For my second try with lemon cupcakes, I used bellaluna221's recipe found here. I preferred the lighter taste and texture of these cupcakes in comparison to the first batch I made, but my friends and coworkers disagreed. They really liked the first recipe's rich texture and lemony taste. The people have spoken and I guess I should follow mob rule.

Shelly was kind enough to come over and help me with these lemon cupcakes. She also took lots of pictures documenting my experiments in decoration. In the picture to the left, you can see that the cupcakes at the top of the photo have been sprayed with edible pearl luster and then topped with various candy or zest decorations. The cupcakes at the bottom have only been sprinkled with edible glitter dust mixed with powdered sugar. It's difficult to see the glitter in photos, but in person they are very pretty.

After my great success with the lemon cupcakes, I moved on to the "Blue velvet cupcakes." The idea was to use the recipe for red velvet cupcakes, but use blue food dye instead of red. I warned the bride that the blue might not mix very well with the cocoa, but I told her I'd give it the old (post) college try. When I saw the color of the batter, I laughed out loud. The final baked cupcakes weren't much better, but they really taste great - very moist and delicious - you just have to get past the fact that they look like moldy, green rocks.

There's no way in heck I was actually going to share these at work, so I saved a few to scare my friends and threw the rest away. I can't have people associating my baking with swampy cupcakes.

Moving past the "blue velvet" disaster, I decided it was time to try out the Devil's food cake recipe I have. These came out perfectly rich and delicious. I topped them off with pretty blue cream cheese frosting and sprinkles.

I used a variety of toppings including non-pareils, sugar crystals, and the sparkle dust (which didn't show up against the blue very well).

I'm making the lemon cupcakes by request for my father's 60th birthday (!), and then I'll make the devil's food cake cupcakes with mocha icing. Once the wedding is over, and my cupcake journey comes to its end, I think I'll take a long and well-deserved break from the world of cupcakes.

Maybe I'll start experimenting with beef.