Rum Raisin Spice Cakes

I recently joined a new forum, CakeCentral and have been so incredibly inspried every since. Specifically on a technique to make cupcake roses. Most do the cutest little bouquets with the cupcakes, but I just decided to take a single picture. What i learned from using the 2D tip with a spiral starting from the center out is that if you don't have stiff enough frosting, the start to sag. So rule of thumb, great buttercream is the trick to this technique.

So where did the Rum Raisin Spice Cakes come from? Well it was a combination of me being lazy and creative. I bought some ready cake mix from the store in a spice flavor a couple weeks ago. With a limit on time and resources, i decided to whip that up into little cupcakes that I could practice on. But who wants straight store mix cupcakes? Not i. So the added twist was Raisins presoaked in Rum water. They were folding in right before dividing among the cake liners. Interesting texture to say the least, but a nice hint of rum to the overall flavor.

Here was my down fall, I used store bought icing. I know! I know! What was i thinking? Oh i know what I was thinking, i was conserving time after chasing 3 boys. This was quick and would get be to decorating sooner than later. Bed time was a challenge enough, it is WWIII if I try to make frosting in the middle. So onto the store bought cream cheese frosting, simply put, not stiff enough. So a rum flavored buttercream will be the choice next time. Either way, Viola!!