Happy 6th birthday Dea

My friend Ros's youngest turns 6 today, and she wanted a lovely treat for her only daughter.  We discussed cupcakes, and came to the conclusion that most kids really only eat the icing, so why pay for/provide cake?  Thus the idea of mini cupcakes was born!  They provide just a smidgen of cake onto which to sit your icing and decoration, hence keeping everyone happy ;)

As Ros has a large family, we decided upon 3 traybakes (Mars Bar Slice, Malteser Slice and Rocky Road) for the adults and older kids to nibble on and 3 dozen mini cupcakes for the party girl and attendees.  The chosen colours were pink and purple and we were to put the number 6 on a dozen, individual initials on another dozen and girly sparkle on the final dozen.  Not a problem I assured her.

Only it kind of was - how was I to co-ordinate my time to get everything as fresh as possible for her Friday morning collection?  I did the traybakes first, as I've done 'scientific testing' on them and know that they remain fresh and great-tasting for up to 6 days when stored in an airtight tin lined with baking paper.  The Mars Bar Slice was first off the starting blocks, and the milk chocolate top layer was dusted with pink glitter and light pink sugar sand.  Next up was Rocky Road's turn, using pink and white mini marshmallows within and a dusting of the two pinks to decorate the dark chocolate top layer.  Finally the Malteser Slice, and its white chocolate top layer was dusted to match.

Just in case you were wondering, this is how I  make a bain marie with which to melt any chocolate I may need to use.  I have tried it both directly in a saucepan and in the microwave and was mild ly inconvenienced on both occasions to learn that you can actually burn chocolate.  Did you know that? 

 The gas is actually on (very low), though it doesn't seem so from the angle of this photo.

Then on to the cupcakes.  I had done the sugarpaste cut-outs prior to last night, so was able to set them out ready and waiting, along with the other items I had thought to use as decorations.  As I'd already done the oddly-enjoyable task of colour separating mini Smarties for Lacey's cake, I used some pink and purple ones on these little cupcakes.  And my beloved glitter - I'm so glad I discovered edible glitter - it's so much fun!  Here they all are laid out to set on the kitchen table...

And here they are in their presentation/delivery box.

And, oh!! Would you look at that - some of the required initials spell out my name!!  (my surname starts with an M too).  How fun is that?

I'm happy to report that Ros was delighted when she came this morning to collect her order.  Happy birthday Dea, hope the party is a huge success!