For those of you who have been reading my recipes, you'll know how much I love baking for the kids, and all the weird and whacky stuff I've ended up making them... even if it takes a box of wine and all my sanity (see: The Octopus Cake).
Needless to say, with all the chaos that has shaken our lives over the last few months, I can't say I was disappointed that 
His birthday theme was the Mario Movie and the kids are now allowed to take cupcakes to school, so I figured instead of spending a painstaking amount of time and money on one cake: I would just make LOTS of cupcakes. And LOTS of cupcakes, I made. Good heavens. And I still have enough ingredients to make a whole other batch.
The reason for this is, out of all the different cakes/ cupcakes I make, Meren specifically requested CARROT cupcakes. Which is fantastic because, yes, sure the ingredients are not cheap, but the yeild is phenomenal. The sheer volume of cupcakes you get out of one batch is just ridiculous.
The only tricky part is remembering that the timing has to be perfect. Because of the high sugar content it is very easy to burn or overcook them.
Remember, with my carrot cake recipe, it's 30 minutes for cupcakes, 45 minutes for loaves and 60 minutes for cakes. I'm reminding you as much as I reminded myself.
I have also learnt a nifty trick where I have been using sprinkling nuts instead of buying ridiculously expensive walnuts or pecan nuts. The nuts are absolutely integral to the recipe, but considering you're already spending a bank load on cream cheese and other stuff, I think it's ok to find hacks where you can: after all, that's what this series is all about!!
The other great thing is that because of the high sugar and oil content, these cupcakes keep extremely well. Store at room temperature and away from ants and/ or sneaky hands and they can last for up to two weeks (you can also freeze them, which is amaizing). This meant, I could bake long in advance, making a batch per evening and I didn't have to kill myself all in one night.
Meren made things super easy for me as well, because he just wanted "Mario Cupcakes," so I totally took the short cut of using rice paper printing!!!! This meant that although I still made the cupcakes and the icing with love, I didn't have to fight for hours with piping bags and decorations and edible glitter. Remember that you cannot EVER store rice paper prints in the fridge. The ink will literally melt. Also, only place them on the iced cupcakes as late as possible. The moisture from the icing can also make the ink run. I did it the night before, but that was ok, because it's winter here and the night time temperature is around 10 deg celsius.
The last little secret I've been trying, to make that icing just a wee bit more tangy, to counter all that sugar in the cupcakes, is a squeeze of lemon juice in the icing. It just adds a bit of a zesty taste and means you can eat more of them in one go. You didn't hear that from me though🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫
For those of you who haven't tried it yet, here's my recipe for the most versatile and phenomenal carrot cake you'll ever make.
Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 12 - Carrot Cake - My Best Kept Secret!
I thought we'd be eating cupcakes for weeks, but from Friday to Monday morning, they were all demolished!! I don't even have any photos of the final product!
Happiness all around!