Chocolate and Cupcake Classes

For a while, my mom and I have been wanting to take a couple of classes on chocolate and cupcake making and decorating. A few days before, we got to do just that!!

First, we took the class of chocolate decorating. All of the class got excellent feedback on what kind of chocolate to use, how to handle it, and how to avoid mistakes so that any fondue you make will turn out perfect! Next, our instructor dyed the white chocolate several colors. Then we chose what mold we would use for our chocolate. There were animal, flower, and heart-shaped molds. My mom and I chose flower-shaped molds and got to work. Using paint brushes, we painted two flowers yellow and white, and then filled the rest of the mold with dark chocolate. Then we started getting creative. The class used cookie cutters on slices of apples and pineapples, and skewered the shapes. Then we dipped them in chocolate and spread shredded coconut, sprinkles, etc. on them. We did the same with strawberries and grapes, except we used the ends of the skewers to dot or dribble the dyed chocolate onto the fruit. Personally, this was my favorite class. I loved all the creativity!

At night we returned for the second class. It was definitely more crowded than the first class! We all learned how to make rose icing cupcakes, bacon and pecan cupcakes, selva negra (meaning black forest) cupcakes, and red velvet cupcakes. The rose icing cupcakes were easy to make, but very yummy. This was where the decorating came in. The name bacon and pecan cupcakes might sound a little wierd, but they turned out to be more like muffins. Perfect for breakfast! The selva negra cupcakes tasted like rich chocolate and were absolutely delicious. Finally, I helped make the red velvet cupcakes, which took a long time to make, but were definitely worth making!
We returned home very tired, but satisfied with what we had learned that day.