Bukarau Wedding Cupcakes and a Peptalk

 Back in February I felt so honored to be asked to bake these cupcakes for a lovely couple's wedding. It was going to be another big order and I would be able to practice my fondant skills once again. Their colors were red and black and the bride requested hearts and roses. There were 4 dozen red velvet, 4 dozen carrot cake, 4 dozen chocolate, and 4 dozen vanilla. As you can see there was also a topper for every single one of them.

 Everyone loved them especially the groom! His mom has had my cupcakes before and had suggested that they should ask me to make them for their wedding. Having never had my cupcakes he was pretty excited about them when he saw them, but was even more excited after tasting them! Yay, always happy to have a new fan. Ha ha!

 I overheard a wedding cake decorator, who was nearby my cupcakes once say, "Decorating a cake is stressful, people make such a big deal about cupcakes. But cupcakes are so easy, all you have to do is be decent at piping!"
After all the work I did for these bad boys I have to disagree.  I would not be good at decorating a wedding cake if it was to be covered in icing or butter cream only. I'm not the best piper and I wouldn't want to do it, purely based on the fact that I don't like the overly sweet taste of icing or butter cream. In fact a lot of people don't. It's the reason I started making my own frostings in the first place and it's the reason so many people love the things I bake.

 

That being said, since I don't use icing or butter cream I've had to be creative about my decorating. My frostings won't hold as a piped decoration. My solution: experimenting with other edible individual toppers. 

I love making the toppers and cupcakes, but I'm not going to lie, it's a lot of work. In fact in my opinion it's a lot more work than making toppers for a cake.

  

Here's some reality to those out there that  may not appriciate the work that goes into decorating a cupcake like mine (opinionated wedding cake maker, I'm talking to you ). 

1) edible fondant toppers are about 1/4 the size of a cake topper. This means it's much more difficult to do the detail work. I may not have to deal with molding rice cereal or debating about putting sticks and wires into my toppers but it's just as much work I promise you.

2)Since most people don't make individual toppers for their cupcakes, there aren't too many molds available to work with. I find a lot of cutters and molds that would work for a cake topper but are too big to work with when making a topper for a cupcake. I've had to be creative to figure it out most of the time.

3) Quantity is a big difference. Where a single tiered cake may take 3 really awesome gum paste or fondant flowers, each cupcake would get their own flower or decoration. And in relation to reason #2, lack of molds or cutters means hand cutting a custom design or shape with an exacto knife for 12-200 cupcakes would just be insane. 

I can appreciate the work that goes into decorating a cake, so please don't downplay the work that goes into decorating my cupcakes.

...(stepping off soap box)...

 

 Where was I, super cute cupcakes for a wedding. My favorite topper was actually the simplest ones to make. The monogrammed hearts. It's so simple anyone could do it. In fact check out my tutorial and try it out for yourself!
I hope I've inspired some of you cake and cupcake decorators out there. I'm no professional, and really you don't have to be to try. Don't listen to those who may say it's too much work, or it's not perfect enough, or that it's just going to be eaten anyways. It's all worth it when you see those who do appreciate it! And the fact that you can take a picture of your art before it's eaten and keep it forever and inspire even just one person to bake or create something themselves helps too.