Oh no, the big 3 0

I didn't look forward to my thirtieth birthday very much - I still miss my twenties, but when my nephew turned 30 I needed something quick and simple for his cakes. I hope he didn't have issues with turning 30 as this collection pretty much screamed the big 3 0.

We held a simple family party so I made 24 cupcakes. The family has been subjected to quite a few of my cake creations so I decided that I would use my favourite vanilla cheesecake topping instead of buttercream. I also wanted the cakes to be masculine so opted for a blue and white theme.

I did royal icing run outs for the numbers and letters as I still haven't got round to buying the stensils or cutters (and hubby says we're not allowed to spend any more money until
I'm back at work after maternity leave.). I used Microsoft word to find a font that I liked and then made the words and numbers quite large, I think I chose 40
point. I then put the printed sheet underneath some baking paper and iced the letters. I did plenty as I knew some would crack as I lifted them off the sheet. I let them dry for 24 hours and then stored them in an airtight box until needed.

When I assembled the cakes I rolled out some blue and white icing and cut circles and stars for the toppers. I used gin as glue but plan to purchase some proper edible glue soon.

Although these looked great and I received compliments again, I wasn't pleased with the cream topping and white icing - I should have thought more about the colours working together. Also, because the topping cream is very wet it made the icing toppers 'bleed' slightly and slip around the top of the cupcakes when they had been out on the buffet table for an hour or two. Lesson learnt.