Last week it was my brother Eric's 23rd birthday. If you read the comments on this blog, he's the one always talking about the calorie content of cupcakes or making fun of our little sister, Melissa, for eating too many. See, Melissa and I are normal, cupcake-loving people, but Eric's strange and doesn't eat really anything that's bad for you. His ideal cupcake would probably be a mix of chicken, tuna, and protein powder.
Workspace around 1:00 am
Having decided that was not going to be my ingredient list, I went for a banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting. And I used no butter. Which is no small feat for me being as I use that stuff by the pounds. I also reduced the sugar in the cake. This was just about the "healthiest" cupcake I've baked yet. I also made a dozen regular vanilla for the people who wouldn't prefer the protein cupcakes.
Finished cupcakesI really don't like bananas, but the banana cupcake wasn't bad at all. It definitely had more of a muffin texture, but that's probably due to the absence of butter. The combo of peanut butter and banana was good; each flavor held its own nicely.
Close-up of the suits cupcakesBecause Eric was having his birthday celebration down in Atlantic City, I went with a poker theme for the cupcakes. I covered the peanut butter banana cupcakes in rolled green fondant to look like a poker table and topped them with edible fondant poker chips I hand made and painted with gold luster dust. The vanilla cupcakes were covered in white fondant and topped with a card suit cut out of red and black fondant. I actually bought those fondant cutters about two months ago in preparation for these cupcakes. I also found tiny suit sprinkles at NY Cake and used those on the white cupcakes as well.
Poker chip cupcakesAll of this baking and decorating went down around midnight last Thursday. By the time I finished, I was exhausted and covered in corn starch (you roll the fondant on it).
About to sing Happy BirthdayFortunately, when Eric and his friends returned from Atlantic City, most of them had won. It would not have been good to have a cupcake reminder of the big losses suffered at the poker tables.
5 comments:
These are gorgeous! Happy birthday, Eric!
first off, I know you cut me out of that picture with the cupcakes because I was directly to the left of Eric...thanks for that. Secondly, I was the only one who won in AC so in essence you were reminding everyone of their great losses the night before. Finally, those vanilla cupcakes were bangin. Good work.
These are great! And believe, me, I know, as a fellow Tara AND a fellow cupcaker myself, I KNOW! Great job!
Wooo my name hit the blog! And I'm not sure if the "healthy" cupcakes are just as good for you when you eat about ten.
What a bunch of good looking kids! The cupcakes, as always were tastey and beautiful!
Post a Comment