Cupcakes Galore

Lately, it seems that all my cake adventures involve cupcakes.  I love the flexibility of cupcakes.  They're quick to bake.  I can pipe the tops lickety-split.  You can easily have multiple flavours available. There are so many pretty wrappers easily available. No need for forks and plates, so they’re fast on clean-up. 

If you’re making the mini ones, they’re adorable just because of their size.   Who can resist things like two-bite brownies or the mini cinnamon rolls.  Mini cupcakes are just the same. Only potential downside, needing to make extras since you know people will want more than one!

It started with Hunter & Chris’s wedding. 

When scheduling craziness meant we didn’t have a large room we could use while we celebrated a co-worker’s upcoming marriage, I decided cupcakes were a good choice for their portability. 

Lemon Nutmeg cupcakes with Blueberry Buttercream was perfect for a bride-to-be who loves lemon and whose wedding colours are dark purple and lime green.  I made my own blueberry syrup and added it to the buttercream along with a little extra colouring to achieve a good purple colour. I  thoroughly enjoyed doodling lime green circles on top for decoration.

I do have to confess to a near transportation disaster.  I was in a rush that day.  I had five extra cupcakes that didn’t fit on the big tray, but I thought I should bring them along just in case. The big tray and the little plate were sitting on the back seat of my car, in what I thought was a reasonable secure fashion.  Not so much!  The first stop the bottom of my hill had me reaching fast to ensure the large tray stayed put, but the little plate … sigh… they became closely acquainted with my floor mat and squeegee brush.  Sad.

Thankfully, the big tray survived; it turned out we didn’t need the extras; and you get to see the really cute cupcake wrappers I found. 

Did I mention that the Lemon Nutmeg cake that I made for Noah’s birthday and then for Hunter & Chris’s wedding have become a family favourite? Thought I’d point that out just in case you missed how often it’s been made lately. You can find the recipe in this post.

When my dad needed dessert for a community group picnic for almost 80 people, cupcakes were the right choice for ease of distribution and consistent portions. Those Lemon Nutmeg cupcakes appeared again, but this time they had Mexican Vanilla Buttercream and coloured sugar sprinkles.  Add gingham print cupcake wrappers and you’ve got picnic perfect.  To give some additional flexibility, I also made some mini cupcakes for those who wanted just a little bite of dessert.

This weekend, I was busy making Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting for a surprise birthday celebration at work.  Have I mentioned how much I like using Wilton’s mini cupcake stand.  It’s so easy to assemble and always looks pretty.

Today’s bonus discovery.  If you freeze the mini Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (perhaps because you’re desperate to stop the icing from melting in the heart!), they are delicious straight from the freezer.  Because of the small size, they’re not too hard to bite into, and the frozen Cream Cheese Frosting is, well, awesome!