Cupcakes for a Bachelorette Party

So, today I had quite a challenge - four different flavoured cupcakes!

My best friend is having her Bachelorette Party tomorrow afternoon and I said I'd make some cupcakes. I'm also matron of honour, so I felt a bit of pressure to not only provide a bit of variety, but to make them look all pretty.

But, no fear, I had the essentials!

Firstly, packet mix...

My two favourite cake mixes.

And no ordinary packet mix, Aldi packet mix. This stuff is the shizz. Cheap (79c for the vanilla, $1.79ish for the chocolate) and so, so tasty. I always get compliments - no word of a lie. And another thing, these are cake mixes, not cupcake mixes. Add the word 'cupcake' to a box and the price goes up another dollar. Screw that! These work just as well if you adjust the cooking time (which I'll explain when we get there).

Secondly, I wrote down exactly what I was going to make, what flavour and how I was going to decorate them. This way, if my brain decides to cut out in the time frenzy that is nap time, I have a guide!

Not glamorous, but hey, it works!

In case you can't read my writing, that translates to:
vanilla - lemon/marshmallow - yellow glitter
            - strawberry - love hearts
choc - marshmallow - choc dust
         - mint - choc sprinkles

1x marshmallow (this is the marshmallow frosting - I need one batch)
   
1x 1/2 mint - light green
     1/2 strawberry (this is the buttercream - I need one batch and will be halving it and flavouring accordingly)

So, normally, in the spirit of this blog, I'd be doing all this while my little boy, Destructor (not his real name!!!), is asleep. However, today, it's not just one batch of cupcakes, it's two. And, in case you didn't read the list, I'm making marshmallow frosting...from scratch. Since that requires a bit of extra time, I need to find time.

Lucky for me, this morning, Destructor is feeling quite happy and is content to play by himself (read: make a mess everywhere). So, I take advantage of this and start making my first lot of cupcakes - the vanilla. Why vanilla? Because if I have to abandon ship due to Destructor's neediness, the cake mix will be fine. The chocolate wouldn't, as it's got melted chocolate in it, and it tends to harden up as time goes on (and then is harder to deal with etc.)

So, looking at the box, I need eggs, butter and milk. Easy!

Off I go, mixing it all together, blah blah. It's very straightforward. I add a bit of red food colouring to make it pink (because us girls like pink) and it's ready for my really cute patty pans. I bought some super cute ones last weekend and have been itching to use them.

Yup, those are my slippered feet. Look at the patty pans, dammit!

So, I fill them 2/3 and pop them in the oven at 180C for 12 minutes.

I know it's hard to see, but trust me...they're 2/3 full

Meanwhile, Destructor is living up to his name and has created a pretty impressive mess! But, he's still happy playing on the couch with Thomas the Tank Engine, so I give him a quick hug and kiss (while he squirms) and I hop back in the kitchen.

Mess: the price you pay for having time to get stuff done!

While the cupcakes are baking, I measure out the ingredients for the chocolate cupcakes and separate the eggs for the marshmallow frosting.

Next thing I know, the timer for the cupcakes has gone off. So, I check them and they need a little more time. I rotate them and stick them in for another 5 minutes (bringing the total time up to 17 minutes)

Meanwhile, Destructor is tiring of his alone time and starts clawing at my leg. He's also kinda tired, so it's bed time...but not before I wait for the timer and take the cupcakes out to cool. His face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw all the cupcakes and he started pointing at them and making his 'gimme one of them' noise. But, alas, my little boy, no cake as it's too hot and I don't have any screw ups that you can eat. Boring old bed instead.

So, three stories and a song later, Destructor is in bed and I'm back in the kitchen. The oven gets turned down to 150C and I'm whipping up the chocolate batter.

Muuuud caaaake....drooooool...

Now, these instructions are a pain the arse. So, here are my tips!

1. Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave. Stuff the double boiler. Do it in 30 sec increments and stir in between. You'll see it melt together nicely.

2. Use more chocolate chips than it tells you to. Chocolate is awesome, therefore, more chocolate increases how awesome something is. I keep putting the choc chips in until there are this many left in the packet:

I'd confess to eating these, but that would be really embarrassing....

So, mixture mixed and in the patty pans. These, I fill a bit more than 2/3, only because they don't rise as much as the vanilla. Into the oven for 15 minutes (they take longer because the cake is denser).

Meanwhile, it dawns on me that I don't have any lemon curd for my vanilla cupcakes. Oh crap. I don't have any time to go to the shops. So, plan B. Jam? No, too sweet. Cream? Nope, too rich. I open the cupboard and there it is...the answer:

I love this stuff. Skippy is my personal favourite!

Now, I do have regular peanut butter. However, there's already a lot of sugar in the cupcake and especially enough sugar in the marshmallow, so I figure this will be a nice contrast. Kinda like a fluffernutter.

I need to keep moving, so I get out a 500g block of butter for the buttercream and start whipping it up (after I microwaved it a bit to soften it up). The timer goes off, so I check the cupcakes, but they're not done, so another five minutes it is (making it a total of 20 minutes).

On I go with the buttercream until the timer beeps again. The cupcakes are perfect! Hooray!

They join their vanilla friends and the baking is done!!!

Right now, my husband is singing 'Ebony and Ivory'. He's such a dag...

With that done, I crack on with the buttercream. When I'm happy, I halve it and flavour it/colour it accordingly. Then, cut open half the vanilla cupcakes and pop in a teaspoon of peanut butter. Next, I decorate the lucky little chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with buttercream.

Now it's time I embark on the marshmallow frosting. I know that I've said that doing stuff from scratch is for people who have too much time, but this you simply must do from scratch. And that being said, you can't make this in advance either. Bummer, huh? I tried once, and ended up with a consistency that was way less than flattering. So, lesson learned, I only make this right before I'm going to use it.

The recipe is easy...you can find it here. It does involve a bit of time - say 10 minutes or so - but well worth it. It is sooo yummy. It's worth noting that you need to make sure that all the utensils that come into contact with the egg whites are totally clean of any egg yolk, butter or oil. If not, you'll end up with slop (which a bit of cream of tartare should fix). I use a bit of paper towel to just give everything a quick wipe. Seems to work.

Anyway, the marshmallow is perfect, so I pipe it on. Looks great!

Out come the sprinkles, glitter, love hearts and drinking chocolate - time for details! They look great, and my little one is still snoozing. Meanwhile, I'm covered in so much sugar and butter that I could kill a diabetic at 10 metres!

Finished product:

Vanilla cake, strawberry buttercream, love hearts:

Chocolate mud cake, marshmallow frosting, drinking chocolate:

Chocolate mud cake, mint buttercream, chocolate sprinkles:

Vanilla cake, peanut butter filling, marshmallow frosting, pale purple glitter:

I stick them in my nifty travel cases and they're ready for tomorrow. Hooray!

Total number of cupcakes: 34. 14 vanilla, 20 chocolate.
Time: Less than 2 hours - 20 mins while Destructor was up, 1hr 20 while was asleep.

I sat down to have lunch after this effort (and after I'd done most of the dishes) and the minute my bum hit the chair, guess who was up?! So, we had lunch together. Kinda nice, really :)