Bridal Shower Cupcakes

I got this cute little cupcake stand as a gift from my sister. I thought it held a dozen cupcakes, but I was wrong. It holds 13, which is a little awkward since muffin/cupcake pans typically hold 6 or 12.

Anyway, big sis and I hosted an adorable little bridal shower for our friend, Kim. And I decided to make some cupcakes. These are lemon cake with buttercream and yummy raspberries on top.

Mark. Cupcakes

In addition to making cakes, I’m also a Mark. rep. This Sunday I hosted my very first Mark. party. So I figured, what better way to combine my businesses than to make cupcakes for my party? I thought it’d be great to make a cake, but for parties, you really want something that is going to be easy for people to pick up and carry around with them while they shop - instead of being stuck to a table with a fork. :)

So, this was my first attempt at Mark. cupcakes. They’re yellow cake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with vanilla buttercream (and sprinkles, of course). They came out delicious. I was a little worried that the chocolate ganache would be too rich, but it was lovely. If you’re a Mark. rep (or if you’re hosting any kind of party!) and you’re reading this, let me know if you’d like cupcakes for your party! I can customize them to be any flavor and design combination! :)

Just to spell it out for you

Strawberry Short-cupcakes

Since I made the graduation cake a few weeks before with strawberries and fresh whipped cream, I’d been wanting to turn it into a cupcake.

I’d never filled cupcakes before, so I was a little scared it wouldn’t turn out well, but I used an inspirational recipe for the “mash” originally used in a Strawberry Cream Cake as a jumping off point and it ended up working really well. I thought it would be too liquidy and make the cupcakes soggy, but surprisingly, it stayed put! Hooray!

We had a little drama with the whipped cream. The heavy whipping cream carton was stamped to sell by 7.25.11…but there was no way that stuff was still safe to consume. It started to come out of the carton in a huge rancid smelling glob. It was quickly tossed and I was without the ingredients to make whipped cream. :(

It was easy peasy to run out to the store and get replacement cream, but I am still befuddled as to how the original cream went bad so quickly.

I want to eat this right now