Cinnamon and Spice...

For a Christmas party. Baileys caramel filled cinnamon spice cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache, and drizzled with more caramel.

These were fun to make. The cupcakes aren't too sweet, so the caramel makes a nice contrast.  Aaaaand foil wrappers rule. XD

I would take a picture of the filling for you, but I made exactly 12 of these, and I didn't have the heart to sacrifice one just to prove there is filling inside, so for now you're just gonna hafta trust me ;)

If you would like to see more photos, please check out the flickr dump!

The Great Canadian Cupcake Shipping Project aka The Epic Cupcake Fail

So about a week ago someone I know from Alberta saw some of the previous cupcakes I made online and said, "I want some of those". So I decided to perform an experiment, something I've been wanting to try for a long time: shipping cupcakes cross-country.

This is how it started.  Victoria sponge cakes filled with vanilla buttercream.  I did half with peanut butter icing and the other half with more vanilla buttercream.  

Here's the setup. I wasn't sure how I was going to solve the eternal problem of cupcakes possibly flipping over while in transit. Looking around the internet there are a few possibilities. Cupcakes in jars are lovely, but they'd be heavy and cost more. And do people really want all those jars? What if someone wanted a dozen cupcakes, that's like, 12 jars!! Anyways...

Then there's the whole sticking a candy stick right down the middle of the cupcake method. But it means sacrificing the look of the cupcake, which I don't want either. I just want to be able to send someone a cupcake, the way it's supposed to look, without gimmicks. Is it possible? Probably not.

So the idea I had was to somehow re-inforce the bottom of the cake to the box. I did this using royal icing at the bottom of the box, and sticking toothpicks in the sides so that it stays trapped in the little partitions.  You can see the toothpick sticking out above.  For this try I used 4 in each.

So here are the cakes trapped into the box, and the partitions taped down with packing tape.

After this I wrapped them in layers of plastic wrap and foil and put them in the freezer before shipping overnight with UPS, in a box stuffed with bubble wrap and "this end up" marked all over the box.

Once the recipient sends pics of the results, I will post them here!

UPDATE:
Just got the pics in! Unfortunately things didn't quite work out. When John and I opened the photos we did a collective "Ohhhh!".

Though at least they're not in complete crumbles like some examples I've seen.

It reminds me of The Simpsons where Bart is whipping cupcakes at the wall. Oh well, lessons learned. For now mwahahaha XD

For your long weekend...

I recently got my hands on a Wilton #230, and I couldn't wait to try it! I've been a lover of filled cupcakes since going to Crumbs in NYC. If you haven't gone, go there. It's cupcake paradise. These are Victoria sponge cakes filled with vanilla buttercream, topped with peanut butter icing and Skor pieces. I was a little afraid that I'd fill them with too much icing and the cake would just explode, but I eventually got the hang of it.