I used Duncan Hines Classic White cake mix and added 1 Tbls of almond flavoring.  Apparently, I've never used that particular mix because I've always make white cake with the entire egg, not just the whites.  I never know what to do with the yolks left over.  The directions didn't give me the option of using the whole egg so I used just the whites.  I'll figure out what to do about those yolks, eventually!  Note to self:  make a list of things to do with just egg whites and just egg yolks.

The consistency of the batter as I scooped it into the cupcake wrappers reminded me of marshmallow cream.  It makes sense because marshmallows are mostly egg whites and sugar.

Another thing I noticed is the difference between the cupcake wrappers I'd gotten at Country Kitchen and the ones I'd been getting at the grocery.  The "specialty" papers  are quite a lot heavier! 

The virgin run of the convection oven!  I have 4  cupcake pans -- 1 will accommodate 12 cupcakes and is a lightweight aluminum.  The other 3 hold 6 cupcakes each and are heavier aluminum and 2 of them have gotten quite dark over time.

White Wedding Cake Cupcakes from the Oven

I loaded the pans into the lower oven - the convection oven - on two shelves, one each side of the oven.  The pan holding the 12 cupcakes started to get a bit golden on the top so I checked them and they appeared to be done but the two pans of 6 cupcakes weren't.  I took out the first 12 and started letting them cool and kept a close eye on the remaining cupcakes, which took about 5 minutes longer.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect it may have something to do with the heavier weight pans and that they were darker.  The main thing is, all three pans had really nice looking cupcakes with NO burnt bottoms!

While the cupcakes finished cooling, I mixed up my buttercream frosting and colored it with leaf green paste color.  Then, using a #233 decorating tip - it has lots of tiny holes - I covered the cupcakes with "grass".  I learned this in the class I took and they were a bit more nest-like.  I found it difficult to do in class and couldn't quite recreate it this time, either.  I like the look of grass, so that's what I went with.  Then added three jelly beans for color and voila!  Easter eggs "hidden" in the grass!  

This is really quick and easy.  I'm going to try to think of more ways to use this tip.  One thing I did learn is that, my frosting was a bit dry at first.  It took a lot of effort to squeeze it through those tiny holes.  After I thinned it with a tiny bit of milk, it was much easier and went a lot faster.

As for the cupcakes, they were wonderful!  Very moist and soft - almost like angel food but not so dense.  The addition of a tablespoon of almond flavoring seems to give it the "wedding cake" flavor, too!