Cupcakes for yearbookies

Every year I do something for my yearbook staff to show them how much I appreciate them. The first year we had the standard pizza party and it was fun, free (since the publisher royally screwed up) and the kids happily stuffed themselves with greasy slices. The second year I felt like I needed to set a better example and I brought them all Jamba Juices. It was sticky, refreshing, and there is still a stain on the floor of G21 due to a mishap.

Well this year the students really lucked out because I decided that I was going to bring in homemade cupcakes. I figured almost my entire staff was graduating in a few days so I'd make a graduation theme by assembling hats out of chocolates and making the cupcakes flavors to match the school's colors.



What are these tasty creatures? Green tea cupcakes with matcha frosting and french vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and a touch of yellow dye. Green tea recipe here, vanilla cupcake recipe here, and the vanilla frosting came from "confetti cakes" one of my all time favorite books.


The green tea were just fabulous. Dense, moist, and an intense matcha flavor. The vanilla was incredibly sweet and buttery, it reminded me of vanilla ice cream. The kids really liked the vanilla the adults really liked the green tea. All in all, a success and well worth the hours of creation in my tiny kitchen.

Next week is my cupcake class and I can't wait to see what we make. Today wrapped up my last full week teaching! I teach the kids one more time next week, then finals. It's starting to hit me that this is it and it's a little sad sometimes but overall I feel very excited.

In other news...heat wave! So much heat, so little insulation.