Cupcakepalooza

Helloooo!

So this past weekend I decided to make some cupcakes for my friend's birthday (which is today). I really wanted to surprise him because honestly, who doesn't like surprises that makes you feel special?

Honestly, you know I have too much time on my hands when I have time to properly plan out a whole cupcake sampler loaded with a plethora of symbolism and small details that no one would notice or even care about but me. So here we goooooooo.

Flavours. Obviously I needed to think about how many of what I was going to make.I know what some of his favourite ones are but I have no idea how to go about making them (or really have the finances to do so). I already spent a ton of money as it was. Do you know how much butter goes into homemade frosting? Especially when you're not only making homemade buttercream, but also making 6 different types? Nope, didn't think so. Okay, enough block rambling, here are some pictures to keep you entertained whilst I explain  :)

The flavours I decided on were : coconut, lemon, coffee, carrot, amaretto/caramel, and peanut butter.

What I ended up making were: Coconut (chocolate dipped), Lemon, Espresso, Carrot, Peanut Butter (chocolate dipped), and Cream Cheese with Caramel Drizzle.

Okay so, I originally exed out the amaretto because I thought caramel would be more appealing/ I didn't want to buy amaretto (or even almond extract). Finances were a smidge tight. So decided to make caramel. As luck would have it, I burned the caramel sauce that I was making, and therefore it was completely inedible. I didn't have time or supplies to remake it, so I went with what I had: a TONNE of cream cheese frosting. We have caramel drizzle in the house, so I used that to jazz it up a little.

The cupcakes are supposed to say
"H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y
T H O M A S !   X <3 O

Symbolism 1: Number - Since he was turning 26 I thought, "hey, why not make 26 cupcakes?" Genius, I know. Then I had to think of how many of each flavour I wanted to make to create an effective sampler. Seems simple, right? Yeah, well my specialty is making everything complicated. Finally I decided on the placement/ layout of the cupcakes and decided which words would fit on the cupcakes to make an effective birthday message. 

Picked these little paper liners up at Sainsbury's in London last October. I thought they were absolutely precious!

This is only the first round of butter too...

Symbolism 2: Cupcake Holders - All the "outside" cupcakes have the British guard cupcake holders. The one cupcake in the middle is the only one with the Union Jack cupcake holder. It's like they're surrounding and protecting the flag :)

Honestly, it was harder to take a picture of myself cracking the egg one handed than it was to actually crack the egg haha

First batch complete! All the cupcakes had a vanilla base (except the carrot cake ones, obviously)

Symbolism 3: Colours - He is very into football (soccer) and his favourite team is Manchester United, so I frosted the words in the team's colours current and old (hence the red, yellow, and green). Also, I thought this whole British theme would be cute because he, just like I am, is very appreciative of British culture.

Had to have my sassy companion in the kitchen with me. He didn't appreciate it when I sang Jesse McCartney's "Beautiful Soul" at him when it came on my Pandora though...

ANDDDDD after many long hours and bowl washings, piping bag incidents, frosting failures, detours, and hurdles, I finally finished my project. It only took about 9 hours... I definitely should have spaced everything out over two days. At least they were fresh though?

Here are some of the cupcakes after I finished them :)

Cream cheese frosted with caramel drizzle

Symbolism 4: "Ice cream" Cake - Thomas's favourite cake is ice cream cake, but since I could not use ice cream (for they would melt), I decided to make a center piece out of an ice cream sundae cupcake.

Chocolate ganache dipped, vanilla frosted with chocolate and caramel sauces drizzled. Garnished with a maraschino cherry

Lemon frosted with a lemon peel garnish

Chocolate ganache dipped, peanut butter frosted. Garnished with half a Reeses

Chocolate ganache dipped, coconut buttercream frosted. Garnished with half a Mounds bar

Finally, the whole project looked like this in the end:

I just wish I had taken a picture of when it was laid out for him to see. It looked much nicer than this.
HAPP - Peanut Butter
Y_BI - Cream Cheese w/ Caramel
RTHD - Coconut
AY X <3 O - Carrot
THOM - Espresso
AS!_ - Lemon

That's it for now! Let me know if you have any questions or want to know any of the recipes/ tips for these cupcakes. I'm sorry the pictures are so awful. :( I wish I had finished the cupcakes during the daytime so I would have decent photos. Hopefully next time they will look prettier.

love, xo