cupcakes 101

So for Christmas, the boyf got me Cupcake baking classes! (Completely his own idea, I'm so proud of him!!). We went on Sunday, and had a blast! There were 6 other people in the class, all very nice, and it was right in Pentagon City at Sur La Table. We made 5 different kinds of cupcakes, and all were delicious! We stirred, mixed, creamed, dalloped, baked, ladled, glazed, iced and filled these beautiful cupcakes. 

After a comment from the roommate that it "tastes like Christmas", we realized it actually does. The rosewater was a little strong, and not my cup of tea, but an interesting cupcake.

 These were delicious. We made our own caramel, cut a hole in the cupcake, filled it with the caramel, then plugged the hole and iced them with a dark chocolate frosting. 

I was most excited about these coming into the class. Almond flour and a blood orange puree is used to make a super moist and delicious batter. Very refreshing!

The Chipotle in these cupcakes are supposed to add a smoky flavor, but I just tasted a weird spicy aftertaste. haha, but making the sugar crowns was fun! I felt like I was on the Food Network. You just boil sugar, and run a fork back and forth over the wooden tong thingy. Then you gather the strands and ball them up into a "crown" and place on top of the cupcake! 

And our absolute favorites! Steve and I got make these (along with the Pistachio ones) and we were so proud of them. They were by far the best ones in the class. We made toffee with heavy cream, butter, brown sugar and brandy then ladled two layers of it  on the baked mini-cakes (we didn't use a cupcake liner). They were so good! The toffee was amazing. We will def make these again if any of them from the class. 

Let me know if you want any of the recipes! The class was really fun, I highly suggest taking some! We want to take Asian Noodles next! Can't wait.