Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Are you ready for this? Maybe you should sit down. With a big glass of milk and a straw.

I made cupcakes. It has been months since I made cupcakes. How does that happen? I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful it felt to be baking something that I love so much.

You know what’s sad? I made these for a reason and can’t even remember why right now. Does chocolate do that? Alter memory?

This is where the milk comes into play. We have a milk chocolate cupcake with fudge pudding inside to make it moist. Melted butter may or may not be involved as well. Then we top it with a chocolate cream cheese buttercream, chocolate sprinkles, and a Ghirardelli chocolate ganache drizzle.

And love. Lots of love was mixed into these little beauties.

The best news? It was really good. And not overwhelming in any realm. I purposely toned down the sweetness of the frosting so that it would balance nicely with the cupcake underneath.

I’m pretty sure that the frosting made my taste-testers cry. Maybe it’s because I sifted the cocoa and powdered sugar? My fingers are still feeling such work.

Have I mentioned how smooth and creamy everything was? The cake was perfect…the trick is to not over bake so that they stay nice and moist. Having an electric oven helps…I over baked a batch of cupcakes that I made for my family in a gas oven last summer. I still haven’t forgiven myself.

It was embarrassing. I vowed to never let it happen again.

I liked the liners and had them on-hand, but the dark chocolate really showed through after baking. So, for pictures, I put them in an extra unbaked liner to pretend that everything came out bright green!

Everybody does it, right? This is why I prefer brown grease-proof paper liners for all of my cupcake presentations.

They were a hit. And they didn’t last long. And it felt so wonderful to be back baking in the kitchen again! It’s funny how the little pleasures in life can make the greatest difference!

And yes…chocolate always helps, too!

Our Second Catering Event

Our first catering event brought to us our second. A guest at the wedding reception where we made our first cupcakes liked them so much that she hired us for her daughter’s wedding just one week later.

I ended up working until 1:00 PM on Saturday, then rushed home in time to help frost and deliver the cupcakes to the wedding at 5:30.

We had our share of excitement with the cupcake liners not performing as they should. Let’s just say we learned quite a bit from our entire second catering experience!

Also at the last minute, the bride decided not to use our white cupcake display but to use her own vintage cake stands.

 

That was fine with us, except they weren’t ready when we got there. We spent an hour trying to locate the right pieces on our own, which resulted in us still setting up as the party officially started.

 

Again, we learned a lot this time around!

The Tuesday before the wedding, we did a test batch of a new flavor that the client had requested: Key Lime Cupcakes.

 

These delicious minis were made up of a lime cake with a fresh lime juice glaze before being cored and filled with a homemade fresh lime curd. We then piped on some cream cheese buttercream frosting and sprinkled on white sanding sugar and garnished with a miniature lime wedge.

Needless to say, they were a hit.

When I took our test batch to the client to taste them on Tuesday afternoon, she changed her order and wanted more of the Key Lime. They were that good!

 

I love being at events, which gave me the chance to hand our contact information to those interested. I hope it leads to more events for us, since I’m having a lot of fun with this!

150 mini Lemon Squeeze, 150 mini Key Lime

Something Delicious and Perhaps Unknown

It’s been a whirlwind of a year so far. A few weeks ago, I was asked by a friend at church to help make some cupcakes for a wedding. Since we weren’t 100% sure that I would be home from work during the event, which was on a Friday, we asked a third churchy friend to join in on the fun.

     

And that’s exactly what we had…fun.

So much fun, in fact, that we want to do it again. It helped that several people during the wedding asked for our contact information so they could hire us for their event. I honestly wasn’t expecting so much interest, though our cupcakes are pretty awesome.

 

Thus, we are starting a cupcake catering business.

In case you didn’t know this about me, I have wanted to start a baking company on the side for a very long time. We were even shopping for a mother-in-law suite that could be gutted for a commercial kitchen during our house hunt. After a few roadblocks, we decided to wait on pursuing my dream of having a part-time baking business.

Hubby calls it his “Retirement Plan.”

Not only did we have interest from others during our first gig this past Friday, but we have had several of them actually call for booking their wedding! In fact, we are making Lemon Squeeze Cupcakes and Key Lime Cupcakes this Saturday for another wedding…a gal we met at our first catering event last Friday evening.

To say I’m excited is just a little understatement. I can’t sleep at night because I am thinking of all the various aspects that can help this business be really wonderful.

   

The best thing? My partners have the same goals. Every time I’ve tried to make money from a hobby that I love, it has ruined the hobby for me. For example, I made jewelry in high school until it just wasn’t fun any more.

Though it was a concern that I would stop liking baking (snort), we all three decided that our main objective is to have fun. It will be an enjoyable creative outlet for each of us. If we happen to make a little spending money on the side, so be it.

I don’t think we will be sleeping in a bed full of Benjamin's or swimming in a pool of gold any time soon. But it will be really fun to see how this thing grows.

Since we already have several more bookings in the works, and each event will give us even more exposure, the whole process might be a little too much fun for the next several months!

 

We are creating a website right now. Hubby has helped with the financial side by creating a spreadsheet to track our expenses and income. And it gives us extra girl time in the kitchen! How fun! Our spouses have all been super supportive and are just as excited as us for this to get going.

Just yesterday, we created a Key Lime Cupcake for our upcoming wedding this Saturday. I then took it to our client’s house for a tasting. She liked them so much that she ordered more. I think we’re on the right track.

   

I just wanted to let you know how busy yet happy we’ve been lately. There have been changes in every avenue of my life in the past few months, and I am loving each and every single change.

And if you are in the Phoenix area and need some yummy cupcakes, I know just the right group of gals who can help you out!