Pretty Cakes

You may have heard that my daughter, Brooke is engaged!

A few weeks back we hosted a little get-together for her finance’s family and their wedding party.

I made the cutest little cupcakes for the event and I wanted to share them with YOU!

Brookes favorite cake is Chocolate with White Butter Cream, recipe below, so I made a batch.

I iced the cupcakes by putting the frosting in a zip-top bag, I snipped the tip and pipped the frosting in swirl pattern.

I bought the cutest edible paper flowers, gold star sprinkles and large drugeries to decorate the tops.

It was so much fun!

I got out my food stylist tweezers to help me place the drugeries, large edible pearls, exactly where I wanted them.  You could definitely use a standard pair of tweezers for this task!

I arranged the cupcakes and a very large tiered stand that sits on my center island.

To complete the assortment of goodies, there were vanilla and pistachio macarons and a biscuit barrel full of decadent dark chocolate bon-bons.

With a few flowers it looked amazing!

Next time you need a yummy sweet treat, my Chocolate Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting are hard to beat!

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup extra dark coco

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

1 cup water

2 eggs

½ cup buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 24-place cupcake pan with paper liners.  In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In a small sauce pan set to medium, heat water, coco and butter until the butter melts.  Add warmed liquid to flour mixture and stir till combined.    Add first buttermilk then eggs and stir well.  Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 19-21 minutes.  Let cool completely before frosting.

Butter Cream Frosting

1½ sticks butter at room temperature

6 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

Milk or heavy cream

Using an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, extracts and several teaspoons of milk on low speed and beat, add milk as needed to get the proper consistency for spreading.  Mix on high speed for 5-7 minutes to create a fluffy frosting.  Do not leave the mixer unattended.