CUPCAKE CRAZY

From Harry Potter to Darth Vader and Olympic torches to the NBA, it's been a couple of cupcake-crazy weeks! Let me share with you the result of over 140 cupcakes, 4kgs of powdered sugar, and the countless hours I spent with my brand new scalpel.


There are three things that make me giddy (read: seriously kilig inside) when I peek in the oven ten minutes before the alarm goes off: 1. Seeing that my macarons developed feet, 2. Seeing that my pate a choux (cream puffs) puffed, and 3. Seeing that my cupcakes did not turn into mini volcanoes. I cannot even explain how happy I am that I've mastered baking flat-topped cupcakes! Yes, I'm that emotionally invested in baking, lol. But, that's good. You have to be emotionally invested in something, in my opinion.:)

Oh, for the record, it's chocolate over vanilla for me; thus the chocolate and red velvet cupcakes. I baked over 140 cupcakes the past two weeks. Some were test recipes, some were gifts, and some were projects for other people.

I spent hours making over 100 fondant toppers. But don't worry, Zac Efron, James Franco, and Shia LaBeouf kept me company as I labored on. Good company, I say!;) Btw... James Franco having 3 masters degrees, being a PhD student in Yale, and teaching in NYU = OMG HotXInfinity!!! Haha but I digress..

I got myself a new scalpel and that made things a little easier. Making fondant toppers, especially the detailed ones, requires a lot of patience. I think it's especially challenging when you have to make the same design more than three times. I kind of lose my interest on the fourth one and start complaining on the sixth one. So much for patience.

Anyway, the cupcakes:

I made Star Wars red velvet cupcakes for a friend. I definitely enjoyed making the stormtrooper. Darth Vader looks like he's on a diet, lol.

I also made Olympic pictograms for my sister's best friend. These were half red velvets and half chocolate. These were definitely a challenge just because you have to make the pictograms part by part. Yeah, just because of that. But I definitely learned how to prevent black fondant from bleeding onto the white one. And it's definitely the most fulfilling project so far.

Oh, March is "birthday month". A lot of may favorite people were born in March. The biggest Potterhead I know was born 16 years ago tomorrow. She's such a bookworm and really just a plain smart and witty kid. She's good with words and wow, her vocabulary. I think she's the smartest in the family. And I really now believe my other sisters when they tell me I'm her biggest stage sister ever! Hahaha! Hey, you only get one baby sister.

Since I made my boyfriend's brother a soccer fondant cake, she's been requesting that I make her a 3d Hogwarts cake. Fortunately, she came to her senses and realized I'll only be destroying her birthday if I accept the challenge. So she "settled" for Potter cupcakes to give to her friends instead. These were really fun to make.:)

Her friends really seemed to like it, judging from these pictures.;)

Also, from the extra cupcakes and icing, I made her Japan cupcakes. She got chosen as a delegate to Assumption Japan. She'll be spending 2 weeks in Osaka this coming summer. I'm so proud of her and I'm really, really excited for her! But huuu, she'll be gone 2 weeks!:( Ok, she'll kill me once she reads this so I'll stop.:))

For my boyfriend's birthday (today), I gave him something inspired by the 2 things he like most: Basketball and Economics (that sounds really weird, lol). I made him chocolate cupcakes with NBA toppers. He likes the Chris Paul but likes the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, too.

I think he liked it 'cause he took lots of pictures on his phone which he rarely does with anything I bake for him.

As for his birthday cake, I tried copying the birthday cake of Shia LaBeouf's son in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. FAR CRY FROM IT, I know. It's a bit disappointing, really.

But thankfully, he doesn't remember the original cake and sort of liked this one.;) He came over this morning (read: 1am) and me, him, and my sister had a party. Sugar rush at 2:00am's a good way to start your birthday, I guess.;)

I realized something recently. People like cupcakes a lot. Customize it to their interests and you get a ton of projects you have serious fun working on and they get some really cute cupcakes. Win-win!:D