Yes, I am one of those moms. The ones that send in cupcakes or cakepops for holidays and birthdays that end up mentioned on Cake Central. But chances are, if you're reading this blog, you are too.
It started out innocently enough. Reynolds was advertising their new stay bright cupcake liners in the baking aisle at the supermarket and I picked them up. The pattern would be cute for Valentine's Day.
Since I already had the wrappers, I agreed to bake cupcakes for my daughter's class Valentine's Day party. And made 2 dozen cupcakes using Hershey's Perfectly Chocolatey Cake Recipe . To really pump up the chocolate flavor, I used a cup of boiling coffee instead of plain water. The coffee flavor doesn't come through in the actual cake - it doesn't taste like mocha or anything. Coffee just really enhances the chocolate, making it deep, dark and delicious.
Now I couldn't put a nice big swirl of frosting on top of the cupcakes because my cupcake carrier will just squish it down:
So I had to come up with a flatish decoration. I had some Duff fondant in hot pink and black left from another project. And some gold dragees were hanging around as well. Had a bunch of heart cookie cutters in different sizes in my decorating kit too and viola:
But the edges looked a little unfinished and Valentine's Day should be, I don't know, a little more romantic. And these cupcakes looked very modern. So I used pink frosting and an Ateco 104 tip to make little feathered boas to cover the edges of the fondant:
All this, for 6 year olds! But, fellow foodies, I'm sure you understand the obsession. And, after all - isn't Valentine's Day all about going overboard for the ones we love?
