Graduation cupcakes

Every 11 weeks my classes end, and typically on the last day of class we have a "party", which consists of the teacher providing a cake bought from the local bakery, and the students playing whatever music they want and taking lots of pictures on their mobile phones.

My last class was probably my favourite class I've ever had at this job. I can't really explain why, but they were just an absolute joy to teach. So, when it came time for our "party", I decided that instead of buying a cake, I'd make something for them myself. Because they were a Level 7 class, which is the last level before they can enter the degree program, I decided to make them these Graduation Cupcakes to symbolize their graduation from the English Program.

I started with a basic chocolate cake recipe and made both normal sized ones and these tiny ones:

I then made chocolate mousse and left the cupcakes to cool and the mousse to set while I went to work. That night I dug out the tops of the cupcakes and filled them with the mousse.

I topped these with white icing, put one of the tiny cupcakes upside down on top, and stuck a flat piece of chocolate on top with a dollop of icing.

For the tassels, I cut up some red Fruit Roll-Ups into strips, stuck two on each cupcake with icing, and topped it with a red M&M. Presto! RMIT colours!

One thing to note is that Fruit Roll-Ups melt if you leave them hanging like that overnight! The cupcakes my students got had tassels that were half melted onto the cupcakes, but they didn't care! They LOVED them!

Trang loves cupcakes!

Big smiles from Nga and Thuy Anh...

And an even bigger smile from Giang!

Ngoc and T.A.

Khoi and Duong

 

Me with my class

Delicious mousse inside!

These were delicious, and my class was pretty happy. When I told them they were the first class I'd ever baked anything for, their reaction was, "Oh, so we're SPECIAL!" And they're right.