Professional moments

I like baking more than the average person, but never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought of baking professionally. Like I said in a previous post, I am not particularly adventurous, or much of a risk taker. I have a stable and secure job that keeps me more than busy, and although I adore baking, I have always maintained that baking will remain a hobby. Having said all that, recently, after a number of my baking adventures, the thought has crossed my mind that I should, in the wise words of Nike - “just do it” - and open my own cupcake business.

Professional moment number one

The founder of ‘Unwrapped’, my friend Ebony, employed my services to make cupcakes for ‘Unwrapped's’ 5th birthday. ‘Unwrapped’ is a biannual market that promotes the work of emerging Australian designers in Perth, Western Australia (to read more about ‘Unwrapped’, visit: www.unwrapped .com.au).

Ebony’s instructions were simple - a batch of 100 mini chocolate cupcakes. She was very trusting and gave me artist freedom regarding decoration. So, I started this cupcake expedition by designing a fondant topper.  I decided to top each cupcake with a ‘fashion’ medallion. The medallions were about 3cm in diameter, roughly the size of an Australian 20 cent coin. Given how small the medallions had to be to fit the mini cup cakes, I had to hand cut each fashion image to place on the medallion – dress, hand bag, silhouette of lady, stilettos, sun glasses, suit and top hat.  Here is a photo depicting the size of the medallion.

Moving onto the actual cupcake itself, I made mini Lindt chocolate cupcakes with red vanilla butter cream frosting. Trying to get the icing red enough was quite an ordeal. I was fearful that I didn’t have enough colouring gel to get the job done. Luckily enough, I had just enough and the red icing looked vibrant! Here is the final product:

After putting all the cupcakes together and seeing them all lined up, I experienced my professional moment number one. I sensed an overwhelming amount of pride and satisfaction and thought to myself that I really could open my very own cupcake business.

If you are in Perth for the next ‘Unwrapped’ make sure you attend - you will not be disappointed! And who knows, I might have a little cupcake store of my own!

Professional moment number two

Friday, 1st of April was Autism Awareness Day. A number of famous buildings around the world were lit up in blue to increase awareness, including the Perth Bell Tower. To support the cause of increasing awareness and fundraising for autism awareness, I baked mini penguin cupcakes. I made the blue fondant penguins the night before baking the cupcakes. Originally, I was only going to make male penguins, but as my good friend Stephanie, puts it “even in the world of baking there is gender equality!”  

Similarly, after putting all the cupcakes together and seeing them all lined up, I experienced my professional moment number two.

Who knows? Maybe a few more professional moments like these and I will open my very own cupcake business. Watch this space ...