Haunted Cupcakes!

and with hand spun chocolate stems and hand-veined, rolled-out leaves... Good God, these took forever... Even though they may not look it.Each cupcake was hand-made! From the cupcakes out of the oven to saw off any domes that appeared (not peaks! - no 'tunnels' were present :D (that's a good thing)), to the dark chocolate butter cream frosting (I also made) put onto to each of the cupcake tops. Two cupcakes were then placed together (top to top) and flipped onto one of the bottoms. Then the frosting was put on all over the sides and [new] top of their little (now big) cupcake bodies, and the back of a knife was used to make ridges for the pumpkins. I then made some pour-on fondant, dyed orange with food color-gel, and placed my hand-made chocolate concoctions all over to decorate (along with some chocolate vines!) Then, after putting them on the foil-covered double-sandwich cardboard, voila! They are done. :)

However, since I only had 6 mini bundt pans, I could only bake 3 pumpkins (6 cupcakes) at one given time. :(

I was up until 5:30 or 6 am working on these.I took a shortcut. I was so tired I decided to take a shortcut. I wouldn't sift the powdered sugar when added for the fondant.

It lumped.

That's why I got 3rd. No other reason. I talked to the judges - they absolutely loved them "They're gorgeous!" one said, "I chose them for first, honestly." (she adds quietly) "They were really delicious - you were one of them I was going to ask for he recipe" (hands me a card) "Please?" The other judge agreed, then quickly added that the only reason I didn't get a higher place was because of the bubbled fondant.

Wow. Lesson learned, right? Wow... I got so mad at myself. I consciously was aware of doing it, and I decided to cut what, 3 minutes of the process? Dang, I was stupid... Now I understand why some cooks on shows do the same kind of mistake - pressure. It's crazy! Now, I know this competition was "just for fun," and it WAS! It was a lot of fun! My first cooking competition ever! It was awesome! It even had a pastry demo, where I learned how to sculpt bread! (The pictures might help a little with this one). It's not recommended to eat, but it IS edible.

3rd, 2nd and 1st place all get mixers. 1st place gets a red one with a glass bowl (which I think also has a poury spout). 2nd got a red one with a metal bowl. Third got a white with a metal bowl. I went for a mixer (hopin'). I came, I saw, I conquered! :D

The main point here is that I had a crapload of fun - and won a mixer! Along with getting some amazing chef/pastry school contacts that I'm so excited to have! Woo! That was fun. Okay, time to go visit my boyfriend at work now and get a coffee!

Signing off. Will post pictures of competition soon. Until then, this is just text. Thanks for reading!

-Moni