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So, if all went well at the bridal show today at Maryvale Prep School, my eight dozen minis were a success! I am very happy with the way they turned out last night.
The boyfriend's mom is the manager at Peerce's Plantation--a very tasty restaurant not too far from my house--and participates/caters events often. It turned out that there was an upcoming bridal show that she needed to order cupcakes for. They usually deal exclusively with this one bakery in Catonsville, however, they do not sell mini cupcakes. This is where I come in.
Kelly decided to order from Liv's Bakery since she wanted some minis for the bridal show! The best part about it was, she left it up to me to decide on what flavor to make. The only request was white icing with something light blue on top. Piece of cake! I knew exactly what I was going to look for at Michael's Craft Store. Light blue pearl sugar sprinkles to decorate the vanilla butter cream. And I got exactly what I was looking for :)
I decided to do four dozen chocolate and four dozen vanilla bean. For some reason, I don't really make chocolate cupcakes that often (it's a popular, generic flavor right!?) so I wasn't sure which recipe I wanted to use. I found a VERY simple chocolate cupcake recipe on cooks.com. I started reading the reviews and everyone seemed to LOVE these gosh darn chocolate cupcakes. The recipe was really general so I changed the directions as well.
I made them my own by...adding some vanilla extract, reduced the sugar since it seemed like a lot, used apple cider vinegar instead of regular, and used milk instead of water. Next time when using this recipe, I plan to add some melted semi-sweet chocolate chips or Baker's chocolate squares to increase the chocolate flavor. It was enough, but could have been more chocolatey for those die hard cocoa fans!!
What I liked about the chocolate recipe: It incorporated oil which I've discovered makes cupcakes as moist as they can possibly be. This recipe also DOES NOT use eggs or butter. Amazing how they turned out impeccable without these things!! The vinegar is a preservative and keeps them from drying out (otherwise, this is why you use eggs) and the oil makes for a hell of a great substitute for butter.
I used my all time favorite vanilla bean cupcake recipe...the "Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake" recipe which are cupcakes that end up so light and airy it almost makes you think nothing is in the mini cupcake liner. The presence of air bubbles after baking lets you know they are not too dense and that you didn't over mix the batter before baking. Success #2!!
The most time consuming part of this journey...was adding the blue pearls on top of the icing. Make sure to do this while the icing is still soft...butter cream tends to harden up real quickly. The whole order took me about three hours to complete but would have been done in two had this part not taken so long. It's all about making the order look pretty though and I was successful in that part I think!
I can't wait to hear the feedback from Kelly and Megan after the bridal show!
Random fact of the day: If you decide to make a butter cream recipe for your cupcakes/cake that doesn't include confectioner's sugar, it won't harden up. I've tried a different butter cream icing that used egg whites and granulated sugar and it is absolutely amazing (recipe in one of my recent blog posts) and it does not harden. I prefer using traditional butter cream with confectioner's sugar because they are less likely to get ruined when transporting my orders.
Next up in February: A Super Bowl order for Mrs. Jo...vanilla bean and s'mores cupcakes with black & purple butter cream! Then a baby shower order for Cassandra...vanilla bean cupcakes with whipped cream and fruit. Then 200 mini red velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day at Peerce's Plantation. Busy month for sure!!
Cheers!
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