Jewellery Party Cupcakes

Tonight, I spent the evening baking Carrot Cake cupcakes for my friend Brenda’s jewellery party on Wednesday night.  It might have been the excitement to take a picture at every step, or it might have been the killer massage I got on my exercise induced shoulder injury, but whatever it was, the cupcake attempt tonight was pitiful!  I’m embarrassed to post the pictures, but hopefully with the right decorations and proper amount of icing (meaning gluttonous amount), they will end up tasting better than they look.

Yes, I had to cheat. It was the pressure of the first posting of pictures.

First step: Cheat with a box of mix.  But, in order for it to give off the air of scratch baking, add one cup of grated carrots to the mix after following the directions on the box..and 1/2 cup of raisins if you so desire.

Use the mixer to mix the grated carrots and raisins in briefly (about 30 seconds).  Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl.

Yes, I could have cleaned off the spills, but lets face it- I'm learning, and I'm also a complete MESS of a baker. There is stuff EVERYWHERE when I bake.

Tip learned during this section of the baking process–don’t fill the damn cups so full!!  It makes for a huge mess, and the cupcakes end up way too big.  Baking in the ridiculously sized oven I have (apartment) makes the baking of over filled liners even more difficult.  Try to get even baking with that situation!!  Oh well, one day I’ll have a convection oven that doesn’t fit on my counter.

Here they are in their ugly glory...not my best attempt. Notice the one on the bottom that I ripped into to check whether it was done or not.

Now for the best part…ICING!!!  Icing is my fave….basically, I make cupcakes so I can eat the icing.  I could eat it by the bucketful, and claim to not get a stomach ache, but really, how gross would that be….but oh so delish.

For this recipe, I went with my tried and true Cream Cheese Icing Recipe.  Take one brick of cream cheese, mix with 1/2 c. of butter, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 2 c. of icing sugar.

No, I didn't eat the entire bowl of icing...I forgot to take the picture. Rookie move Jenn, rookie move.

I make up for the empty bowl with this pic. Icing in the bag, all ready to go.

For these cupcakes, I used tip No. 9….mostly because I couldn’t find my bigger one.  It ended up working out ok though…just needed to use a really slow hand.  One of those nifty individual cupcake holder things that Wilton makes would have come in handy…but then of course you don’t get as much icing on your hands that you can lick off later.

Icing step one...mmm, look at it's gooey goodness.

Sprinkles and rings were purchased on my last trip to Vancouver...so pretty.

Completed project!

Jewellery party cupcakes are completed! A simple and relatively easy (duh, I used a cake mix and completely cheated!)…but, hey cut me some slack…I’m a beginner.  On my way to world baking domination mind you.