Twix & Caramel Cookie Cupcakes

With lots of posts to catch up on, I figured I'd jump right in with two equally delectable creations that I've made in the past few weeks. If you've been on the JSTC Facebook page then you would have already seen these Twix cupcakes, which consist of chocolate cupcakes filled with caramel and crushed biscuits, iced with chocolate ganache and a layer of caramel buttercream and then garnished with a fun-sized Twix and a biscuit piece. I should admit that these cupcakes were actually made with leftover batter from a chocolate mud flavoured fondant cake that I was making, although if I were to make them again the flavours would go much better with a devil's chocolate base.

Going back to one of the first flavours I made, Cookie Dough Cupcakes, and then proceeding to the modern classic Oreo Cupcakes, and more recently Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes, I think it's safe to say that I do love a cookie cupcake. Since I'm also a big fan of caramel, caramel cookie cupcakes were the next logical flavour to try making! In order to keep the caramel and cookie dough elements balanced, I started with vanilla cupcakes as opposed to a caramel base, and opted for caramel filling. They were of course iced in one of my very favourite flavours, cookie dough icing, and then topped with a chewy caramel cookie and a caramel drizzle.

Pink Damask Engagement Cake

This chocolate engagement cake was the first cake on which I got to try stencilling, so it was something I was looking forward to for a while. There are a few different ways that it can be done, including airbrushing or using buttercream, but I chose to use royal icing as it dries hard. I then added a thin ribbon to the bottom on each tier and finished it off with a dark pink monogrammed cake topper. A cake like this is very modern, but yet romantic, and to better showcase the damask pattern I made the 6, 8 and 10 inch tiers an extra 50% taller.

Blush Engagement Cake

This engagement cake was made last week for a lovely couple who were after a cake that would tie in with their engagement party invitations, which featured strings of lights and lanterns and two little birds. It was a great jumping off point for the cake and I'm so happy with the end result. 

I started with a two tiered blush cake, with the bottom tier slightly darker and bordered it with a simple white trim. I then added lanterns all around the bottom tier in the invitations colour scheme of blush, white, and grey, as well as the couple's initials on the top tier. My favourite part of the cake was the wire cake topper with the two inward-facing birds, which I feel complimented the rest of the cake without distracting from the other elements, and reminded me of the popular bunting cake topper.

Banana Cupcakes

Making the pumpkin cupcakes for Halloween got me thinking about classic, tasty flavours that I have overlooked. Banana cake was always my very favourite flavour growing up, so when I had some free time and realised I had all the ingredients on hand I whipped up a little batch of mini banana cupcakes with vanilla bean icing. For other banana flavours, check out my Caramel Banana Cupcakes and Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes.