Black Jewel Cupcakes
I got a call from a friend the other day. She wanted me to make some cakes for a party. That wasn’t it though and I didn’t expect it to be, this friend always has interesting ideas.
She asked for cupcakes if I had time and preferably in black oh, with some white on them. She said they needed to match her dress. I thought that was cute. I have never made cupcakes to match a dress. This turned out to be a special dress and the reason I was keen to make the cupcakes. The dress was kind of getting “built”. How exciting.
Creative People are cool
I thought that this called for more special cupcakes and so I set about deciding what to make. Meantime the arty friend sent me drawings of the dress she wanted to create and a picture of the flowers she bought from spotlight to go with it. It consisted of a striped bustier in black and white and underneath a black dress was going to sit a kind of table so she would be able to put the cakes and the flowers on to the table and then walk around the party handing out the cakes from her dress.
Phew, the minds of creative people. This is what she sent me. Love it, serviette action.
I made small two bite cakes suitable for a cocktail party and then covered them with ganache. You can see from the picture that some of them were also injected with ganache too.
I then covered them with black roll out sugar icing , cutting them off neatly at the bottom and popping them on a small cake round. I then decorated them with hand made flours and black and white chocolate balls and silver cachaus. These were all stuck on with egg white and icing sugar “glue”. I popped them in a box and took them to my friends house so that we could do a trial run.
The Invention of the Tray Dress
So this is what it looks like when you invent a tray dress. It became more refined on the night. The hair was done the pins were gone and the party went till the wee hours once everyone had their sugar.
I love it when things work.
Here she is on the night with flowers, macrons and black cupcakes on board. Clever gorgeous girl, that one…
Black Jewel cupcakes
Ingredients
Fudgy Chocolate cake
- 300 gram flour plain 2 cups
- 500 gram caster sugar 2 1/2 cups
- 75 gram Cocoa Dutch process dark 3/4 cup
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250 ml of oil 1 cup
- 500 ml buttermilk 2 cups
- 20 ml vinegar 1 Tablespoon
- 2 eggs or lemon juice, large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons water Extra of water if very thick
Ganache
- 150 gram dark chocolate lindt or callebaut - 60-70%
- 100 ml cream
- 750 gram black sugar icing roll out
- 160 gram icing sugar - plus extra for dusting the bench, powdered sugar
- 36 little decorations- whatever you like
- 1/2 egg white
- 1 drop lemon Juice
Instructions
- Use a very small two bite cupcakes tray. Use any size tray or cupcake paper you want though. Make the cake by putting the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into the bowl and mixing well in a machine or by hand, breaking up all the lumps and mixing well.
- Mix the eggs, oil, vanilla, buttermilk and vinegar till combined, then mix the wet and the dry mixtures together and beat till smooth
- Pour this into the moulds ( always greased and lined with baking paper) or cupcake wrappers a little higher than 3/4 of the way up.
- Bake for 15 minutes or till just cooked in the centre. Cool several minutes in the pan before turning out. Chill for an hour or two or overnight.
- Make the ganache by warming the cream , then add the chocolate and stir till smooth. Spread this onto the cakes and let them dry for a bit. Minw went onto mini cake bases made from cardboard.
- Sprinkle a little sifted icing sugar onto a bench, and roll out the black icing. Measure your cupcake from one side over to the next and cut a circle with that diameter. Using a palette knife under the icing to pick it up from the table drape it over the cake and smooth down, cutting off any excess. a cake this small is not hard to handle, but make sure you have a couple of extras as the first may not look great.
- Continue with each tiny cake till the are finished.
- Decorate however you like, using the edible glue.
Glue
- Put 1/2 an eggwhite into a cup or bowl with a drop of lemon juice. Start adding sifted icing sugar a bit at a time until you have a very firm mixture. If you want to add colouring do this now. Gel colours are advised. I make sure mine is just runny enough to dab onto decorations without running off. This will stick decorations onto cakes. You can also pipe it to make dots and lines for designs.
What a gorgeous story!!! I love that she matched her cupcakes to her dress – that’s just brilliant! And these are some super pretty cupcakes!!!
Those cupcakes are so pretty and how fun is that dress! Literally delicious!
What an amazing dress! I think every party dress should have a plate for cakes attached to it! Thanks for linking up with us for Fabulous Foodie Fridays this week, have a great weekend 🙂
Stunning. Everything is stunning. I love your cupcakes and the idea of that special dress was very clever. She should work for Baz Luhrman. You did so well with the cupcakes as I know working with black and white isn’t easy – you can’t afford a blend! And those little cake plates they’re sitting on are a brilliant idea xx
I made them out of cake bases Charlie. The ones Celia gave us!
How fantastic! What a great result and yes, they perfectly match the dress 🙂
OMG!! I love it. What great whimsy. Your cupcakes look perfect on her dress – and they sound wonderful.
So cool! And the mini cupcakes sound delicious.
I’ve never liked any stranger as much as I like this woman. She’s got balls the size of Texas and such a creative flair. I’m glad you made her jeweled cupcakes.
xxoo
Isn’t this something? How absolutely fabulous and you friend looks gorgeous. Had I been a guest, I wouldn’t have wanted to take one of the cupcakes. I’d be afraid to ruin the effect.
How gorgeous!
What a great dress! I bet that was a party and a half 🙂 You’re both very, very clever and clearly meant to be friends 🙂
OMG!!! You have done such an awesome job!! What a great cupcake dress. So cute and clever.
Thanks for sharing
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
I’m so glad that we got to see the dress and wow what a fun idea!
That’s a FUN idea!! And your friend looks gorgeous!