Gummy Goodness

A month ago when I started asking my son what he wanted for his 4th birthday, he would reply with the same answer every time:

"I want to have a party at Chuck E. Cheeses and play games and have a strawberry cake."

Sounded simple enough, right? Well, his older sister is very much allergic to strawberries and I didn't want to make multiple cakes - cupcakes were definitely the way to go. 

I have this very versitile cupcake recipe that I use for almost everything, and just alter certain ingredients as I go along. Someone once told me that baking is an exact science, you can't just wing it. Well, everytime I wing it, I have a new favorite cupcake!

I made a white cocoa cupcake and filled it with a mixture of strawberry Squeezie Fruit (ever try the stuff? It's amazing!) and white cocoa buttercream. Then I topped the cupcakes with more white cocoa buttercream. My son loves gummy treats - gummy bears, gummy worms, all of the above. So I took some Wonka squishy Sploshberries and placed them on top of the buttercream. After adding a little red sugar crystals, I was done!
Of course, I set some unfilled cupcakes aside for my daughter so she wouldn't have to endure the hives that strawberies give her. 

The cupcakes were a hit at his party. Our party hostess even requested one! I'm glad I brought some to-go bakery boxes too, because some other parents wanted to take cupcakes home to their families.

Oh, I make messes...

Holy cupcake fail yesterday...it's a recipe I've used before that I tweaked to my own specifications and it's turned out every time.  Yesterday?  Not so much.  The cupcakes tasted really good, but had more of a spongecake like texture and a crustier top.  Weird.  Oh well...I set them aside to figure out what to do with them.  What did I end up making?  Well, they were mango margarita cupcakes...so I made mini mango margarita trifles with pastry cream and a blueberry and mango tequila reduction. 

Holy omg goodness.  I did a layer of the cake, then tequila infused mango puree, then a layer of the pastry cream (which I made with orange liquor), then more cake and mango puree.  It needed more color...too yellow and orangeish.  So I put a cup of mango tequila in a saucepan along with about 4 tablespoons of sugar, threw in a cup of fresh blueberries and let that cook down.  I drizzled it on the trifle and it suddenly became GORGEOUS.  I figure tomorrow, I'll finish the mini cups off with a dollop of whipped cream along with a drink umbrella and they'll be perfect for the 4th of July festivities.  
Drew tried one, said it was AMAZING.  He called me a savant.  HA!