Mum and Aunty Jane’s Birthday Cupcakes

The main attraction for any birthday is the cake, specifically the one with the candles and the theme tune.  As these had already been taken care of I had an excuse to make cupcakes, the younger sister of the birthday cake.  This discussion of younger sisters is particularly appropriate as my mum and aunt have birthdays two years and a day apart.  To register both birthdays separately (because siblings born at similar times hate being lumped together) I decided to make two different types of cupcakes.  For my mum, I stuck with the classic strawberry cheesecake cupcakes, while for my aunt I chose decadent chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing.

Having made the strawberry cheesecake cupcakes several hundred times (OK, twice, but you are probably sick of hearing about how yummy they are by now), I will just say that they were, of course, from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and were decorated with digestive crumbs topped with almost alarmingly red quartered strawberries.  They were a nice alternative to chocolate (not something I have ever needed personally, except for a particularly torturous Lent, which put me religion entirely) and just as messy to make and delicious to devour as ever.

Although I was set on chocolate cupcakes I wanted to add a girly touch.  Decoration often provokes tricky decisions for me, due to my dislike of, firstly, throwing sprinkles on things like a child who has had too much sugar (I am sure there is skill to this, but mine is undeveloped), and secondly, inedible decorations (what is the point?).  Eventually, after much meditation on the matter, I decided to use the bright pink sprinkles I used for the Pink Vanilla Cupcakes.  Typically girly: undoubtedly; Edible: of course; Sprinkles: huh?  At the great but strangely named Meatloaf once crooned, two out of three ain’t bad.  There was, however, a problem.  I couldn’t find any in the great baking haven that is Amersham Tesco.  So that plan went out of the window, and instead, I bought chocolate vermicelli (definitely edible) and some odd-looking pink things, which looked dubiously like dyed chocolate buttons but which promised to taste like strawberry.

I used the chocolate cupcake and icing recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and waited for the cakes to cool before slathering on as much icing as the moist sponge would hold.  The icing was quite thick and cold, which made it hard to manipulate without damaging the cake.  I filled a mug with boiled water, and left the pallet knife in there to warm up.  This made it easy to smooth the icing into a more respectable dome-like shape.  I put about a tablespoon of vermicelli into a bowl and dipped the top of the cupcake until there was a reasonable layer.  I topped this off with a (genuinely strawberry) pink button dipped into the icing.

Having successfully affected their transport from my dad’s house to my grandma’s (which involved a crate, change of driver and some careful pot-hole avoidance), I put them in a cool place to wait until the evening.  I displayed them on the cake stand my aunt had brought me for Christmas, which thankfully made them look much better than the crate had.

 The final result was that the birthday cakes were rather neglected, although I suspect the familial pressure may have had some sway in this.  I am, however, pretty sure that the yummy noises were not entirely theatrical, and I know Mum and Aunty Jane appreciated the gesture.  The cupcakes may not have had candles or their own musical fanfare, but the personal touch, large quantities of icing and a healthy dose of family love and pressure meant they were a welcome addition.