Cupcake Central Workshop - Masterclass

First, stare at my foodporn cupcake for 30 seconds.



Have you done that? Did you look for a full 30 seconds?

Is your mouth salivating?

No? You're crazy, get outta here.
Yes? I can tell you the cupcake tastes as good as it looks.

It looks damn fine I can hear you saying. Well yes it is, and I made it.

But you can't frost Thanh? Well that was the old me, who could only bake nice cupcakes but whose frosting looks like someone dropped it onto the cupcake. The new me can frost...a bit.

*** Adjunct: See the cupcake photo, that was shot on my iPhone 4S. Amazing quality isn't it. Love the camera on my 4S. ***

So where I have picked up my newly acquired frosting skill? It was from the Cupcake Central Workshop Masterclass. Thanks to the wonderful Sheryl at Cupcake Central Workshop, no home baker need ever hang their head in shame with their woeful frosting efforts again.

At the masterclass, you get to see how they make the cupcakes at the shop, with helpful tips to give you the best results. All ingredients are on show as Sheryl believes in her products and only uses the best quality ingredients and has nothing to hide. Her recipe, as she will tell you, is adapted from the Magnolia Bakery's and all baked fresh that day. Magnolia Bakery cupcakes are my favourite and default recipe for cupcakes. Their vanilla, chocolate and red velvet cupcake recipes produce divine light fluffy cupcakes. Cupcake Central's cupcakes are just as divine and light, with the red velvet my clear favourite and the best I've had anywhere (I've yet to taste the Magnolia Bakery red velvet made from the actual shop).



While the cupcakes are baking, Sheryl will show you how to frost them and mould icing. She will show you a variety of frosting styles and does it so expertly that you fall into the false assumption that it's easy. Her shops signature frosting is the "blob" as I like to call it. I'm sure there's a nicer name for it. It's a very elegant frosting style, but you can also do small spikes, flat swirls, ridged swirls or as Sheryl says, if all else fails you get out a knife and spread the frosting on. You will also get to knead icing in various colours and make your own shapes. Then you decorate your own cupcakes, which you get to take home. The cupcakes below are done by Sheryl and her team.


These.....are my cupcakes that I decorated. So I did a few classy ones with single spikes and elegant sprinkles. But I also went fun, fun, fun with a massive big rose and three XXXs.


When you leave, besides taking your own frosted cupcakes home, you get to take a Devil's Food Cupcake mix too. That's what I used to make the cupcake above. The mix is so easy to use, a child could do it. Everything is clearly written and you're given all the tools and ingredients. You just need to supply your own milk, butter and eggs. How easy is that. The results of the devil's cupcake are stunning. The cupcake itself is super moist and light, and the frosting, oh man, you'll be licking that off your fingers. Just one tip, the small bag really is the cupcake mix and the big bag is the frosting. The labels are correct.

The workshops are ideal for any amateur bakers. It's heaps of fun and you also learn something along the way. They can also make great gifts for friends and family as gifts.

Thanks to Sheryl and the Cupcake Central Workshop team for inviting me to the class.