Engagement Party Cupcakes - The Making Of

To save money and as an excuse to do some serious baking I decided to make my own cake for our engagement party. I know cupcakes are literally everywhere at present but I decided they'd be the best option. One of my bridesmaids gave me a cook book from the Crabapple Bakery which had the most superb chocolate mud cake recipe. My other bridesmaid helped me bake all 140 cupcakes on Saturday afternoon. My maid of honour (my sister) tried to talk us out of eating all the leftover cupcakes. Delicious!

Melting butter and chocolate has to be one of my very favourite cooking processes. The smell is pure heaven.

You can just smell how fabulous all the gooey chocolate is.

The completely melted chocolate and butter base.

I got so busy adding all the dry ingrediants to the chocolate and butter base that I forgot to photograph those steps.

Here are the cupcakes awaiting the oven. I love that I made them using my late Nanna's baking trays.

Watch out for the finished product!

Twas the night before........

...........my return to work.

Sadly my blissful days of holidays are coming to an end. I will be starting work again tomorrow morning. I shouldn't complain as I know that most office workers have been back since January the 5th and school teacher's went back last Tuesday.

The time has just flown since I finished work at 1pm on Christmas Eve. What happened to my January of lazy around, exercising, reading, baking and organising my room/travel photos and creating travel scrapbooks? Absolutely nothing, that's what! Why? Because I got engaged to That Southern Boy back in early January and it's been wedding planning central for me.

I'm happy to say that we've booked:
church
reception venue
photographer
ceremony musician
reception band
cake

All this is just three weeks. I'm quite impressed with our progress.

Will you.....?

....Marry me?

I was asked this very question by That Southern Boy just over a week ago and I said yes! It happened here on The Great Ocean Road in Victoria at London Bridge. Very appropriate given the fact that we both loved our time living in London, England.

That Southern Boy chose a ring beforehand, as well as asking my Dad for his permission (a funny response that I'll blog about later). The ring is exactly what I would have chosen, photos to follow soon but can I just say I'm utterly smitten with it!

So the last week has been filled with phone calls, emails and lots of visits to and from well-wishers. We've also managed to squeeze in some wedding planning. Having a few problems booking a reception venue as it looks like we've chosen a popular date for our wedding. More about planning later on.

Come Monday I will be starting my blogging schedule. It's going to keep me calm and focussed while I try to plan the wedding, finish uni and return to teaching.