CAKE WALK: CHOCOLATE QUINOA CUPCAKES WITH LAVENDER BUTTERCREAM

Chocolate Quinoa Cupcakes with Lavender Buttercream

These beauties are for my daughter's school Fun Fair.  They run something called a Cake Walk.  Parents donate baked cakes and the people buy tickets to play this game somewhat like musical chairs. The people who play the game walk in a circle to music and when the music stops and they land on a certain number on the playground floor they win the cake.

Bebe won a cake last year.  Her little 4 year old arms could barely carry the huge chocolate cake she won.  She insisted on carrying it home herself.

This year, I'm baking these cupcakes for the Cake Walk.  In order to transport them I devised a cheapie, effective system whereby the cupcakes do not topple all over the place.  It'll soon be obvious how I did this in the pictures below.

First, I decided to decorate the cupcakes naturally so I went into my backyard looking for flowers.  See my bay tree?  It's huge!  There were thyme flowers, chive flowers...nah. nah.

I wanted something prettier.  Those little plants to the right are edamame we're trying to grow.

My 3 year old fig cutting to the left.  Pretty healthy!  The lavender looked lovely this morning so I chose some as cupcake decorations.

I used my trusty chocolate quinoa cupcake recipe and a simple buttercream.  I rarely use cookbooks anymore...I use my iPad and just search my blog's archives.  It's so convenient!

I like using disposable piping bags.  I have a 1M Wilton tip here.  The buttercream was tinted with a violet food colouring to get a lovely light lavender colour

4 cupcakes fit into this paper plate cupcake holder I built to transport my cupcakes to school. I stapled two plates together at the rims, cut 4 X's with a serrated knife, lined each hole with tissue paper and wedged a cupcake into each pocket.  

A candied violet and lavender sprinkles adorn some cupcakes

This looks like a little cupcake bouquet...you could add more flowers to get that effect.  But for me, it'll do.  In all, from a batch of 12 cupcakes, I have 3 of these cupcake bouquets. 

For the Chocolate Quinoa Cupcakes recipe...click HERE

For the Simple Buttercream  (want to eat now can't wait) recipe...click HERE

For an over-the-top Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I have a stand mixer and patience) recipe...click HERE