Shower Power

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for a friend, and I kind of went all out on the baking. I mean, what better gift exists than something homemade, and baking is currently what I feel I do best. Plus it gave me an excuse to try out some new cake decorating tools (i.e., teach myself how to actually pipe frosting).

So by the mom's request, I made a revised version of my original from-scratch cupcake creation, the lemon curd wonders. I used the same lemon curd recipe as before, just lots of egg yolk, butter, lemon, and sugar, but this time I used a scratch version of My Baking Addiction's lemon meringue cupcakes. I finally splurged and bought some cake flower, and I saw a huge difference in my cakes. Seriously, I may have been the last to figure this out but it is worth it to get the cake flower. It solves the problem of making the cupcakes feel heavy like muffins. The cupcakes were light and moist, and I was super pleased with the end result.

For the frosting, I just made some homemade cream cheese frosting (my favorite staple) and finally let me Kitchenaid run beyond speed two. This made a huge difference in how creamy the end product was, and I was very happy with it. Then some gel food dye and two different Wilton piping tips and you get a pretty decent beginner cupcake. Though I have to say, it's all in the presentation. The cupcakes wouldn't have looked half as nice if it wasn't for that amazing cupcake stand that a friend let me borrow. Note to self: purchase a cupcake stand.

I was feeling a bit off because there wasn't any chocolate on the menu (and how can you not have chocolate for a shower?) so I threw together some chocolate covered strawberries. Talk about simple, delicious fun. Using two colors makes all the difference, and it really doesn't add much more work. They were a hit, and I think everyone was very happy with the final results of this venture.