This phase to me is like a piping nozzle to an icing bag!

I go through phases with all aspects of my life. Some phases are fairly tamed and boring, where as others are more extreme. To provide you with an example, from 2001 to 2005 my favourite colour was pink. Everything I owned, wore, ate and drank had to be pink. I use to wear a whole ensemble of pink clothing while eating a pink iced donut and drinking a carton of pink strawberry milk. I kid you not (although, I do wish I was kidding)! But yes, the purpose of this hideously embarrassing story is to demonstrate the fact that I go through phases.

So, is my passion and devotion to cupcakes a phase? My goodness I hope not. I adore cupcakes way too much. I can’t imagine waking up one morning and not liking cupcakes as much as I do. Having said that, I use to think that I would always love pink and now when I look at my fluoro pink cord pants, all I do is cringe. 

Anyway, some of you may have notice that I tend to pipe icing onto my cupcakes using simular techniques. I tend to use the fairly stock standard swirl icing motion and pipe the icing into little swirl towers of yum – cupcake phase one. However, I have recently discovered a new nozzle, Wilton 2D. This nozzle is a-a-a-mazing – cupcake phase two.

I believe that the Wilton 2D nozzle enhances the icing’s texture and to a degree taste. As you can see from the image below, the tip of the nozzle is somewhat large in comparison to the ends of the nozzle. The icing that is pushed through the thinner portion of the nozzle is thinner and subsequently creates a more fluffy texture.

Not only does it in my opinion enhance the taste of the icing, this nozzle also pipes icing into a beautiful pattern. For instance, you could pipe roses on the top of your cupcakes using this nozzle. I am in process of perfecting the art of piping icing into the shape of a rose. I am experiencing trouble with how to end off the rose. If you know of a good youtube video teaching this, please send it my way! Please find below my chocolate and vanilla rose cupcakes I made over the weekend.  

So, will I stick to the Wilton 2D indefinitely? Unlikely, it is probably just a phase. So does that mean that cupcakes are just a phase? Absolutely not! I really do love cupcakes. If I am not baking cupcakes, I am blogging about cupcakes, and if I am not blogging about cupcakes, I am talking about my blog which is about cupcakes. My goodness, I live a somewhat sad cupcake existence.

If my obsession for cupcakes is just a phase it is going to stick for a very long time, definitely for the foreseeable future and far, far beyond.

I love winning!

Let me put it into perspective for you. I love cupcakes almost as much as I love winning - and we all know how much I love cupcakes! Yes, I am a teeny weeny bit competitive. So, can you imagine how much I love combining winning WITH cupcakes?! A LOT!

Last year a few colleagues and I hosted a little bake off amongst ourselves. Desperately wanting to win the bake off I researched ‘amazing cupcakes ideas’ through Google. After viewing several websites, I came across a Pac Man cupcake idea and knew I had to make it.

In order to make the cupcake Pac Man images, I had to use fondant. I made my favourite white mudcake cupcakes and covered the top of the cupcakes with fondant. I didn’t think to ice the cupcakes with buttercream frosting or chocolate ganache first, so the cupcakes ended up being a bit dry. What’s the moral of the story? Always ice one’s cupcakes to ensure tastiness! 

Although the cupcakes didn’t taste the best, they sure did look cool. Was it enough to get me across the line and win the bake off? It was. Pac Man for the win!

To spread or not to spread? That is the question ...

It has been a while since I last blogged, but this week has just slipped away from me. I have been quite busy this week as I had to work late a couple of nights and had to bake for various occasions the other nights, and before I knew it, it was the weekend. So here I am ...

On Friday morning, I woke up in the wee hours to bake for both Brendyn’s and my respective work places. Due to popular demand, I made my Mint Slice cupcakes again. The thought my early morning baking adventure would be a walk in the park given that I only made the cupcakes earlier that week, but it turned out to be an absolute disaster!

Disaster #1 - I over cooked the cupcakes. I wasn’t too distraught by this because I thought I could make up for it if I made the icing perfectly. The peppermint icing turned out quite well and piped on quite nicely. I wish I could say the same about my dark chocolate icing. This leads me to Disaster #2. After I had melted the Lindt chocolate to pour into my icing mixture, I didn’t bother to check whether there were any lumps. And my goodness - were there lumps!! The icing kept clogging at the tip of the icing nozzle. I had to change and use three different icing nozzles. After much blasphemy and tears (maybe), I decided to spread the chocolate icing on.

I have always piped my icing onto cupcakes. Never have I spread icing on to a cupcake. Although I am not against the notion of spreading icing on one’s cupcake, I feel as though piped icing looks much more inviting. I guess I am just not a spreader. Are you?