Designing a Cupcake

I haven't been able to sleep well lately, so what have I been doing while I should be sleeping? Googling cupcake companies to see what they make, how their cupcakes look and anything else I may not have thought about.

This is it...

A couple of successful cupcake companies have a signature look to their cupcakes. Regardless of the flavor, they frost them all the exact same way. I am not sure how I feel about that. I kind of like coming up with new ways to make things look! But, it got me thinking that I need to design my own signature cupcake look!

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

My plan is to create a frosted cupcake where the frosting has a hard, linear edge. It would be modern & something I have never seen before. I have thought about attempting this before, but never actually tried it. Then  someone I work with mentioned something along these lines...ok, now I HAVE to try it out and see if I can make it work!

So, because I wanted a flat top to the frosting with the straight up and down edge, I had to bake a cupcake that didn't have a big peak. These Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes worked out well for that.

Once the cupcakes cooled, the nerve-racking moment came...I made these cupcakes for a party...if I TOTALLY mess them up trying to some crazy frosting thing, I'd have to remake them! Not what I wanted to be doing at 1AM...

Anyhow, here they are! It worked! It was a giant pain-in-the-a*s and took entirely too long. But I like it! Now, I must work on a method to make this time efficient!

...with an Irish Whiskey

I didn't do all 24 this way, because I did need to attempt to sleep last night. So, the other 12 were frosted as usualy, then I dipped the tops into chocolate like you would an ice cream cone with that chocolate stuff that hardens. They don't look as perfect as I'd like...but I'll be ok...I think...at least I have enough for the party!

The others!