Birthday Cupcakes

The cupcake order we made last week was so fun. It was made for a little boy turning 3 who loves diggers and the colour pink. I had fun planning this design and think it came together perfectly. The figurines and tools have been made from modelling paste and the gorgeous signs were handpainted. All of the cupcakes except the road cupcakes were made with our yummy white chocolate frosting. The road cupcakes are fondant with a thin layer of ganache underneath. The road has been painted on and the grass was made with royal icing and Wilton piping tip #233.
Here are some very yummy cupcakes to try at home. Bake cupcakes with your favourite chocolate cake/cupcake recipe. Then top with a swirl of dark chocolate ganace (left to set) and finish with shards of chocolate and chocolate dipped strawberries.

These soccer cupcakes were made for my son to take to Preschool on his birthday. The chocolate soccer balls were purchased from The Reject Shop. I had seen similar previously at Darrel Lea but unfortunately they had none in stock the week I needed them.

When frosting the cupcakes I first smoothed a small amount of the green frosting to cover the cupcake and then piped on the grass with more of the green frosting using wilton piping tip #233.

How to make chocolate ganache

All of our cakes at Edible Creations are layered and covered in chocolate ganache prior to being iced in a thin layer of fondant. This gives the cake the best finish possible as well as tasting SO delicious!

Thankfully, cake decorators are beginning to embrace this fabulous new technique. It does take more time and lots of practise to perfect but the benefits are definitely worthwhile.



Today I took some photos of me making ganache. I hope it helps those starting out with this technique:



Dark Chocolate Ganache

300ml fresh cream

600g dark coveture (around 50% - 55% cocoa butter is my preference)

Note: You can make double and triple batches of this recipe if required. Just make sure your pot when boiling cream is large enough to cope.



Method

1. Measure out the appropriate amount of dark chocolate (in this pic I am making a double batch).
2. Pour the appropriate amount of cream into a large saucepan.

3. Bring to boil. Cream is ready when it bubbles rapidly up towards the top of the saucepan (this can vary depending upon amount of cream and size of pot). Make sure you keep a close eye on this process as the cream can quickly boil over the sides.

4. Pour cream over chocolate.

5. Give the bowl a little shake so that the cream completely covers the chocolate. Leave for 5 - 10 minutes.

6. Use a handmixer to combine the ingredients. Whilst you can just use a spoon the hand mixer gives the most gorgeous and velvety finish.

7. Leave ganache to cool. Then cover and leave overnight ready to use when layering and covering your cake.

White Chocolate Ganache

300ml cream

900g white chocolate

Note: There is a 1:3 ratio of cream used for white chocolate ganache. I prefer not to make double batches of this ganache as the cream doesn't cover the chocolate well enough.

Follow the steps 1 - 5 above. You will probably find that the cream doesn't cover all of the chocolate. This makes the chocolate difficult to melt so I then place the ingredients into the microwave for 1 minute prior to mixing with hand mixer.