It's Wedding Season! Part 2

This summer I was lucky enough to be asked to make cupcakes and cake balls for a friend's wedding reception: cue nervousness. But, it was the good kind of nerves that makes you excited, not terrified. I made 160+ cupcakes, and 180+ cake balls. I was also asked to make a small layer cake for the top of the cupcake stand so the bride and groom could have something to cut. All in all, I was really proud of how it all turned out. I so appreciated having the opportunity to do something like that. It was stressful (especially with my paranoia that Asher would get into the decorated cupcakes), but really enjoyable.

I definitely couldn't have done it without Dusty, though; he watched the boys pretty much all day on Thursday as I frosted and decorated cupcakes, and dipped cake balls, and he didn't complain or seem annoyed once. THANK YOU! My mom and sister, Hannah, also came down that weekend to watch the boys while Dusty and I went to the wedding and reception - big thank you to them, too!

The cupcake flavors were white with buttercream frosting, chocolate with Kahlua frosting, and red velvet with cream cheese frosting. The layer cake was white with buttercream, but the frosting between the layers was a raspberry buttercream - yummy.

If you haven't heard of cake balls, they're the new thing in the cake world. You take a warm, 9x13 cake and mix it with approximately 2 c. of frosting. Form the mixture into balls and pop them in the freezer. You can freeze them like this for a while as long as they're in an airtight container. When you're ready to use them, take them out, let them thaw a little, and dip them in either chocolate bark or chocolate chips, or a mixture of both. Totally simple method, and it's so fun because you can literally make any combination you want! Genius. I was asked to make chocolate cake mixed with raspberry buttercream, dipped in white chocolate, and yellow cake mixed with peanut butter frosting, dipped in milk or semi-sweet chocolate. Both were delicious - I'm partial to the PB ones because I love the peanut butter/chocolate combo.

Chocolate Cupcakes
I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe for the cupcakes, which is Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake. You can find the recipe here. The Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting is delicious, too, but I didn't use it for the cupcakes.



Kahlua Frosting

6 tbsp. butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
3 tbsp. Kahlua

2 to 3 tbsp. hot strong coffee or hot water

Cream butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and cocoa. Mix slowly until combined, then increase speed to medium and add Kahlua. Continue beating as you add the hot water or coffee, and mix until a thick, smooth consistency. (You can adjust the amount of Kahlua to your taste. I used slightly more Kahlua, and hot water instead of coffee so the Kahlua flavor stood out more against the chocolate cupcake.)

White Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

For these, I used the same recipes that I posted last time, with the exception of leaving out the almond flavoring in the cake. This time I tinted the frosting pink because the bride and groom's colors were pink and gray - so cute. You can find the recipes here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

1 box German chocolate cake mix with pudding

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1 oz. red food coloring

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add all ingredients into mixer. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Pour batter into greased or lined cupcake pans (you'll probably get about 20 or so from 1 batch). Bake appr. 22-25 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly with your finger. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. pkg. softened cream cheese

1/2 c. softened butter

3 3/4 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese until thoroughly combined, 2-3 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 more minutes. Use to frost cake of your choice!