Notes on a Cupcake

As a cake designer I love knowing that the cake, or cupcake, I'm creating will have special meaning to the recipient, so it's lovely when someone comes to me with a very definite theme in mind. In this case it was cupcakes for the 21st birthday of a chocoholic, musical, piano player.

Starting with the cupcakes it was easy to decide that the flavour would have to be chocolate ~ and a deep rich chocolate at that, which is achieved by adding melted chocolate to the cake mix and not just relying on cocoa powder.

For the topping I used a white chocolate sugar paste icing which I made by adding some of my handmade modelling chocolate to ordinary fondant icing. This gave the cupcakes a lovely ivory finish.

The decorations were a mixture of handmade mini piano keys and music themed note and treble cleft cutters with a few '21's and a 'Happy Birthday' thrown in for good measure.

The result was a really personal set of cupcakes and a delighted customer.