Dark Chocolate Cupcake topped with Vanilla Buttercream,

drizzled with melted chocolate and topped with a peanut buttercup!

This week brought two new tests for me. One was playing with a new look for cupcakes and the other was learning how to photograph the results. When you think about it, there's not much you can do with a cupcake. It's basically a really small cake that you add frosting to and hope it's a good balance for whoever gets to eat it. Fondant, while great for the larger cake, is really hard to eat on a cupcake so it's not a favorite of mine to use. But buttercream lends itself quite well to such a small slice of cake. But decorating can get a bit boring..swirl on frosting, sprinkle with something and pack it away....over and over again. But just like my big cakes I want my little cakes to look beautiful and tasty at the same time...make you WANT to take a big bite of it. So, being a huge chocolate fan, I thought what a better way to celebrate chocolate in a little form but to make my dark chocolate cake, top it with more chocolate and then add candy to push it right over the top! Of course, you have to cut the chocolate a teeny bit so I used vanilla buttercream just so it's not chocolate on chocolate topped with more chocolate...although as a chocolate freak that doesn't sound so bad to me! BUT this order was for a Breast Cancer Fundraising Event and I wanted everyone in the room to enjoy their afternoon treat so I held back a teeny bit of chocolate and went with the vanilla buttercream instead. They were a huge hit with the group too!

Now the second challenge...photographing them so they would look as yummy to everyone who would not get to see them in person as they did in real life. For years I worked as a Nature/Wildlife photographer, took a spin as a wedding photographer and thought photogaphing food wouldn't be too hard. But as anyone who has ever tried to photograph food knows, it's REALLY hard to do! So Google and YouTube came to my rescue again. I swear you can find anything there, really you can! And after an afternoon of education I used my new found tips and techniques and took the shot. I'm pretty proud of how the cupcake looks and that it looks as yummy as it did in person!

Next week brings a whole bunch of prep time for a new Demo cake. I'm learning how to make poured sugar tiles as well as water lilies so I'll share with you my results next Sunday!

Cat