upcoming cupcakes

Recently, I was a bit dismayed when I was told that the bookstore would prefer that I not serve any food at my book launch. It was understandable (they had had some messy mishaps) but I was distressed. How could I have a book party without cupcakes? I couldn't do that!

So, after much thought, I decided that my book party WOULD have cupcakes, but they would be favors to bring home in the goody bag. To make it more fun, I am thinking about baking a coin inside one of them and whoever gets the cupcake with the coin will win a prize.

But even without the prize, I want each cupcake to be a treat. As you may know, cupcake decorating is a little dream of mine so I've been trying to think of some themed cupcakes that fit my book (a Chinese-folktale fantasy, not a lot of cupcakes in it). After searching the internet, I decided I would go for something like this:


But, now I needed the decorating skills to do it! (Enthusiasm does not equal skill, unfortunately). So enter in last night's CUPCAKE CLASS!

This is a class I signed up for long ago, and even though it came at a horrible deadline time, I still (guiltily) went. But it was a blast. I learned the basics of pastry bags and cake tips.


Experimenting with each tip, we made fun designs:

and I finally learned how to make a frosting rose!



By the end of the class, I felt like I would be able to make some pretty decent cupcakes for the launch. That means you'll come, right?