J & J Wedding Cupcakes

Wedding Cupcakes!

I had a family wedding this weekend and many people brought home made baked goods (including me!). This was sort of a second wedding for the couple. They got married in Kansas about 11 weeks ago, and renewed their vows and celebrated again in Pennsylvania this weekend! Sooooo they did not have a traditional wedding cake this time. Instead, family and friends contributed a vast variety of baked goods such as cookies, candies, scones, and cupcakes! And it worked out very well! 

I chose to make three kinds of cupcakes...

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Buttercream

I chose to do a chocolate/peanut butter combination because it is a favorite of the couple...and a favorite of mine as well :) But it turned out that a lot of people had the same thought process as I did (Hey! They both love peanut butter and chocolate! I should do something with those flavors!). So there were probably more Peanut Butter/Chocolate flavored things than not! I hope there weren't people there that happened to be allergic to or not like peanut butter and/or chocolate.... That would significantly limit their selection!  

For these, I put flat, shaped, textured, ivory gumpaste decorations (they don't have a name and I don't know what to call them) on top of the dark chocolate cupcake swirls. 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Blackberry Italian Buttercream 

The groom likes basic vanilla cake, so I went with that and paired it with a fruity or "berry-y" buttercream. I did some experimenting to find a really good recipe for the vanilla cupcakes because something basic like that shouldn't taste too "basic"...that wouldn't be good! Then I gave my Real Italian Buttercream an exquisite blackberry flavor by using gourmet blackberry purée. This one was very popular :)

For decorations, I place an ivory gum paste rose (with a leaf) atop the swirled tower of blackberry frosting and used both 3mm and 6mm ivory dragees (the pearl-like, spherical sprinkles). I had to hand place each individual dragee because they wouldn't stay on if you just sprinkled...but I think it was worth this incredibly tedious step.  

And last but certainly not least...

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

I wanted to do a completely vegan (both the cake and the frosting!!!) option for a couple reasons...(1) to be considerate to people that are vegan, lactose intolerant, etc. and (2) to provide something that meets these restrictions but is also delicious from everyone's point of view (or point of taste?). A lot of people expect vegan baking not to taste as good as "non-vegan" baking but that is not always the case. It depends on the recipe! This one does NOT follow that stereotype according to everyone I talked to that tasted these. 

These cupcakes' decorations were more personalized to the bride and groom and the occasion. Some envelope-looking ones with their names and hometowns where the different celebrations were held, and then some that were based on the insert from the invitations which featured the dated of both events. These decorations brought many smiles :)

Please excuse the frosting spots that got on the decorations and papers. That was the fault of the kitchen staff at the wedding. They did stuff with the cupcakes that resulted in those imperfections (which later caused me to have a panic attack in the bathroom...I am such a perfectionist and a little OCD...and I was rather stressed - that didn't help either).

Anyways, that was my most recent baking project. 72 cupcakes was the plan but each recipe made between three and six extras. I believe there were 87 all together. 

Next: Scooby Doo Cake for a 5th birthday party!

<3

~Esa