Cupcake College

No, I didn't go back to school. My friend, Andy, and another friend of hers did a class called "Cupcake College" this weekend to raise funds for SAFEchildNC, a great organization here in Wake Co. helping to prevent child abuse, which is one of my passions. (Funny thing - I wanted so badly to do my second-year internship with this place when getting my masters at UNC, but they only accept first-years, so I didn't get to do it. Bummer. BUT the director was there at the party, so I got to do some networking! Yay!)

Basically, Andy has perfected her cupcake recipe, originally from a King Arthur recipe (KA stuff is great by the way. I love everything I have ordered from them, mostly tools, and their recipes are fabulous! I even subscribe to their recipe blog, which I highly recommend! That's where I learned to make these delicious "volcano" loaves!) Back to the story... Joan, the co-host, did a tutorial on how to make the cupcakes and tips to make them the best ever - and these were VERY yummy cupcakes. And Andy did a section on decorating. I never knew using fondant was so easy! Ummmm...I take that back. It's hard. Very hard. So, if you ever get cupcakes from me with fondant decorations...know I put a lot of hard work into it!!

So, I came away with some great cupcake making/decorating tips, I got to network with someone from a company I could possibly work for one day (that I could possibly WANT to work for), and I had a blast. They are doing another one covering chocolate (this was white) cupcakes in June. If you're interested, let me know and I'll be sure to get the info to you when it is emailed out!

I don't think I'll be able to go back to making box cupcakes... Actually, that's one of the few things I make from a mix these days. And the cake arena was next on my list to start doing from scratch, so this was perfect timing!!

Another unexpected outcome...I spent a couple hours away from Aiden. For the first time. Ever. Yes, really. The kid nurses every two hours and will not drink milk from anything but mama, so...it's not been very possible. Plus, we've been fine with how things are. The plan was that Andy's husband and two young boys were going to be at the party for my boys and husband to hang out with. But on the way, we found out the boys were at their home a couple streets over. Aiden refused to eat before we rushed out to the party, so we weren't sure how it would go...but he forgot about eating once he was with all the other guys (and one baby girl!). Soon as he saw me, he was begging for his milk, though! So - we both did fine. :) Good thing it wasn't longer than a couple hours, though.

Ok - I know you want to see some pics from the cupcake fun! I left the camera with Daddy to take pictures of all the kids. But guess what? He didn't take any. So I could have had the camera. (Grrr....) I snapped a few after we got home, though some of the decorations weren't up to having their picture taken by that time. Here are a couple, though...

This was an "ice cream cone" cupcake with oreo bits in the icing - after it had fallen on its side and part of the icing came off while the cupcake rolled around a bit. Still looks yummy, though, huh?!


The (very hard!) fondant-covered cupcake