Cupcakes Galore!

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes - that was this week's theme for our Cake Decorating course! We were very excited to try our hand at crafting these fancy delicacies! Cupcakes are so popular these days, with so many new bakeries focused entirely on these mini treats, so it made sense to see the in's and out's of perfecting the 'cupcake'!

We made a batch of vanilla cupcakes at home and buttercream icing (which we dyed blue, green, yellow and orange) to bring in. We used a tip to fill the cupcakes with seedless raspberry jam. After eating them, we realized that we could have put a bit more jam in, but seeing as the jam was squirting out while we were filling the cupcake, we were sure that there was enough! Oh well, live and learn! The jam was definitely a delicious added touch and nicely complimented the taste of the vanilla cupcakes! Now that we know how easy it is to add filling to a cupcake, our creative minds are bursting with the possibilities of future cupcakes... :) Peanut butter....chocolate...mmmm

During class, we learned a TON of different flowers as well as how to make leaves! Star flowers, swirl flowers, rosettes, pom-pom flowers, and shaggy mums (which we aren't big fans of) were all a little challenging at first, but with practice we got them down. They definitely take a lot of patience, time, and steady hands, all of which we are improving at week after week! Being the perfectionists that we are, it takes a lot of strength to step away from the flower and let it be - sometimes trying to change it will only make it worse (yes, speaking from experience...haha).

Overall, we were decently pleased with our results, but given that we were rather rushed at the end of class and were surrounded by an enormous pile of messy piping bags, tips, spatulas and icing bowls, we probably focused more on finishing faster than we should have. However, all that means is that we should practice more - and we're definitely ok with that!! The cupcakes did taste great though, so that's a good sign!



Our cupcakes



We can't believe that next week is our last class!! We get to bring in our own cake and decorate it however we want - a free for all! We're learning roses too, so that should be fun! We'll have to put our thinking caps on for cake ideas - any suggestions??

As of right now, we're not ready to open our bakery, as no one would want to buy our rather odd 'rookie' looking cupcakes...but we're getting there! Who knows - maybe one day?!