The first step was to make the white chocolate "cup" that the central cupcake sits in. I did this a few days prior to decorating the cupcakes. First, I melted down vanilla chocolate discs in a double boiler than brushed the melted chocolate into a cupcake liner that I set in a muffin tin. I set the whole tin in the refrigerator to let the chocolate harden. This doesn't take long, but I let it stay there for a while.
I kept the liner on and didn't remove until I was plating the cupcakes. In retrospect I should have brushed a second layer of chocolate to strengthen the shell. Mine ended up breaking while I was taking the paper off, but I was able to salvage half of it for the picture.
I baked the cupcakes a few days later while my daughter was napping:) I used a basic Vanilla cake recipe from Wilton which I halved. This gave me six regular size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes. I wasn't going to use the mini cupcakes but I'm glad I made them because, as you saw, they ended up being a nice complement and filled up some empty space on the plate. I used gold cupcake liners for the minis and antique themed liners for the bigger ones.
I had some icing in the refrigerator from previous cakes that I used to decorate these. I just dyed the mauve cupcakes with food gel. I piped the icing on using a star tip and piping bag. The flowers are supposed to be lilies. I don't have any flower presses yet so I tried to do the the best I could with my hands. The blue lilies are fondant and the pink flowers are made from gumpaste which I dyed with mauve food gel. The leaves are also gum paste dyed green. I thought the colors were a great match for the colors of the challenge. It isn't always easy to get the exact color you're looking for and you don't always know how they will photograph, but I think these were pretty close. You can check the colors out here and tell me what you think http://design-seeds.com/index.php/home/entry/teacup-vintage.
At first I only intended on using the middle cupcake, but when I placed it on the cake plate (which as a side note was a gift from a friend and I absolutely love it!) it just didn't look right...to much empty space. It also didn't help that the white chocolate "cup" broke as I was unwrapping it. This was a good lesson in making sure you always have a back up! So I decided to use the mini cupcakes and balance out the plate a little better. I think it made for a pretty, understated presentation. When I look at the picture, I just want to grab a cupcake and that's exactly how I hope other people feel when they look at it. Of course, I must thank my husband for taking the pictures-he managed to fit this in even though he was working and had the flu! That's true love:)
Although the cupcakes were simple compared to many of the other entries, I was pleased with the final product. I don't do this professionally and I don't have an unlimited amount of time or resources to allot to these projects. For me this was more about thinking of a project, feeling inspired and motivated, and baking something I would be proud of. As my husband said, "It's not about winning, it's about participating." I'll post the link to the Web site when they announce who the winner is.
I have another project lined up this week which I'm in the process of planning, but it's a surprise for someone so I don't want to give away too much info in case by some wild chance they read my blog:)
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