First stop was to gather 12 sugar cones and stick them in a pot covered with tin-foil. We poked 12 holes in the tin-foil so the cones would stay in place as they baked in the oven. As you can see Mckenna and Laura are very proud of this accomplishment. In the background, Shelby is confused on why they are so happy, and Rachel is busy at work.
We then made the batter for the white cake. Look carefuly, and notice how Mckenna is amazed at the magical automatic mixer, and how much Laura loves flour (located in the glass bowl). Rachel is very speedy at putting the correct amount of milk into the magical mixer (see on the side)....this comes from her speedy 800's meter repetions that she is known for. She trains very hard in order to increase her productivity in the kitchen, and it is working quite well for her!
Look at Rachel, cracking the egg into the magical mixer!. Mckenna is astonished by how well she is able to crack an egg, and Laura is so happy to be making cupcakes.
Afterwards, we poured the batter into the 12 cones about 3/4 of the way full. Laura enjoys filling cupcake cones with batter.... In fact, you can see her enthusiasm in her hair. Notice how her bun looks like two scoops of icecream. She gets an award for being the most spirited baker!
Baking time! They baked in the oven for 22 minutes, and took longer then expected to cook. We then let them cool before taking them out of the tin-foil. Notice the nice golden color that they have. The tin foil reflecting the light is giving the cupcake cones a nice tan as well.
We then proceeded to make the buttercream frosting. We added a tad of blue food dye in order to provide the cupcakes with more color. We separated the blue frosting from the white frosting before mixing in the food dye, in order to have two colors for the cupcake cones. Color is key for spicing up the presentation of food, especially cupcakes! They are going to have a great life with this buttercream frosting....
Afterwards, we inserted the frosting into plastic tubes (as you can see in the picture below). These tubes have the capability to make beautiful frosting patterns, which you will see later on. Mckenna is very proud of her baking skills. Both Laura and Shelby want to eat the frosting from the tubes, so self-control was practiced that night. They were able to successfully abstain from frosting until the cupcakes were frosted to perfection. They have been tube frosting-sober for 1 week now. GREAT JOB GIRLS!
Welcome to the fun part! We carefully squeezed the frosting out of the tubes, making astounding swirls to look like real icecream cones. This required patience and precision, perfecting one cupcake at a time. Not everyone is gifted with these capabilites, so we left the task up to Rachel, who is well-known around the Valley of the Sun for her cupcake presentation.
Mission complete! The frosting had been properly applicated to the cupcakes, and it was time to cover them in chocolate! We melted chocolate chips in the microwave, and poured it over the cupcakes! In simpler terms, a masterpiece was created.
SUCCESS!!! The cupcakes were perfected with cherries and sprinkles, meant for those of us who love the fun things in life. Notice the tips of the cherries, how perfectly straight the stems are...presentation is key to making food look desireable. The cookbook open on the counter in the background represents the knoweldge put into these cupcakes, as well as the learning involved.
After topping off such beautiful cupcakes, we thought a picture was necessary. Notice the consistency in our hair. Three (3) of us have our hair in buns, while shelby has her hair in a ponytail. Therefore, 80% of us have our hair up. Rachel needed her hair down in order to perform such a difficult task. She takes pride in her cupcakes and her hair helps her to do so. She represents the 20% of girls who wear their hair down while baking. It is a special secret known only among the best of the best.
Now onto the cookies 'n' cream cupcakes, welcome to the world of oreos! Only the finest oreos were used for these cupcakes, and can be found at any grocery store. For exotic cookies 'n' cream cupcakes feel free to go to the nearest CVS or Walgreens! After buying the finest oreos, we chopped them up into small pieces and dumped them into the magical mixer with the batter. Rachel is very good at spreading out the Oreo's evenly!
Time for the cupake tins! Once again, we only used the best of the best cupcake tins we could find. They were silver, which means business in the kitchen! We also put them in a grayish cupcake pan in order to follow the color scheme. Notice the silver icecream scooper used for the batter. There is some great color coordination going on.
Oven time! I was so excited to finally bake the cupcakes. I had been waiting for this moment ALL week, which meant my dream was finally coming true! The smile on my face represents my eternal happiness.
Rachel is beig very modest in the background, and is careful to not show off her cupcake skills in public.
Mckenna is SO STOKED about the fully baked cookies 'n' cream cupcakes which are cooling in the picture. The water placed on the countertop shows all the hydration necessary for baking. Rule #1: Never get dehydrated in the kitchen. Nobody wants to come in and see their cook passed out on the floor. It makes the food undesireable, no matter how good the presentation is. Mckenna knows this rule quite well from completing 10+ mile runs on the weekends. The rules she has learned from running have come into her baking life. Maybe one day you can ask her how much running has improved her baking skills.
It's time for surgery! The cookies 'n' cream cupcake was cut in half so we could make sure that it was fully baked to our liking. The silver lining is the cupcake's protection from it's enemy: the HUMAN. Even though being eaten is the nicest thing a person could do for a cupcake, it still fears the pain. It is a bitter-sweet experience for the cupcake. This one's name is Robin, and he fulfilled his duty to the outside world one week ago. It is cupcakes like these that need to be appreciated, so this entry is a tribute to Robin the cupcake.
Frosting time! Mckenna is amazed at the cream cheese frosting applied to the cookies 'n' cream cupcakes. She is currently a little upset about Robin, but gathered up the strength to perfect Robin's siblings with frosting. She presented a great deal of courage that night.
Finale! All of the cupcakes were done baking, and frosted to perfection. Robin's siblings were also topped with snow caps, which you can see if you look closely in the picture. That was one night of learning and fun that I will never forget. We had some good and bad times together, from Robin's death to the birthing of beautiful cupcake cones. The important thing is that we stuck it out together, and never gave up. Welcome to the wonderful world of baking, where you can experinence things that you have never dreamed of.
