After coveting a friend's copy for months, another pal gave me my very own copy of the book Hello, Cupcake as a wedding gift. For the past several weeks, I've been leafing through the pages, wanting to create something and being a little too intimidated to start. That all ended with this post by my fellow artist friend, Mandy. We have been encouraging each other in our artistic pursuits, some of which are no more monumental than just TRYING something new for the sake of trying something new. To get over the fear. To silence the inner-critic with our boldness. To attempt something we've never done before. I certainly couldn't encourage Mandy to get started without also doing something I'd been putting off myself. Accountability tends to keep us from being hypocrites. :)
So...I chose a design. I bought the supplies. I cleared my schedule. And my baking muse must have been smiling down on me. I baked the most uniform batch of cupcakes I've ever made. Ever.
That alone was worth practicing!
But here's what I did to those perfect cupcakes using icing and candy:
YUP! A TV dinner-inspired batch of cupcakes!
The chicken drumsticks, complete with white chocolate 'bones':
Peas and carrots:
Mashed potatoes with butter and gravy:
And of course, no TV dinner would be complete without the infamous chocolate pudding dessert!
I learned a lot during this experiment. Namely, that experimenting itself is fun! Even if my cupcakes had turned out to be 'disasters', they would still taste good and I'm sure I could've found someone to eat them. I learned I have a lot to learn about working with melted chocolate. That it's okay if your first attempt doesn't look just like the book, because it probably took the artist several dozen tries before perfecting their technique.
All in all, a fun way to fight fear!
Bon Appetit!