A Penguin Parade

I love birthdays because they are the perfect excuse to spend all day making cupcakes. This morning, I got out of bed ready and excited for the events of the day - making the long-awaited penguin cupcakes. So Ben and I set out to the store to purchase a long list of ingredients that included mini donuts, starbursts and marshmallows among other things. When we got home, I first started on the cupcakes. Now making a cupcake as light and fluffy as the boxed mix variety is tricky but I had a new yellow cake recipe from Cooks magazine. I followed the recipe to the T... (the expression to a T evidently comes from to a to a tittle in which tittle is a small mark in writing). Once the cupcakes were baked, I let them cool but then decided I better try one to make sure they were good before frosting them. Oh my Goodness! Those were some of the most amazing cupcakes ever. They were light and fluffy and the extra sugar had caramelized slightly on top for a delightful texture and sweet flavor.

two penguins and an iceberg

Next, the difficult task of creating the penguin shape. so we cut the donuts and assembled penguins. While I assembled, Ben made the ganache (and he did an amazing job). Lots of black food coloring yielded the perfect shade for cupcake penguins. After cooling the penguin skeletons in the freezer, we dipped them in the ganache and a penguin began to take shape. once all the elements were on, I got so excited. This was the first cupcake that had come out absolutely perfectly from batter to icing. They were a huge hit and yielded what Johnny dubbed "the most delicious birthday ever."

in the shoebox, ready for transport