Where did my infant go?

Cupcake Couture 

One of my dearest friends is getting married in May, and I was asked to make cupcakes for her bridal shower.  The star of the show was a wedding dress put together with a series of cupcakes, but mine would be extras in case more people were able to attend than previously thought.  I was in a bit of a panic the night before because I hadn't given it very much thought leading up to the day of the shower, and as usual I waited until the last minute to frantically drive around town looking for ideas to make these super special.

Luckily I was hit with a bit of inspiration at Hobby Lobby, and using the wedding colors of navy and gold as inspiration I grabbed a candy mold, the appropriate melting chocolate colors and matching cupcake wrappers and rushed home to get started.

I used a cake mix and I don't feel one bit ashamed. I think boxed mixes get a bad wrap and are looked down upon by the foodie elites.  To me it is just an extra step of measuring and combining that is completed for me so that I can get something done quickly and affordable. I used this same theory when selecting the frosting, which was a lovely Duncan Hines vanilla.

There was a moment when I felt a bit awkward because I thought the wonderful lady who was doing the wedding dress cupcakes was doing everything from scratch (she is an accomplished cake decorator and even did my wedding cake). But at the shower she revealed to me that she just went to Sam's Club and bought enough cupcakes to complete the challenge because it would save her time and money.

Right on!

I really enjoyed making the candies. It wasn't nearly as labor intensive as I thought it was going to be and the results were very pretty. They weren't as "perfect" as I would have liked, but maybe next time I'll give myself more time to complete them...*cough* probably not.

My daughter helped in making the candy flowers and she did very well for a five year old. I only let her help a little because it was stressing me out so much. So I offered to make another batch and she could be in charge of selecting what those would look like.  She met this challenge with great enthusiasm and grabbed one of my decorating books to find the perfect subject matter.

She settled on lambs and bunnies in honor of Spring. It was a great idea, although executing it was a bit laborious and she got very bored with it after the first few. So the remainder of our cupcake decor was exclusively dedicated to just sticking pastel colored M&M's on in whatever pattern struck our fancy.

They didn't exactly turn out as pretty as the ones in the book, but it was a fun project for us and we made some good memories. I keep harping on this point in previous posts, but there is just something magical about playing with your food. Making it look like little works of art is just so rewarding.

If only watching people devour in seconds what it took you hours to make could be equally as enjoyable...