Welcome back lovelies!
It’s another wonderful day, and I hope you all are staying safe! This blog experience was a fun one for me. It kind of went out of my comfort zone and challenged my inner artist. It’s also a double bonus because this was also my first official Google order! Up until then, all my customers have been by person, phone, friends, and etc.
Let me just start off by saying these cupcakes were SO much fun to make! The best part of making cupcakes, besides making customers happy, is watching your vision come true.
Let’s begin with the unknown phone call for this order. I’m actually pretty embarrassed when I think back on it because I was thrown so off guard. It was one of the moments where you think you’re ready till it actually happens then you’re lost a little. I was in the middle of helping my grandma when my phone rang. Now up until then all unknown calls I have received were robocalls. I would still answer my phone just in case, but I would just answer with a quick “Hello?” When I saw my phone ringing this time I again went completely into it thinking it was just going to be another robocall. I did a quick, “Hello?” and that’s when she asked if this was Cupcakes & Canines! I quickly changed my tone and got very excited! She was calling to inquire about ordering two dozen cupcakes for a gender reveal party. She told me that the theme for the party was like bumble bees and beehives. Already sounding so like a cute idea! To make it even cuter, she wanted the cupcakes to look like beehives with little edible bees on top and chocolate honeycomb pieces! I told her I could absolutely do that because I already had the picture of them in my head. I’ve seen bee themed cupcakes on Pinterest before so I already had a general idea of what she was describing. She wanted to know if I had any honey themed cupcakes, sadly I had to tell her no we don’t at the moment, but I could make a honey flavored buttercream on top of our other cake flavors! She decided on a dozen lemon cake and a dozen vanilla cake, and all with the honey buttercream. I love to do special orders and not only make my vision come true but the customers as well! I told her that my phone number is a cell number so she could feel free to text me with any inspirational pictures, questions, or concerns. The order was needed for November 20th, and she was going to pick them up. I let her know that I am a home baker so pick up is at my house. All she has to do is text or call me when she is in the driveway and I will bring them out and do contactless pickup by placing them in the car. She was completely ok with that, and I finished getting the final bit of information for the order. I asked her if she found us on Google and she said yes! I was so happy because this was my first order from someone searching bakeries on Google! That means I’m getting noticed! Once we hung up she texted me some inspirational pictures of what she is looking for, and it was exactly as I was picturing as well! Now I have to go buy my tools to make this cupcake perfect! Oh, and I now only answer unknown numbers with, “Thank you for calling Cupcakes and Canines! How may I help you?” regardless if it is a robocall or not.
I originally thought of topping the cupcake with a fondant bee so everything would stay edible. I’ve dabbled with fondant in the past but it’s not the easiest thing to work with. You need a large space and it can get messy with it sticking or putting powdered sugar down so it doesn’t stick. I was googling more inspirational photos of the design idea and I was that Wilton (a baking brand) makes these little edible bees meant to top on cupcakes. I just thought they were so cute, so I decided to go that route rather than make them from fondant. I’m sure they will be much tastier than fondant and look cleaner. I made sure to purchase those in advance so I would have them in time.
To make the honeycomb chocolate piece, you need clean bubble wrap and the chocolate of your choice. I went with yellow melting chocolate because it will look more like honeycomb and that’s what the inspirational picture had too. I’ve never made this before, but I had watched a ton of video tutorials on it in the past. I always make sure to test something days prior to actually needing it so I know if it is going to work or not. I bought bubble wrap and made sure to wash and dry it very good before using it. I melted a handful of normal chocolate chips and spreaded it on the piece of bubble wrap. I was mainly testing to see how easy I would be able to get the chocolate off or if I would need to spray it with nonstick spray. After sitting in the fridge for about 15 minutes, I was able to peel off the chocolate super easy! The coolest part was it worked! It had a honeycomb design and was super easy to do. Now I was getting even more excited to put it all together. My excitement had to wait a week until the day before pick up to actually make the cupcakes. I always make them a day before (or if it is a later in the day pickup then the morning of) pickup that way they will be fresh.
Jump forward and it is November 19th, the day I get to make them! I start off by always disinfecting my work surfaces and my utensils. Once that is done I start on the cake. I wanted to start with the lemon cake because it has more steps than the vanilla. Funny thing is I had to make the lemon batter twice. I pulled a rookie mistake on the first attempt. First thing I do on baking days is pull out all my refrigerated ingredients so they can start coming to room temp, and that morning I had forgotten. I can bring butter to room temp pretty quickly, but eggs and milk on the other hand are tricky. I had my butter mixture ready, I added my milk and eggs, and they were so cold from the fridge that it solidified by butter again. I mean that is an ammature move for me! I could tell right away the batter was not going to be smooth and I can’t give that to a customer. I will not sell someone cupcakes unless they are fully up to standards, because I would not want a messed up cupcake that I was paying for. So I scrapped the batter. Luckily I always buy extra in case something happens, so I had enough ingredients to make it again. I pulled the second round of refrigerated goods out and made sure they all came to room temperature. Once they were good, I re-made the lemon batter. It turned out WAY better this time and how it is normally supposed to. I got those in the oven to bake and started on my vanilla batter. Vanilla went very smooth since I remembered to let things get to room temperature. Once the lemon came out of the oven, I threw in the vanilla. Trust me, I’m not going to let myself live down that mistake lol!
The cupcakes were finally all done baking and in the fridge to cool down. It was time to make my honey buttercream. Now I have never personally made honey buttercream, but everything I have ever read or seen just says to add honey to your normal buttercream recipe. I always start off with adding a little because you can always add more if need be. I make my normal batch of buttercream first then add the honey (or other flavorings) at the end. Once I got it to the taste and consistency I wanted, I added yellow food coloring to make it look more like a beehive! I pulled my cupcakes out of the fridge (being very careful to remember which flavor is which,) and put them in their containers to start piping. I always pipe the cupcakes in their containers, that way I don’t risk messing them up by placing them in the containers. I filled up my huge piping bag and used a big round tip so I would get smooth rings of frosting. I did a nice little swirl to really make it look like a beehive. One some of the cupcakes I topped them with two of the edible bees, but on the ones that only receive a single bee, I put a little piece of my honeycomb chocolate piece. I made my honeycomb piece after I had piped all the cupcakes and put bees on them. It wasn’t going to take long to set up. I just melted my yellow chocolate, spread it on clean bubble wrap, and then off to the freezer for about 5 minutes. It peeled off the bubble wrap very easily and I just started breaking it into pieces and placing them in the frosting. They are done!! It was so exciting placing that last piece of honeycomb and seeing the vision come together and hard work pay off!!! AHHH I just loved it. It was so much fun and got me to try new things! I packaged up the cupcakes and labeled on the container which flavor was which. They went into the fridge where they would stay till the customer came to pick up.
The next day was pick up day and I was both excited and nervous. I was excited for her to finally see them in person, but nervous because this is my first Google customer and I want it to go great! I texted her the day before a picture of the finished product and she loved them! I was just hoping she was going to love them just as much in person. I do my pick up protocol right now where you text me when you’re in my driveway (since I am a home baker) and I put them in your car. It’s our contactless pick up system. She came to pick them up around 11:00am. She let me know she was here and I took them out to her. She said she just absolutely loved them! She especially loved the little bees on top! I can not stress this enough when I say I was in cloud nine!!! It was everything I have ever wanted and dreamt of for my baking career. I remember being 12 and imaging giving cupcakes to my customers, and it finally happened! I told her that I loved making them and I hope the party is a hit! I also sent her home with a couple business cards ;) You got to use that free advertisement! Overall it went perfect and I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better.
This goes down as one the best moments of my life! I am so happy that the business is getting noticed and is growing! I love you all and I’m so happy to have you as part of the Cupcakes & Canines family! I mean it, you guys mean the world to me and I can’t wait to give you all exciting new items/cupcakes! Thank you!
That is going to wrap up this blog. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to new ones in the future! After this experience, I was back in the kitchen baking more cupcakes! I couldn’t have had it any other way! I love you guys and hope you all continue to have an amazing day because you deserve it! Contact me for any of your cupcake needs or doggie needs!
Xoxo. Cupcakes & Canines
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