Hi friends!
I had the opportunity recently to host a fun party and got to get a little creative. My original plan was to do a fondue with different toppings and finishes, but the whole process of keeping the chocolate melted for hours was a bit daunting to me. After thinking about what I could do to create a similar effect, I decided to make a cupcake bar where people could choose their own toppings for a cupcake. Perhaps buttercream icing is the new fondue?
I started by picking up several candies from the grocery store:
I used my favorite kitchen appliance of all time, the Vitamix to crush the candy. I used the Dry Container and kept it on a level 3 for about 10 seconds for the Oreos and Butterfingers, which crushed easily. The Reeses and the Snickers were a level 10 for about 15 seconds and the M&M’s and Sprinkles were left alone in their “natural” state.
I was super excited to get to use my Washi Tape and some long toothpicks to make some flags to differentiate between the different candies- believe it or not crushed candy can be hard to tell apart. I stuck with a gold and peach color scheme- I absolutely love these two colors together! They are so classy and spring-y. Wedding colors anyone? If I ever have a baby girl I would be tempted to use this color scheme for a nursery! Cute, cute, cute.
I hate icing cakes and cupcakes so I decided to bake both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and leave them both un-iced. I used this recipe for buttercream icing and was really pleased with how it turned out. I simply left it in a bowl along with pretty cups full of the candy with the flags so people could make their own cupcakes with whatever toppings they chose. It worked out perfect.
I also did a cheese plate. I’m going to do a tutorial soon on how I turned a slate tile piece into a cheese board, but for now here’s the visual. I made a few sample crackers using some ideas I had read about. One cracker was topped with gorgonzola cheese, an apple slice, a candied pecan (recipe here) and a drizzle of honey. The other had my favorite cheese of all time with a smear of orange marmalade. They were delicious! I definitely recommend adding a little sweet with your cheese.
So there you have it. The cupcake topping bar would be super fun for any event – wedding showers, baby showers, a gender reveal party (put blue or pink icing depending on what your guess for the gender is!) or just a random Wednesday. Why not?
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