Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes

I have fallen behind on my blogging because I have been busy with school work, as well as busy making cupcakes. In the past two weeks I have made close to 350 cupcakes. That is A LOT of cupcakes for me.

Recent Events


June 12th: My Grandfather’s Remembrance Celebration
A few months ago my grandfather died of a form of dementia called Lewy Bodies (RIP Daddaddy). It was a sad time for my family because my grandfather was a great person who I could always count on to cheer me up with a funny joke. Instead of having a funeral, my family decided to have a celebration of life. Many years ago, my grandfather owned race horses. His jockey silk colors were red and white. When planning the event my father asked me if I would make cupcakes. He envisioned a picture of the jockey silks made out of cupcakes. He had seen something similar done on DC Cupcakes and wondered if I would be up for the job. Of course I quickly agreed! I wanted to contribute something special to my grandfather's celebration.

As I mapped out the design, I realized that it was going to take around 225 cupcakes to complete the picture of the silks. The biggest order I have had prior to this project was 50 cupcakes. Yikes! I decided to make a lemon cake (recipe via My Baking Addiction) with buttercream icing. The original recipe calls for cream cheese icing, but I wanted a strong icing that would hold up well if the venue happened to be warm. I baked all the cupcakes solo, which took around seven or eight hours.

The next day I spent making the icing, cutting out the fondant, and putting everything together. Luckily I had the help of my cousin and aunt; without them I don't know if I would have made it. My cousin was a huge help in directing where each color went on the board of cupcakes. All in all, I think the project was a success. I really liked how the picture turned out. My only criticism is the cupcakes were a little bit dry. However, everyone who tried them said they were tasty.


June 18th: My Cousin’s Bridal Shower
A week later, I had another celebration to attend. This time celebrating a bride-to-be! My cousin is getting married in September and her wedding colors are peacock colors (purple, teal, blue, green). So much fun! When my aunt asked me to make cupcakes, I knew I just had to do something fun and creative for her bridal shower. I decided to make vanilla cupcakes filled with chocolate mousse topped with colorful buttercream icing and fondant peacock heads.

I have to be honest, these were very time consuming and somewhat frustrating to make, but all the trouble was worth it because the end product is so cute! The hardest part of this project was probably making the fondant peacocks. I tried my best to make every one uniformed, but they all turned out a little bit different. Guess you could say it gave them personality, right?

The next hardest part was the icing. I had envisioned a feathered back using a leaf tip. When I was at the store, I asked someone for advice. They said I should use a smaller leaf tip since I was working with a cupcake. So much for the help; this did not work out at all. The morning of the event, I tried icing the cupcakes with the leaf tip and it turned into a big mess. At the last minute, I decided to use a star tip. In the end, I really liked how it turned out. Though not exactly what I had in mind, everyone loved them. They were very yummy and turned everyones' mouths an awesome shade of bluish-purple.

I had fun completing both of these projects and look forward to the next cupcake adventure!