I'm Fond of Fondant

Yay! I'm actually not even embarrassed to publish this post...unlike some "others" I have posted.

I made these cupcakes for my niece's birthday party tomorrow. She's turning 5 on the 19th of December :) We are having her birthday party early though, because later this week she is moving to Australia!

It's a really bittersweet week. My sister..Alexa's mom, moved to Australia in March, and due to many reasons, Alexa had to stay back and live with my grandma. Well, now the passport is here, the visa has gone through, and Alexa can finally be reunited with Jael, Nathan, and her new baby brother! I'm super excited for her, and also a little sad that this is the last week we will see her for a long time. :(

So, I took the opportunity to make her some cupcakes. It was my second time working with fondant, and to avoid looking like a baking fail, I went super simple....roll it out, cut it with a cookie cutter, and stick it on!

I am really pleased with how they turned out, and hope they survive the trip to FSJ tomorrow!

Oh! A nice little sidenote: I only had a couple tablespoons of oil left, and I needed 3/4 of a cup. A little hesitantly, I looked up some applesauce/oil substitutions online and learned some interesting tidbits in the process!

Armed with the knowledge that you substitute it 1:1, that if you have a couple Tbsp of oil, that works well, and why it works so well, I took the plunge. It turned out much better than I thought! They are moist, they rose well, and taste reaaallly yummy. Plus I saved a bunch of calories and fat, so that's a bonus!

Oh, and the super cute cupcake wrappers? No Frills, thank you very much :)