Cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes

It  has been awhile since I have last posted about my cake creations but I have definitely been busy at work decorating and creating new flavors! So what has Dolly Cakes been up to? 

First off, my best friend and I have known each other since we were six years old. We have always been Disney fanatics, loving every single princess and wishing we could live in Disney World. Every year from age six to age nineteen she has had a princess themed birthday party. So for her twentieth birthday I made her princess cupcakes, all decked out with pink buttercream frosting, edible glitter, and princess decorations. They were quite befitting for the day!   

Last September, my cousin Jeff married his wife Jill. They are the first to get married in my family and we were so happy for them! About a month before the wedding, we had a picnic to celebrate the two of them and my cousin Teri and I decided to make a bunch of cupcakes for the family. It was so much fun to spend the time together, and we both love baking!

The first ones we baked, we made a vanilla cupcake and inserted a Lindt vanilla truffle inside just as they came out of the oven. We then topped each cupcake with vanilla buttercream, a pink rose, and edible cake glitter. The light cake with the rich center was a perfect match.

Next, we made a peanut butter cupcake. We added peanut butter to a vanilla cake batter which not only made it taste like peanut butter, but also gave it a denser texture which tasted great. We stuck a Reese's peanut butter cup in the center and dusted cocoa over the top to give it a little kick of chocolate!

We also baked a Hershey's chocolate cupcake, topped it with vanilla buttercream and added oreo cookie crumbs around the outside for a lighter, cookies'n'cream cupcake. To get the blue and purple tie-dye look, we striped the inside of the piping bag with a little of each color so it would blend into the frosting. The hearts are made out of melted white chocolate. It was a wedding after all, so love was in the air! (And the cupcakes!)

Lastly, we made my favorite cupcake, a Bailey's Irish Creme cupcake. We started with baking a Hershey's chocolate cupcake, and added Bailey's to the buttercream frosting. Because it is a cream liquor, it did not make the buttercream thin, but gave it a great creamy texture that perfectly matched the chocolate cake. With a little drizzle of chocolate and some white chocolate hearts, they were a hit, and definitely my favorite!!!

Here's the final presentation!

 

I attend Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, where I have met some of the greatest people, made the best friends, and had some of the most memorable adventures of my life thus far. One of these great people was a faculty member and an adviser of mine, Katie, who asked me to make cupcakes for her brother's newborn baby. They wanted to bring over cupcakes to the new parents to celebrate a new member of the family. Since it was summertime, I made a light vanilla cupcake, with a lemon buttercream frosting. It was a great flavor in the hot weather, and Katie said everyone loved them!

One of the other great schools I have had the opportunity to attend is Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, also in Buffalo, NY, a private, all-girls Catholic high school just down the street from Canisius. Through Facebook, I have been able to keep in contact with some of the fantastic teachers I had there. One of them was Mr. McKinnon, my AP government and economics teacher, who is also the coach of the golf team. To celebrate the end of the season, he asked me to make three types of cupcakes. Since it was fall, I made an apple cinnamon cupcake. I added cinnamon to vanilla cake batter to give it that spicy flavor.Then, I combined buttercream frosting with apple jelly. This made the buttercream a little thicker and I also had to add almost the entire jar of jelly to give it a stronger apple flavor. Then i drizzled caramel over the top of the icing and sprinkled a little cinnamon. The caramel really brought together all of the flavors, definitely making it taste like fall! 

Next, I made a Hershey's chocolate cupcake and topped it with green vanilla buttercream. I used a grass tip to pipe the frosting on to make it look like a putting green, and then added the decorations on top. This cupcake was much simpler than the other flavors, but was great for the event!

The last cupcake combined two classic flavors, vanilla and raspberry. I made a vanilla cake, and added raspberry extract to buttercream frosting. I added a few chocolate chips at the end to give it a crunch and a little extra flavor.

So many cupcakes, so little time. But my favorite part about making cupcakes it all of the experimenting! If you have any flavor combinations you would like me to try out, I love trying new things! Anything you can imagine, I can create. Happy caking!