Cupcakes for an Architect!

The one thing about moving back to Wisconsin is that I have reunited with a lot of people from my past..through my cupcake creations!

This order was a cupcake reunion. For Nathan.
The last time I saw him, I was in high school.
And I never actually saw him, but my cupcakes did. His mom delivered them to him upon his return visit home from Minneapolis.  I hope he loved them.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Nathan is an architect now.

I think it is kind of neat that he took a break from building..while I built him swirls & swirls of deliciousness on top of cupcakes.

I used his architect background as inspiration for the cupcakes.  These are red velvet cupcakes, topped with brown/red frosting to look like cherry colored wood.  The "wood chip" sculptures are made out of layered white/dark chocolate. 

Dark Cherry Wood with a Cherry On Top!

Nathan also requested carrot cupcakes.

For the carrot cupcakes, I created classy looking chocolate wood "tabletops". I thought I'd go the extra mile and add a birthday candle on top!

His name is balancing on a cupcake skyscraper. ♥ It's all yummy. Imagine...your name written in the sky with chocolate?  That's something out of a daydream.

I made the contemporary wood grain table sculptures by using a paintbrush to paint  a thin block of melted dark chocolate onto parchment paper, then freezing the 1st layer of chocolate.  (The brush will create the rough woodgrain texture).

Once the dark chocolate was frozen, I poured a thin layer of white chocolate over the dark chocolate and froze the layers of chocolate again.

Once I froze the chocolate, I used a round cookie cutter to cut my wooden table tops.. and this is how they ended up! I broke some of them up into moon shapes and wave shapes for the chocolate wooden cupcake toppers!

So..Nathan is an architect for buildings.

And I guess I am an architect for cupcakes.

..and perhaps a frosting architect?

♥

Strawberry Fest Cupcakes with Surprise Pies inside!

I am so ecstatic right now. It was about 24 hours ago that I sold out all of my cupcakes in the span of 2 hours at the Strawberry Fest, right outside of Cronie's restaurant in Waupaca. ♥

I had no idea how popular the Strawberry Fest is, and that people were going to adore my cupcakes so much.  It feels so good to make people squeal with delight when they look at my cupcakes! One lady asked if they were actually edible.  Another asked me if I was selling my portfolio as a book. (I had to say no...even though my dream is to write a book about cupcakes somehow!)

My favorite quote of the day was from a new cupcake friend. She posted it on my Amanda Cupcake Facebook page after the Strawberry Fest. People like her make me love love love what I do.

"I'm in love with Amanda Cupcake's cupcakes!!!! Soooo ooober yummy at the strawberry fest... by far the best strawberry feature showing at the event!!! No joke!!!"

I practiced my premiere cupcake recipe before the Strawberry Fest. I actually thought it was going to be an Amanda original.  I thought of it on my own, but then I discovered that many other people have tried this and succeeded as well.  ♥

A strawberry pie inside of a cupcake! The one in the picture above is my White Velvet Cupcake.
YUM.

My main inspiration for this is that cake people aren't usually pie people.
And pie people aren't usually cake people.
But wouldn't it be a perfect world if we could combine both in one beautiful dessert?
So yesterday at the Strawberry Fest, the world was perfect.
Cake and Pie people agreed to compromise.
I think they were happy about it.

The cool thing about these surprise pie cakes-is that you can add the little pies to any flavor of cake you wish.  I suggest buying the boxed cake mix first to experiment.
But once you get that down, the texture of a cake from scratch is *way better* for the pie inside of a cupcake recipe. 

I used ready made pie crust (since I was already making everything else from scratch).  I cut the pie crust into small squares.  Then I used these adorable little pastry tins to mold the pie crusts!

 

I added the strawberry pie filling,  set the pies on a cookie sheet and baked them in the oven on a temp of 425 degrees for about 10 minutes. Then reduced the temperature to 350 degrees and baked for another 10-15 minutes until just light brown.



How cute do they look after you pop them out of the pastry tin? Hint:  use a toothpick or a fork to pop them out of the tin easily.

Pipe a small amount of cake batter onto the bottom of your cupcake liner.  Then insert your mini pie on top of the batter. The pie shouldn't sink to the bottom of the batter. The little pie boat will float nicely on your cake batter.

Then cover the pie with your cake batter! It might look like this. A pie sandwich!
I won't stop you if you decide to eat it right now.
But when it is done baking.......



..Look how beautiful it is to eat.
And I won't forget to mention that the combo of cake & pie is amazing. I used to be one of those "cake" people.  This cake & pie thing has opened me up to a whole new world!

The possibilities are endless now.
You can make swirls.

Or top your cupcake with another mini pie for the ultimate decadence.

Strawberry pie inside of a red velvet cupcake is heaven on earth.

I frosted some to look just like little pies ♥ Looks like someone was about to eat this one! There is a little finger print on the bottom right. Busted!

Here I am, almost sold out at the Strawberry Fest!

Strawberry Pie Filling Recipe:

Ingredients Needed:

1 Cup of Sugar

3 T + 2 tsp Corn Starch

3 T Corn Syrup

1 1/2 Cups of Water

4 T strawberry gelatin (or JELLO)

1 Quart of Strawberries

Slice strawberries. They don't need to be perfect little slices. It is ok if there are chunks.  Eating a pie with random different chunks & shapes of strawberries is more fun!

1.  In a pan on the stove, whisk sugar and cornstarch together

2.  Add Corn Syrup & Water

3.  Continue to whisk until boiling.

4.  Once boiling, whisk for 5 minutes continuously.

5.  Take off stove and add Jello.

6.  Let the mixture cool.

7.  Once cooled, add strawberries to the mixture.

8.  Then add to your mini pies! You can cut a large opening into the end of your pastry bag & pipe the filling into your mini pies.  Or just use a spoon. It's really up to you. ♥

Optional:  Add red sparkly disco dust. (it is edible and fun).

Marilyn Monroe Sunbeam

I celebrated the other day.
All of my beauty-full red velvet cupcakes sold out at Cronie's.

I came home and celebrated myself, by eating one. In bed.
While watching Golden Girls.

This is the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning.

Marilyn Monroe on my wall, peeking through the window of my cupcake box.
(The cupcake box was sitting on the headboard of my bed, leaning up against the wall).
Red cupcake crumbs on the old cupcake liner that was also on the inside corner of the white box reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's lipstick.

The wannabe food stylist - food photographer in me grabbed my cell phone immediately so I could take a photo.

What does this mean? Is it deep or symbolic? Is it creepy? Glamorous? I don't really know.
But it adds a great new story to my cupcake journey.

I kind of enjoy moments like this, that aren't planned or scheduled.
Moments like Marilyn Monroe looking through a window of a cupcake box at 8am.
Better than a sunbeam? Maybe more interesting.
♥

Divalicious Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Divalicious Red Velvet Cupcakes..

Because they are naturally beautiful...

They know how delicious they are..

Accessorized with a hint of edible disco dust

Kissable red licorice (..and yes, red licorice is known to be an aphrodisiac!)

The divalicious cupcakes are in demand.

Roll out the red carpet.

Showing off!

Some hints for a Divalicious Red Velvet Cupcake:

Whatever you do, don't overbake! A Divalicious Red Velvet Cupcake is moist and divine.
Top it with a light & airy frosting, preferably cool whip based.  Divas don't like to feel bloated.
The divalicious red velvet cupcake looks best with classic white frosting, and a little red accessory.

Perhaps, dahling......
Red Licorice! Red Maraschino Cherries! Red Sparkles! Red Hots! Red Hearts! Red Sprinkles. Red Candy Jewels. A Red Ring Pop.  Whatever looks best....

Kind of like the perfect red lipstick. ♥