Amateur Mother: 60 cupcakes!!

Well, this last weekend I had my first attempt at making 60 cupcakes! I haven't ever actually made more than a couple dozen, but I had two events on the long weekend so I decided to go for it.

Here is the lot! Minus a few casualties that we had to sample of course...

6 hours and one frazzled Mother later, I had completed this wondrous feat! I don't remember the last time I wore an apron all day and to be honest, I'm sure now I would never make it as the next Martha. The time and effort, although worth the outcome, is tedious! The very act of just getting them baked took over two hours! Then I had to make the fillings, put the filling in, make the buttercream and decorate. Needless to say I am taking a cupcakes break! Well, actually there was this recipe I was maybe going to try...hmmmm.....

So my tips for anyone who wants to tackle this challenge? Here they are...

Be prepared to be fully stocked in ingredients. I used 16 eggs, 2 lbs. of butter, 4 cups of milk, 5 peaches, 1 lb. of blueberries, 6 cups of flour, about 5 cups of sugar and a package of chocolate chips. (not to mention small quantities of other things)
find a babysitter for all children who require attention (so like any children), mine are great beater lickers and taste testers, but they may have watched some cartoons this day...
get ready for a HOT kitchen! with the oven on for so long I had to open all the windows and wait awhile to make my buttercream so it wouldn't melt!
don't stress when you over mix your batter and it tastes a but funny, you already made a double batch of it anyways and you can always use extra buttercream!! (this is what I told myself as I sampled my first cupcake out of the oven...)
And always make extra buttercream!! (Darn it!!! I ran out of butter and time, and these cupcakes could of used a little more icing.)
have fun!! I mean, this is why we do it right??!! Its all in the learning!

All in all it was a lot of fun and I felt pretty proud looking at my accomplishments. And over two nights and two parties, and a bit of sampling at home, they were all gone but a couple!
Thanks to all my wonderful family who gobbled them up, despite the slight baking soda taste and lack of buttercream! I love you all for eating my creations :)

Here is the vanilla cake recipe I tried, it was good, but I did over mix it. Because I made a double batch my bowl wasn't quite large enough and mixing was a bit of a challenge. (This just proves that I soooooo need a kitchen aid mixer!) I think I will try it again next time as I did like the texture of the cake.

http://52cupcakes.blogspot.com/2006/05/billys-vanilla-vanilla-cupcakes-with.html

This fillings I made myself. I just cooked up the fruit and mashed it, added some sugar, and cornstarch mixed with water to thicken, then after it was cooled I put it in the cooled cupcakes. This time was my first time putting the filling in with the piping bag, and it was definitely faster, but the downside was that the chunks of fruit got stuck and it was hard to tell how much filling I had got in. I usually cut out a cone shape, spoon the filling in, cut off the bottom of the cone, then place the top of it back on. This is more time consuming, but better results I think.

The buttercream was the same as my last cupcake recipe and was oh so yummy yet again! But, I should of made more, you can never have too much buttercream!

http://kristin-amateurmother.blogspot.com/2011/07/chocolate-cupcakes.html

So, would I do it again? Absolutely! Although I don't think I could handle it as a weekly occurrence, it certainly was fun and another great experience in my quest for the perfect cupcakes.

Here they are... Both vanilla cake, one chocolate buttercream and blueberry filling, the other vanilla buttercream and peach filling.