Cute Apple Shaped Cupcakes

Back to School Cupcakes

End of School Year Apple Cupcakes

Looking for a cute way to end or begin the school year? These adorable apple shaped cupcakes are the perfect way to celebrate. Add a gummy worm for an even cuter idea. These apple shaped cupcakes would also be a great way to celebrate Eric Carle and The Hungry Caterpillar as well.

Cute Apple Shaped Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix + additional ingredients per directions OR your favorite recipe
Red buttercream frosting in piping bag with large cup tip
Red sugar sprinkles
Gummy worms
Pretzel sticks
Green buttercream frosting in piping bag with Wilton 70 tip, for leaves

Instructions:

Bake cupcakes per recipe and cool completely

Use the red frosting to pipe a tall smooth swirl on the cupcake to form the apple

Sprinkle on red sugar

Place a pretzel stick in the top for the stem

Use the green frosting to pipe a leaf or two from the base of the stem up

Wrap the gummy worm around the apple

Enjoy!

Super easy and fun for teacher appreciation day, pre-school celebrations and so many more parties!

How to Bake in Batches to Make the Most of Your Baking Time

One way to handle your holiday baking is to bake in batches, then freeze and store for the big day. You can do this successfully over a couple of weeks with batch baking and batch preparing.

The biggest thing to remember is to only try a few different types of things in one day, or focus on just one type of baked good in one day. For example, you might want to bake all your quick breads in one day. Another day you can prepare all your cookie dough. Yet another time, you can bake all your fruit pies and so forth. This process makes the most of the time you have, the space you have, and your skill level.

Be Prepared

Don’t try batch baking without a plan of action. Be sure to write down your plans in advance so that you are sure you have enough time to do everything that you’ve planned. To figure out a basic time line, add up the prep time, the baking time for each oven full, and then multiply that by 1.5 to account for a little extra issues happening. Then you should be sure that you have enough time.

Get Everything Ready to Go

Your kitchen should be spotless when you start, and ensure that you have all the ingredients and appliances necessary to make each item ready to go. If you know, for example, that today you’ll be using about 10 pounds of flour, consider using a large bowl to hold the flour so you can easily spoon the flour into the measuring cup, flatten off over the bowl, without having to get into the bag over and over which usually means spillage.

Clean as You Go

Fill your sink immediately with hot soapy water so you can clean as you go. You will want to wash your mixing dishes and other utensils during the baking process so that you can use them again. There’s no point in totally destroying your kitchen as you batch bake, and you don’t have to. Set out a draining board, fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go. There are many opportunities during baking to wash a couple of dishes, and this will make the clean-up faster, and the process more organized.

All Day Batch Baking

You can set aside a day for batch baking such as a Saturday. Plan for all day baking, which usually entails 8 to 10 hours of work. Ensure that any other chores are done, including the shopping, and the kitchen is clean and ready prior to baking day. It’s important to organize your recipes with some logic behind them. For example, if you need dough to rise, start that first, so that it can be rising as you are preparing other things such as cookie dough or pie crusts. Both can be put in the refrigerator or freezer after preparation while you bake the bread, then baked after you bake the bread while the oven is still hot and ready.