Nancy's son is a big Sabre fan. As soon as it was time to start planning his birthday, she knew the theme before asking him.
She came to me looking for one of two things: a cake with the Sabres logo on it, or cupcakes.
I did a little research for a hockey themed cake and had a brainwave! Pull apart Cupcake Cake!
They always look so cute, and I've been wanting to make one. I showed Nancy a picture and what my plans would be, and she was on board: an ice rink with the logo in the middle. Easy, effective, perfect.
The one thing I really discovered with this order is that while the recipe I use for cakes (adapted from a tube cake recipe) works well for cakes, it really deflates too much for cupcakes. I've made them before, and they shrink a bit becoming perfectly flat on top and have straight sides: asking for a big swirl of icing on top. They almost become 3 bite cupcakes - which looks great on a plate. But 24 stacked in a rectangle looked a little unimpressive. The flat top made icing the cake a dream, but even with spacing them apart they just looked too small.
In the end, Nancy was very happy. It looked perfect, and I was pleased with the outcome.
Just 1 lesson learned... I need a new cupcake recipe.
I know some people that will be very happy to be guinea pigs for the upcoming taste tests. I may have to have a cupcake party with 3 or 4 different recipes that everyone will have to have and vote on.
