So I was talking casually with a co-worker of mine a couple weeks ago and telling her my ideas to do fancy cookies or cupcakes for Eli’s birthday. I told her that I had toyed with the idea of learning how to use Royal Icing, but that I was scared to try. I have never worked with it before, let alone spoke its name from my lips more than four times in my life. She assured me that I didn’t need to be scared, that she was sure I could handle it. Before I could entertain my pending wonderment of where she got her authority on the topic of Royal Icing, she proceeded to explain that she had been to pastry school! Pastry School?! Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place? I’m just kidding, she practically did, but I was that surprised and quite honestly a little star struck. I envy those folks, you know? Anyhow, she went on to tell me that she had so many supplies left over and I was welcome to use some of them if anything came in handy come my decision of what to make for Eli’s birthday treat. I was so delighted, and yet still a little intimidated. She was so gracious, having brought me a bag ‘o goodies during our next shift. Here’s what I found that I decided to use:

I felt so special. I’ve never seen 12 icing colors all at one time before and they came in a kind of gel. I had decided upon making cupcakes for his birthday and let Eli have a big time choosing three colors that he wanted in the frosting. I had seen a very special way of doing frosting from sweet Katrina at InKatrina’sKitchen. Its called 5 Minute Fancy Frosting and I figured I could pull it off since I had some very fancy piping materials from my friend at work. You should really check out the link up there to see how they are done – its pretty impressive. I did have success with mine, however, no photos of the process as I was battling an overflowing bulge of multi-colored frosting with a mind of it’s own, oozing out the back of the piping bag!

But, please take a look at the final product below. I am quite proud of them. As I mentioned, things did get a little hairy for a few moments and I did actually wonder if success would be mine or not! But I carried home the victory and have these photos to show for it! Because too bad we ate them all!

Lovely!

Fancy-

Schmancy!

Gorgeous!

Whimsical!

Love ’em! Love ’em! Love ’em! Can’t wait to do it again! I hope all who receive cupcakes from me in the future enjoy this design as much as I do!

Thanks again to Katrina and to my very gracious friend and co-worker, Carissa!

Cheers!