I don't know if these cupcakes will take over the world, but they sure as shit have taken over my kitchen...

Two days and 36 cupcakes from VCTOtW. Yes, 36. Not all for me, 18 of them are for Owen's toddler class tomorrow. It's his teacher's last day so we are having a potluck. I made the maple cuppers for that, but let's go back a day and start with the Green Tea Cupcakes I made. It took me a few phone calls to track down the Matcha green tea powder, that stuff is intense. The powder is so fine that I was blowing green boogers out of my nose later.



These were quite lovely to make, the green hue made me feel sort of giddy. The taste is very much like green tea ice cream that you would get in a Japanese restaurant. The only set back I had was the cooking time. I inserted a toothpick at 20mins and it came out clean, but when we dove into them after they had cooled they were a bit soggy on the inside, wasn't a buzzkill but I will definitely cook them a bit longer next time.



I wanted to make the sweet little Marzipan art but August was fussing (I know, imagine it) and I just couldn't get as creative as I wanted. I had grand plans of skulls and crossbones but resorted to Owen's playdoh cookie cutter.



It worked wonderfully. See? Kids are good for something. In an effort to spruce up the stars a bit I kneaded in some sprinkles, think I will skip that next time though, they just sort of disappear or end up looking like there is dirt in them.



Next up:
Sweet maple! Man these Maple cupcakes are good. The freshly grated nutmeg is a must. I put in a bit more than the recipe asked for, ANARCHY! No, I just really like nutmeg.



All sorts of things went wrong regarding the frosting on these though. I REALLY wanted to make the maple frosting that goes with them, but I was missing a crucial ingredient (again, I WAS JUST AT THE STORE!) So I thought ok, I'll make the buttercream frosting, creamed the butter and shortening and realized I had no confectioner's sugar...DRAT! Soooo I thought I would do a quick melty chocolate ganache with maple extract in it....ding ding ding...good grief was that a good choice.



Sort of a Jackson Pollock inspired sweet, don't you think? I think I will lay off the cupcakes for a bit and focus on some other baked goods for a bit. Or not.