Aloha Summer!

 Yesterday marked the last day of school for my brothers and sisters, and of course, I had to make cupcakes to celebrate.

Originally I was just going to bake some cupcakes in cute party wrappers with icing and sprinkles... but then I thought, why make regular cupcakes when I can make AWESOME CUPCAKES.

So awesome cupcakes it was. I had a sea shell Wilton candy mold and attempted to make marbled chocolate sea shells. I also wanted to do cute little sea critters (like crabs or something) out of fondant, but I didn't have any time.

The sand is brown sugar. It was a little coarse, and hence didn't completely cover the frosting layer (which one little kindergarten exclaimed "it's so creamy!" so I guess he approved), but with a small addition of granulated sugar, the texture evened up a bit.

I found the parasols at Publix which was quite lucky... if it was any other time of the year, I'm sure they wouldn't be in stock. All the kids loved them, and they definitely added that extra bit of color I was looking for.

After the various class parties, I had teachers and students alike telling me how much they loved the cupcakes! Suh-weet! James told me one of his classmates wants me to make his wedding cake in 20 years (!!!!) and then Adam asked me if I would make his and Truth's (his girlfriend) wedding cake... for free. I said, "Yes, as a gift," to which he said, "So you'll make it for free??" Isn't that what a gift is?

Even after a frustrating time of job hunting on Wednesday, these kids and their big smiles and happy tummies just reinforced why I'm doing this whole baking thing in the first place. And I'm still on the job market, if anyone in the southside metro Atlanta area is hiring! ;)