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

America Strikes Back

My marketing manager, aka my husband, suggested that I add another “pro bono” cake to this weeks’ agenda to help stir business. :)

It would be America; the cake - Part 2. I didn’t know how I would out-do the original, but planning to bake on Wednesday and decorate on Thursday, I figured I could churn it out along with the other cake I was doing that week.

This cake was going swimmingly until I went to make the ganache. I like really thick frosting-like ganache, but that was not what I was ending up with. It was your typical drippy shiny ganache - not what I wanted, not what would give the cake the structure I needed. I tried freezing it, but it was already after 11 and I wanted to go to bed. Finally, I decided to make layered frosting because I’d already put ganache on half the cake and it wasn’t thickening the way I hoped it would. So I mixed some of the ganache with buttercream and end ended up with a lovely chocolate buttercream to help hold the cake together and add a subtle buttercream flavor. 

The next 2 hours were spent painstakingly rolling and cutting fondant into an American flag. I spent half the time telling Tim I didn't think it would meet a high enough standard to be a marketing piece, but IT DID! It did and I am so happy!

Labor Day

This was the first time I ever made my own ganache…or really bothered to learn what ganache is. They say it all the time on the Food Network, but I always just assumed it was just another word for chocolate frosting. That’s not the case. Chocolate ganache is magic. It’s just chocolate and cream.

I also had my husband help me make roses for this one. It was his first time. He’s now aloud to help me with baking and cake designs whenever he wants.