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The Cupcake Thread!

Hi, everyone!!

Ok, so I rarely ever post on PS but I just had to post this time...

I had never been into cooking (much less BAKING) in my 34 years of having the privelege of being on this planet...but this thread (thanks to Mara ) has brought the baker out in me that I never knew existed!!

I got my arse up and actually baked my very first cupcakes this past Sunday--and I decorated them (nicely, if I do say so myself!) to boot!!

Alright, so, I wanted to know if anyone has any pointers for a TOTAL-newbie baker?! This first batch of cupcakes has got me completely fired up and looking into all this great stuff on Google---it''s amazing...my MOM is even amazed that I''m asking for recipes!

I''ve got to take a pic of my "very first cupcakes" and post it on here--for everyone to critique
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Thanks Mara! Did you decide to do the last minute order? I seem to get a lot of last minute orders and am very bad at saying no.

Thanks DandiAndi! It''s really not hard to make the decorations. I just took a piece of fondant, added some food coloring, mixed and rolled it in, cut the shape and voila! Of course, mine didn''t harden as they were supposed to but that''s a problem due to the climate where I live. I''ve gotten some tips and will try again one of these days soon. I just made some more designs using candy melts so hopefully those won''t melt once out of the ''frig. I used the candy melts this time, instead of melting regular chocolate.

Mia, I''m sure others have given more suggestions by now but what about doing fondant cutouts with one letter on each cupcake so in all, it says "eat me." (I forget, is the period inside or outside the quotation marks? I can never remember that.) I do like your suggestion of mini signs also. I think that would be cute. I really like the Mad Hatter theme, I think that''s cute!
Mia, you can color the fondant, just add a few drops of food coloring or the frosting color and roll it out. I say fondant like "fond-AHnt." I think I say it that way b/c I''ve heard others saying it but who knows.

Thanks Puffy and Marcy! Marcy, your flowers look great!

Swingirl, this has probably been answered since I haven''t gone through the rest of the thread yet but yes, they make special mini pans. The one I have makes 24 minis so I usually sell 1 dz or 24 minis for the same price.

Thanks Jas! I still have to try my leaf tip. I think I have one
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. I still think you did a great job! All of your dessert ideas sound great! I like the lollies idea, had never heard of that before. How will you make the homemade Easter eggs? Very creative!!

Msb, your cupcakes look great! Would you mind posting your recipe? I''d be interested to try an eggless cupcake.

Pennquaker, I''m sure you''ll do a great job with the frosting. You can just practice a couple times on some tinfoil or on one of your cupcakes before you do the rest.

DesiLu, congrats on making your 1st batch of cupcakes! What kind did you make? There is so much information out there that you can be immersed for hours and days. I still find so many new websites all the time. I get a lot of inspiration from looking at others pictures. There are a ton of great pictures on Flickr.

Wow, very long response!! Sorry!
 
mrsb GREAT job!!! they look YUMMY!!
 
oh my gosh marcy i love your cakes!!! those are so super cool, you guys are talented rockstars!! i am really bad at making flowers with frosting...my hands are NOT that steady. this is why fondant decorations are my friends hehehee.

msb, those are super cute cupcakes, so simple but great swirls, and i love the sprinkles.
desilu, so glad you are into the baking spirit. it's a lot of fun and can be challenging, that's why i love it.

dixie, yep i did the order...it took me a long time to do all the decorations, this is why often i say that the money is not worth the time, but it was fun and i loved how they turned out, so it always ends up being WORTH IT in the end. and i love when the people are so happy... half the time its way more for the parents than the kids!

i have some pictures but have not uploaded them so will do it later this week probably.

someone asked about fondant and how to make letters, probably the easiest way is to use letter cookie cutters and the pre'made rolled/colored fondant that wilton sells at any craft store, and cut them out that way. i have yet to find cookie cutters i really LOVE as i am not into the chubby looking regular primary kind of letters but i have some ideas. i did get some fondant letter cutters that look cool BUT they have too many intricate swirls in the letters which leads to all sorts of torn and jagged edge fondant. the letters for this weekend's project took me longer than the other decorations.
 
OMG Marcy, Your flowers are gorgeous
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You did a fantastic job. woo hoo.
 

DesiLu, I am looking forward to your first cupcake photos.



Thanks Dixie.I don’t think I will take the fondant class but your flowers are great.



Thanks Mara.It took me until about the second week of course 2 before I got the hang of flowers and now I think I can do them.Fondant looks really cool and there are sure a lot of things you can do with it.



Thanks Linda.Everyone enjoyed our cakes at work today.No complaints anyway.

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dixie: thanks!! i''m in the office so dont have access to the recipe..ill write it up when i get home..it pretty much follows the same ingredients like normal cupcakes but instead of eggs i use soy milk & apple cider!!

puffy: thanks! i was surprise on how yummy and moist they actually tasted!

mara: wow!!! wat a compliment coming from the baker queen!! thank you
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ok so here are some of the pics from this weekend... these turned out SO cute in person, but i was rushing to take photos and did not do them justice. the parents said they took photos after arranging them all, i hope they send them to me.

the theme was blues and lavenders with a spring theme. i used butterflies, flowers, edible pearls. and letters for her name etc. super cute. i had a lot of fun even though it was time consuming. oh and i couldn't find my Y letter so i had to improvise with the D which is why they look so odd, i hated them!

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strawberry.

sberry cuppies side.jpg
 
red velvet with choco ganache and cream cheese.

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and closeup of a butterfly...these were so cute.

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Mara: Those are sooooo cute. I love the butterflies
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, you did a great job.
 
Date: 3/25/2009 12:52:27 PM
Author: Mara
red velvet with choco ganache and cream cheese.
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OK that does it!!!!! We are driving to you house this weekend and picking up 5 dozen HA!!!!!
 
Mara--
I think we need to devote a thread just for your creations
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Love every single one of your cuppies
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Mara - Those all look CRAZY GOOD! Wow! I am beyond impressed! I wish I could have a strawberry one now!!
 
Mara, your cupcakes look incredible and edible.
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I love the butterfly.
 
Is there a standand vanilla cupcake, vanilla buttercream recipe in these 50 pages that someone might be able to direct me to? Also, I must make that strawberry buttercream one day too. Mara - is there a recipe for the strawberry buttercream you used?

Thanks!
 
Date: 3/25/2009 2:22:48 PM
Author: Loves Vintage
Is there a standand vanilla cupcake, vanilla buttercream recipe in these 50 pages that someone might be able to direct me to? Also, I must make that strawberry buttercream one day too. Mara - is there a recipe for the strawberry buttercream you used?


Thanks!
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I like Magnolia Bakery''s recipes:


http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2005/0743246616_2.html
 
I am a freak about vanilla, there are so many bad recipes out there and I have tried most of them.

You can use pretty much any basic butter cake recipe to start, adapt it to your taste. I add a lot of vanilla. Most of the vanilla recipes I came across have used like 2 tsp vanilla. Seriously? More like 2 tablespoons! Be sure to use enough baking powder as well. And I'd go with butter over oil for vanilla, or a blend. I don't have a recipe to post as I go off of what is in my head, but I love searching for blog recipes as people typically post a lot of pictures so you can see what the finished product SHOULD look like.

Oh and the strawberry has cream cheese frosting, so cream cheese, sugar, butter, and then I use frozen berries and jam and sometimes a strawberry extract or flavoring, depends. It's really to 'your taste'.
 
mara your cupcakes are so beautiful...ALMOST too beautiful to eat.
 
Neatfreak - Thank you for the recipe link. The next time I am in NYC, I shall make my way to Magnolia!

Mara - Thank you for the tips! I am an all butter in baking girl myself. And, oh, cream cheese in the strawberry icing. Yummy. I do spend a lot of time looking at food blogs, recently, and see so many lovely cupcakes. I never know which to try. I have been meaning to make cupcakes for some time. Perhaps this weekend, I will make vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry cream cheese icing!!!
 
Mara--you never fail to impress! LUV all of them but iam dying to try a yummy strawberry vanilla cuppie right now
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You find the best cut-outs. Absolutely no selection for that sort of stuff around here--i must look next time i am out of town.

The letters turned out really well--i totally agree that the usual puffy-letter cut outs that you see around would not cut it. Those whimsical ones you found are great!

Are your cuppies minis or smallish size? --the toppers seem to cover so much surface area, but maybe the pictures are just deceiving....
 
holy crap, Mara! I bet those cuppies made for one magical birthday. They are stunning!

Have you perfected your strawberry recipe? I still have not found one that I like yet.

In fact it''s been waaaay too long since I made cuppies (boooo stress-eating pounds but I may whip some up and then send them to work with my hubs.
 
MARCY great flowers!!!

MARA, cute butterfly's.

Dani, dixie, msb and Jas, beautiful!!!
 
hey Jas...yes i love the whimsical look of the letters but the cutters leave something to be desired. these are on minis. i may just have to keep practicing. WS has a LOVE set that comes with full alphabet on clearance right now for $9.99 but the letters are only 3/4" and i think these are more like 1.25" and i like their coverage on both a mini and a regular, 3/4" might be too small for a regular. plus the look is that more ''bubble'' rounded edge look.

icekid...i am still working on sberry. i change it a bit each time. its funny because people seem to love them regardless but i am not TOTALLY on board yet. i still feel like something is elusive....its hard to get the berry taste to be very prominent. i think these last ones were some of the best..the frosting came out perfect tasting which for me is hard because i am a picky frosting eater.

LV...vanilla with berry icing sounds divine! i am all about lemon right now thanks to spring. i really want to make a lemon cheesecake soon.
 
These look beautiful guys!!!!
 
My hubby is out of town and my neighbor came over and gave me these cupcakes because they loved the banana bread I made for them. I had to share pics. hehe

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These are the so cute!

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Date: 3/27/2009 8:19:04 PM
Author: Skippy123
These are the so cute!
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Yes they are.
Did your neighbor make them herself?
Thanks for sharing.
 
Date: 3/27/2009 8:18:16 PM
Author: Skippy123
My hubby is out of town and my neighbor came over and gave me these cupcakes because they loved the banana bread I made for them. I had to share pics. hehe
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Skippy, those look yummy!!!
 
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