Keep Calm and Bake Cupcakes...Lots of Cupcakes

This past fall I was approached by a friend of a friend to bake cupcakes for her wedding. She had heard about this “famous” almond icing I make and it was a must have for her wedding. Needless to say, I was honored that the almond icing had such an amazing reputation that she wanted to entrust me to bake cupcakes for all her guests.

***Side note - this famous almond icing has been passed down from my mother who got the original recipe from her best friend.....who happens to be my Maid of Honor's mother. Adorable, right? J

After I talked through a few details with the bride we did a taste testing right after Christmas. I made three kinds of cupcakes with three different types of frosting – chocolate fudge cupcakes with buttercream frosting, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and French vanilla cupcakes with almond frosting. She and her fiancé, of course, loved them all and decided to go with all three options for their guests. Now, normally making a variety of cupcakes is a piece of cake but making a variety of cupcakes for 250 guests was going to be quite time consuming.

The wedding was the Sunday after Valentine’s Day – February 16. I decided to take off the Friday before (Valentine’s Day) so I could enjoy some extra time away from work and gather all the ingredients and materials I would need to bake and decorate the cupcakes. I made my INTENSE grocery list that included way too many sticks of butter, boxes of cream cheese and bags of powdered sugar than I’d like to admit. I figured out the timing for mixing, baking, cooling and decorating (with a little wiggle room) to a T! I gathered my recipes, did the calculations for double and triple batches and I was set to bake and decorate all day on Saturday...the day before the wedding.

When I woke up that Saturday morning, the sun was shining beautifully in the kitchen...I made a WHOLE pot of coffee, turned Pandora onto my wedding station (which by the way plays a fabulous mix of oldies, dance and feel good songs) and I was ready to start baking. Minus a few small hiccups with icing bags and my hand getting sore and tired, the day was a huge success. I managed to bake and decorate 250 + cupcakes in a 13 hour time span. It was a long day to say the least BUT totally worth it. I was even surprised at how well the cupcakes turned out and the fact that I was able to get everything done in ONE day.

***Side note - I have the most amazing fiance EVER! He not only picked up last minute ingredients I needed but he came over, cleaned the kitchen and continued to clean as I baked and decorated the cupcakes. My kitchen was an absolute mess and powdered sugar was EVERYWHERE. But, he was such a trooper and went on to make a delicious dinner once the craziness in the kitchen was cleaned up. He's a keeper. J

I bought these fantastic cupcake containers to easily transport the cupcakes from my place to the reception. I thought they looked pretty professional if I do say so myself. Once the cupcakes were ready to go with the final touches, including table tents I made describing the different cupcakes; they were picked up by the bride's friend and whisked away to the reception. Just like that, all my hard work was out the door and ready to be eaten by her 250 guests.

While it was a very long day and I started to get extremely tired by the end of it, I had quite a bit of fun. There is just something therapeutic about baking and spending the day in the kitchen creating something delicious. Maybe this baking and "side business" will turn into something. Ohhhh how I would love to have my own business and maybe even own a bakery one day. A girl can dream!!! J