Strawberry Shortcake

There are times when I really feel like I should have named this blog "the little baker that couldn't". I suppose every one feels that way about themselves sometimes, even when blog names aren't concerned. It's our natural instinct to think that we suck and we're never going make it in the world. What it's not our natural instinct to think is that it's okay to make mistakes and that no baker started out perfect--they all learned from their trials and errors. But that's the truth. And the sooner we accept it, the sooner we can start making better strawberry shortcakes....erm, that last part might just apply to me.

In all honesty, this came out to be a pretty darn good strawberry shortcake. But you couldn't have paid me to believe that when I was in the actual process of making it. You see, strawberry shortcake is made out of sponge cake, whipped cream, and strawberries-- sponge cake being the most essential part, in my opinion. So, when my beautiful, fluffy, golden sponge cakes came out of the oven and then deflated, I was heartbroken. And I had no idea what I had done wrong. 

I followed Jonathan's amazing step-by-step photo recipe exactly as instructed, minus a few very minor modifications like not beating my egg whites with my KitchenAid stand mixer and shaking/rotating the pans to even out the batter...but they couldn't have been responsible, could they? At that point, so many questions were running through my head about what I did or didn't do correctly but I realized that I would never really know unless I tried making the cake again. But first, I had to invert my deflated cakes because yes, I still thought they were salvageable.

And they were....kind of. Because I followed Jonathan's recipe exactly as instructed, I didn't grease my pans. Apparently, that's very common for making sponge cakes and it seemed to work just fine for him. Me, not so much. I ran a spatula around the edges of the cakes to release them and they didn't appear to be stuck, but all the banging and slamming in the world could not get them out when I flipped their pans over. I eventually somehow managed to slide an entire lifting spatula under the cakes to loosen them up enough to get them out, but only one of them survived this process.

This meant two things. One, I was going to have to make another layer to complete the cake, which was fine because I wanted to try again and do a better job anyway. And two, I would be able to taste the cake and see how it came out beforehand! The reason I was really excited about this is because I was making the cake for someone else so getting an opportunity to taste it was the best unexpected gift I could get at that point. And it made me pretty hopeful when I took one bite and realized that what the cake lacked in appearance, it made up for in taste. So even if one of the layers of the cake was going to be denser than the other, depending on how my next cake came out, I knew it was going to be delicious.

So, I got to work right away on the next layer. I still didn't use a Kitchen Aid to mix my egg whites, but I was extra super careful when folding them into the batter, and didn't make any extra movements after the batter was in the pan. Oh, and I lined the pan with parchment paper this time. I do believe that it's possible a sponge cake won't stick to an ungreased pan (as proven by Jonathan), but I didn't want to take any chances. I couldn't afford to mess up again. Anywho, after about 25 minutes and a lot of prayers, I took the cake out of the oven and hoped and hoped it wouldn't deflate.

But it did....but definitely not like the other ones. It was a subtle kind of deflation, one that I don't think affected the density of the cake all that much. Definitely an improvement. Also, the cake slid out beautifully from the pan thanks to the parchment paper, so I was pleased overall. With my cakes ready, and my syrup ready (I made it while the first layers were baking), I could finally get started on the whipped cream. Alongside making sponge cakes, I think making whipped cream is also something I still haven't yet fully mastered. I've made it before many times but I still can't really tell if it has been "over whipped" or not.

It gave me sort of a difficult time when covering the cake but that might be because I've never covered a cake in whipped cream. I'm more of a buttercream kind of gal. But anyways, we're about 7 paragraphs into this so I'm going to stop rambling and wrap this up. I didn't use all of the syrup I made for the cake because I think it made more than one cup, which means I probably didn't let it cook long enough. Other than that, I did exactly what Jon did, down to his fanned strawberry in the middle of the cake.

Although my cake didn't come out to be as high as Jon's (probably due to the slightly deflated cakes or not as much strawberries in the middle), I'm pretty confident it tasted just like his. He claims it's the best cake for the summer and those were my thoughts exactly as I went through two slices of cake like it was nothing. Like I wasn't at a family friend's house eating a cake that I had made for them. What can I say, it was good. No scratch that, it was great. It was everything I have ever imagined strawberry shortcake to be and more. Light, moist, not overly sweet and perfectly refreshing.

And the best part about this all is that it can only get better from here. I haven't yet mastered a perfect sponge cake but I will someday and that will make this the ultimate strawberry shortcake. 

Strawberry Shortcake

adapted from The Candid Appetite

Ingredients:

For the sponge cake

6 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
pinch of vanillin powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 cup cake flour (I made one cup of cake flour by adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to a cup, then filling the rest with all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 pints fresh strawberries, rinsed, stemmed and sliced, reserving 9 whole berries for the top
2 cups sliced almonds

For the simple syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar

pinch of vanillin powder(You can add your own choice of extract for flavoring, if desired)

For the whipped cream

3 cups very cold heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
pinch of vanillin powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Directions:

For the sponge cake

Separate the eggs into two mixing bowls. Start by beating the egg yolks with the sugar until very thick and lemon colored. Add water and vanilla extract; scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix until everything is incorporated. Add flour and mix on low speed just until everything is combined. Be careful not  to overmix the batter.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Then add cream of tartar and salt. Beat mixture until whites are stiff, but not until they are dry. Fold the whipped egg whites mixture into yolk mixture, carefully, so as to not deflate the egg whites.

Pour the batter into two ungreased 9 inch pans. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool on a cooling rack. Invert the cakes.

For the simple syrup

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and the water over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture reaches a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes more. Remove pan from heat, and stir in extract of your choice. Let cool to room temperature. 

For the whipped cream

In a large mixing bowl, pour the heavy cream and mix on low-medium speed for several minutes. Once the cream has frothed and slightly thickened, add the sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip on medium-high until soft peaks form. Be careful not to over mix the cream, as it could turn into butter rather fast.

Assembly

Place one of the layers of cake on a serving plate or stand, where ever you will decorate it. Brush on simple syrup evenly and heavily onto the first layer. Dollop with a spoonful of the whipped cream and spread evenly over the cake layer. Arrange the strawberry slices over the cream. Top with another spoonful of cream and spread once again.

Top with the second layer of sponge cake, and brush with more of the simple syrup. Place a large dollop, multiple spoonfuls, of the whipped cream on the cake. Spread out evenly over the top, allowing the cream to fall down the sides. Using an offset spatula cover the cake completely with the whipped cream. Smooth it out, removing any excess cream.

Cover the sides of the cake with the sliced almonds. Shake off any loose nuts. Using a pastry bag, fitted with a star tip 1M, make 8 rosettes on the edge of the cake, making one final rosette in the middle. Place the reserved strawberries on each of the rosettes. Slice and serve. Store any leftover cake, covered, in the fridge. 

Yield: 9-inch, two layer cake

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Someday, I'm going to be that mom that sends her kid to school parties and functions with only the finest baked goods. I have no doubt in my mind that that is the role I'm going to assume. I'm actually sort of assuming that role right now, as the aunt to a very wonderful nephew. Who do you think little guy comes to when he needs something to take to a school party? Moi. And who do you think sends him to that party with only the coolest, top-notch dessert? That's right, moi!

Last week, his class had a last-day-of-school party and he called upon my help once again. Since I've made him vanilla cupcakes before, and brownie bites the time after that, the only next reasonable thing in line to make was chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. According to him, the kids in his class are all about the chocolate, which works out just fine for me because I'm like an expert in the field...the eating portion of course. But I'm also pretty good at deciding what chocolate desserts work--and the moment I saw these cupcakes on Lori's blog, I knew they would.

And I was right. They worked alright. They worked their way into my mouth, many, many times. More times than I'm ready to admit. If I hadn't needed to double the recipe to make enough for his class, I wouldn't have been in the situation of being tempted by the extra cupcakes every time I passed by them. But I was, and you know I don't deal very well with temptation when it involves chocolate, much less cookie dough. And don't even mention the homemade frosting.

Yes, homemade frosting. I made my own frosting, for the first time ever. I have always skipped out on frosting made from scratch when cupcake recipes have called for it...mostly because I don't need the extra calories and the cupcakes usually taste just fine without it, but also because I've never thought it'd come out right. But I had to take a chance with these cupcakes because the frosting really felt like an essential part of them and I didn't wanna go halfway if I was sending these with my favorite boy to school. So I actually went out and bought the salted butter that I didn't have and the mini Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies for garnish.

Admittedly, I didn't buy the mini chocolate chips that I didn't have either, because I figured I could just use the regular chocolate chips I had in my pantry. Looking back on it now, the mini chocolate chips probably would have been better to use because they are tiny and more evenly distributed, unlike the regular chocolate chips which are kind of a little big and bulky. Because they are a little big and bulky, I didn't double their amount when I doubled the recipe because a half a cup of them appeared to be "a lot" when I mixed it in with the dough. But as you can see from the picture above of the cupcake cut in half, a half a cup wasn't as much as I had thought.

There were a few cupcakes that got a fair amount of chocolate chips in their filling, but honestly, whether or not the cupcakes had more or less chips, all of them were equally friggin' amazing. Everything about them was perfect, from their rich, moist chocolate cake to their chocolate chip or un-chocolate chip cookie dough, to their absolutely delicious, just-can't-get-enough cookie dough frosting. They definitely top the list of favorite cupcakes ever. 

My brother requested a batch specifically just for us at home, but I had to deny this request because it is seriously dangerous to have these cupcakes around when you are trying to diet. I don't care what kind of willpower you have. I guarantee it will crumble simply at the sight of these beauties.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

adapted from Recipe Girl

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
pinch of vanillin powder(or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

For the cookie dough filling

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons milk
pinch of vanillin powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips

For the cookie dough  frosting

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
pinch of vanillin powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Directions:

For the cookie dough filling

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl, use an electric mixer to mix together the butter, sugars, milk and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes, or until the cookie dough is firm. Scoop out dough into balls and place it on a cookie sheet. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.

For the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners. Place the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt in a blender. Blend to combine. Add the water, oil, egg and vanilla. Blend to combine, scraping down the sides as needed a couple of times until all is well mixed. 

Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners. Drop a ball of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough into the center of each cupcake. If you would like the cookie dough to bake up slightly, keep the top visible. If you'd like to keep the cookie dough somewhat raw, push it to the bottom of the cupcake wrapper, making sure that the batter comes up and over the dough.

Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake portion of the cupcake (not tested through the center where the dough is), comes out fairly clean. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

For the cookie dough frosting

In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy. Mix in the flour, milk and vanilla and continue to mix until all is well combined. 

Frost cupcakes with a knife or scoop the frosting into a piping bag and pipe it on decoratively. If desired, sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top and garnish with a small chocolate chip cookie.

Yield: 12 cupcakes.

My notes: I made two batches of cupcake batter--one in the blender as instructed, the other using a hand mixer. They both came out the same.

Even though I doubled the recipe, I made one batch of frosting and using a 1M tip, it was enough to pipe a small swirl on just about all 24 cupcakes.

Layered Banana Pudding Cups

At this very moment, I am so stuffed I can barely breathe. I could easily go into hibernation right now and have the food I ate today suffice me for a few months. Summer gatherings are going to be the death of me people. Or should I say, the fat of me.

That diet that I've been planning to go on for weeks now, hasn't happened. And by the looks of things, won't be happening. Even if I can somewhat control what I make for myself at home, I can't control being invited to parties and picnics which means I can't control the urge to want to make something for said party and picnic, and 99% of the time, that something isn't healthy and 100% of the time I won't mind "tasting" it, and yeah, you know how the rest of the story goes.

I actually had some sort of willpower with these banana pudding cups though. I only had one chocolate cup at the actual party, and random spoonfuls of the vanilla one from other people's pudding cups. Don't worry, they were my mother's, father's, and nephew's. I didn't going around digging into random people's puddings. But if I had, I probably would have dug into people's chocolate cups, not the vanilla ones. Now those were amazing.

I know when it comes to chocolate desserts, I'm slightly biased, but I promise, this is a completely unbiased opinion here. The reason I really liked the chocolate pudding cups is not because of their chocolate(although it was a nice addition), but because they were made from scratch! I used Lindsey's recipe and it did not disappoint. Oh, and side note: I don't think I'll ever have to do another arm workout again if I keep making puddings and pastry creams and bechamel sauces. I think they've got me covered whenever I need to "feel the burn".

Now just because I preferred the chocolate pudding cups over the vanilla ones, it doesn't mean the vanilla ones weren't awesome and "refreshing", as the party guest of honor referred to them. Their recipe came from Bakerella's blog and we all know that woman knows what she's doing. I think everyone is pretty familiar with combining instant pudding and Cool Whip; well, Bakerella upped that combo by throwing in a can of sweetened condensed milk. Like I said, she knows what she's doing.

Both recipes call for being layered in a large serving bowl, but I think we can all agree that miniature and portable things are so much cuter, especially for parties. So I layered the puddings in 9oz. plastic cups, and instead of things getting messy with people transferring the pudding to their plates, each person got their own tidy little serving. And not to toot my own horn, but everyone raved about how cute the cups were, so I think overall, it was a job well done :) You should make them for any parties you may have coming up, I think they'll be quite a hit!

Daring Cooks' June 2012 Challenge: Cannelloni

Manu from Manu’s Menu was our Daring Cooks lovely June hostess and has challenged us to make traditional Italian cannelloni from scratch! We were taught how to make the pasta, filling, and sauces shared with us from her own and her family’s treasured recipes!

I, for one, was very excited about this challenge because a) I love pasta even though my hips don't and b) I actually have a pasta machine at home! In fact, I had all the ingredients/equipment required at home and there's something about having everything at your hands that just boosts your motivation to make a particular dish. That, and seeing that there are no tomatoes or red sauces involved in the recipe, just a wonderful bechamel sauce. That pretty much sealed the deal for me because I knew that my dad would be able to eat it too :)

It came as an advantage that I had some prior experience using a pasta machine; I've made pasta many times before with my mother. What I haven't done is actually knead pasta dough from tiny little crumbs of an egg/flour mixture, which was my task for this challenge. Admittedly, I ended up having to ask my mother for some of her arm strength because my scrawny arms weren't able to accomplish much.

At first glance, the small ball of dough that I had formed didn't look like it was going to make me eight sheets of pasta, let alone four. But my mother reassured me that it would expand once I passed it through the machine...and that it did. Not only that, but it ended up giving me even more than 8 sheets. I was able to make about 12 sheets, and I still had a bit of extra dough left over.

My sheets look kind of small though right? That's what I thought. In comparison to the ones Manu and other Daring Cooks posted, I felt that my mine were considerably smaller even though I cut them out the same 4" by 6" as instructed. Luckily, the boiling water must have had some magical powers or something because the sheets expanded when I cooked them and they looked more like proper cannelloni that way. I was so proud of how they turned out.

But that was just step one of the three steps to this dish. I still had bechamel sauce to make and the spinach-ricotta filling. I used the recipe for bechamel sauce that Manu posted but found a different filling recipe on epicurious and adapted it to my liking. The bechamel was pretty simple to make, though I did require an extra set of hands when adding the hot milk because whisking the "roux" vigorously to make sure there's no lumps and pouring in milk at the same time is virtually impossible.

The filling was also really simple--just some basic sauteeing and wilting of the spinach, and then some combining of the ricotta with the spinach and other things. And then all that was left to do after that was fill the cannelloni and then roll them shut. Or is it, roll it shut? Is cannelloni plural or singular? I'll have to Google that later. But yeah, like I was saying. I rolled the cannelloni shut, but to be honest, the cannelloni itself did most of the work because it was sticky, and so just lightly pressing it against itself created a wonderful seal.

Manu mentions that cannelloni is not something her family eats every day, it's more of a dish for special occasions. But the way that it had me coming back for seconds and thirds gives me a hunch that that rule won't apply in this household. Yes, I'll admit, putting it all together was a bit time-consuming, but the pleasure of eating my own fresh pasta was totally worth it. And even my hips would agree on that. 

Cannelloni Di Magro (Spinach and Cheese Cannelloni)

Ingredients:

For the pasta

2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 large egg

For the béchamel sauce

2 cups hot milk

3½ tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 pinch nutmeg

For the filling

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
One package (10 oz) fresh spinach
1 3/4 cups ricotta 

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

Directions:

For the pasta
Put the flour and egg into a food processor and mix. When the dough looks like crumbs, pour it onto a flat work surface sprinkled with a little flour. Knead well by hand until you obtain a smooth dough. Make it into a ball, wrap it in cling wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

After the dough has rested for 15 minutes, cut off a small piece and flatten it into a rectangular shape with your hands. Put a little flour on it and begin passing it though the pasta machine. Turn the dial to the widest setting (#1) and, starting with one of the shorter sides of the rectangle, feed it through the rollers. Now fold one side of the piece of dough into the middle, then fold the other side over that to form 3 layers. Starting with one of the narrower sides of the folded dough, feed the pasta through the machine, again at the widest setting. Repeat the folding and rolling technique on the widest setting for at least a couple of times.

Then you can start rolling it thinner, by turning the dial to the next narrowest setting (# 2). Roll the pasta through the machine without folding the dough between settings. Keep reducing the settings until #7 (it is the second last on Manu's machine – about 1 mm thick). If the sheet of pasta gets too long, you can cut it in half with a knife. To make cannelloni, cut out rectangular pasta sheets (10x15 cm) (4”x6”).

To cook the cannelloni, bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Cook the pasta sheets in the water for 1 minute. Remove them with a slotted spoon and then put them on a clean tea towel to cool down.

For the béchamel sauce
Melt the butter in a non-stick pan. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk constantly until well incorporated; this is the "roux". Let it cook for a minute or two. 

Then start adding the hot milk little by little, while continuously mixing, until the milk is well incorporated. Do not add more milk unless it is well incorporated. Keep doing so until all the milk is incorporated.

Add salt and nutmeg and cook it on a low flame for 10 minutes or until it thickens. When ready, cover it to prevent a film from appearing on the surface.

For the filling
Heat oil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion and garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add spinach and sauté, stirring, until just wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Stir together ricotta, egg, parsley, basil, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup cheese in a bowl, then stir in spinach mixture.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spread 2/3 cup sauce in buttered baking dish that will fit your cannelloni tightly. Spread about 1/3 cup of the filling in a line along the long side of one pasta rectangle, then roll up to enclose filling. Transfer, seam side down, to baking dish. Do the same for the remaining pasta rectangles, and arrange them snugly in one layer in the dish. Pour the rest of the béchamel sauce over the cannelloni and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.

Cover with foil and bake in the middle of the oven until sauce is bubbling, about 20-25 minutes. Then, turn on broiler, remove foil, and broil cannelloni about 5 inches from heat until lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes. Let stand 2-3 minutes before serving.

Yield: Recipe for pasta dough is said to yield 8 sheets of pasta, enough to serve 4 persons. Mine made 12 sheets, possibly because I rolled it out thinner.

Wedding Cupcakes with Hearts & Monograms

Here's a fun fact: candy melts SUCK. Okay, they don't really suck. They're actually one of the greatest inventions out there, and they're also wonderful for making cake pops.But when it comes to piping them into different shapes and letters to make cupcake toppers, they will be the death of you. They were the death of me, almost.

You see, I offered to make cupcakes for a family friend's wedding ceremony/nikah/katb el kitab/whatever you wanna call it. But instead of opting for a simple buttercream swirl with edible pearls, I wanted to go above and beyond and create my own cupcake toppers out of candy melts. In my head, it sounded like the best idea ever. In reality, I regretted it shortly after I made 18 intertwined hearts and only one of them survived removal from the wax paper. I know people online said to make extra to allow for breakage, I didn't know extra meant like, a thousand.

I actually started off with a tip #3 because I specifically wanted to avoid the breakage--the thicker they were, the sturdier they would be. But clearly that didn't really help, and so, when I used a tip #2 for the bride and groom initials since they required more detail, it turned out that I liked it better because it gave me more control. So I stuck with tip #2, but I started changing the way I took them off the wax paper. After trying a few different tactics, I finally found one that worked and had a 99.9% success rate. To explain exactly what I did in words would be kind of difficult, so I'll have to make you guys a video tutorial someday.

So anyway, once I had the removal part down, I just piped away. I didn't even count how many I was making, I just made as many as the bag of candy melts could give me. In the end, it turned out I had well over 100, which wasn't a problem at all because I knew I could just easily re-melt the extras and use them for other purposes in the future. Aren't candy melts so great? I guess you could say we have a love-hate relationship. Oh, and another reason making more than 100 wasn't a problem was because some of the toppers broke when I was picking them up to put on top of the cupcakes. So, knowing that I had extra kept me from breaking down into tears :)

I used a variety of recipes for the cupcakes themselves; some were white cake, some were chocolate, and some were just plain yellow cake from a box mix. And the swirl on top was made using tip 2D--my newest favorite tip! I'm in love with the beautiful frills it makes. I hear it makes some pretty lovely roses too, so I can't wait to try that out.

Congratulations to the beautiful couple! May Allah bestow muwaddah and rahmah in your hearts for each other and bless you with all the happiness and joy that you both deserve.

Graduation Cupcakes

It's that time of the year again, ladies and gents. Graduation season is upon us. And we all know what that means...PARTYYYY! Many, many parties. Big parties, small parties, pool parties, house parties. But no matter what kind of party it is, I can assure you, it won't be complete without these adorable cupcakes.

They are too cute for words. The graduation cap is made out of a Reese's peanut butter cup and a Ghirardelli chocolate square, and the tassel is made out of a fruit roll up with a mini M&M placed in the center of the chocolate square as the finishing touch. The diploma, which may appear to be made out of fondant, is actually made out of a vanilla flavored Tootsie Roll, and the "ribbon" it's tied with is also a piece of Fruit Roll-Up. 

The way I elaborately worked on these cupcakes, you'd think I was presenting them to the Queen of England. But I was actually making them for a kindergarten graduation, and guess what? They were my first PAID order! I know, I couldn't believe my ears either! But then when reality set in, so did the pressure. I have a history of things coming out bad whenever I actually need to make them for an occasion. And I did not need that happening this time around.

So I did what any normal person would do. I made sure all my chocolate was refrigerated so that there was no way I would run into problems with it melting when I was handling it. Not that the weather called for it, but you know me, always one step ahead of the game. Wrong. I'm actually like three steps behind the game. No scratch that, I'm not even in the game. They put me on the bench because of how slow I am. Refrigerating chocolate actually makes matters worse because when you take it out of the fridge, condensation happens. At least, that's the case for chocolate that isn't properly covered.

Since the chocolate was packaged before I used it, it didn't give me a problem when I took it out the fridge and assembled the cap. But then, when I put the caps in the fridge uncovered to cool before I attached their tassels, condensation formed and it was a little tricky to handle them that way.  Lesson noted. I simply left them out at room temperature after I attached their tassels and averted another condensation crisis. After that, it was just a matter of being patient because molding those Tootsie Rolls into diplomas was a little time-consuming, but worth it nonetheless.

Although I'm sure the kiddies didn't care much about how the cupcakes looked, I know they were certainly looking forward to their taste. And I think I nailed it with this doctored up cake mix recipe for the cupcakes, as well as the extra special toppings. I'm not sure how much their parents appreciated the sugar high I probably gave them though...ah well. YOGKO. You only graduate kindergarten once!