Yes, I know it’s May now. But the April cake got delayed by a week. The Giant Cupcake was a huge hit! Ocean Mouse loved it, as did all the other folks who tried it. The cake itself was a yellow cake, which I’m calling Starcat’s Yellow Cream Cake. I made four layers, two 8-inch rounds, a 9-inch round, and an 8-inch square, shaping and carving the square cake to form the top of the cupcake. Mom told me a wonderful hint, which is to freeze the cake for 30 minutes after you carve it, to prevent the crumbs from getting in the frosting when you decorate it. It worked wonderfully!

The vanilla frosting was from a basic recipe, with food coloring added to some of it for decorating purposes. ElvenTiger and BlackLion also helped me make a variation on a chocolate ganache from the Cake Boss himself. Our variation was that we used whipping cream, which was what we had on hand, so in order to get the texture the way we wanted it, we whipped the ganache. We used it between the cake’s bottom two layers, but Quester thought we could use even more next time, carving out the cake and filling it with the ganache. We had extra ganache on hand, so we served it up alongside the cake, for those who love chocolate.

BlackLion had the last-minute inspiration to put one candle on top, larger than a regular birthday candle. So cute! I think the only issue with the Giant Cupcake is that it’s a bit too giant. The party was Friday night, and we still have some cake left on Monday, after sharing pieces with Mom and Aunt Peg and a friend who came for dinner on Saturday night. I think Ocean Mouse forgot to take some home with her. Anyway, here’s the final product. Stop drooling!

In other cake-related news, one of my Mother’s Day gifts was a Hamilton Beach Power Deluxe 6-speed stand mixer! Given that the hand mixer I’m using is almost as old as I am (as seen in the above picture), it’s a wonderful upgrade. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will soon, no doubt. I’m still pondering what my first use should be. The mixer has a dough hook, as well, so it might be bread of some sort. Yum!