Giant Cupcake

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to make a giant cupcake! You don't see them around much anymore.  It's been about two years since I last made one ... which was probably already at the edge of their trendiness! These days it's all elegantly drippy and naked cakes.  
 
There's something quite pleasantly "bouffant" about a giant cupcake, though, isn't there?!
It might be too soon to re-introduce them as retro, but with the speed at which the world is going these days... who knows... maybe they're already vintage ;o)

The very first one I made was a bit nightmarish. I spent over an hour covering the base in vertical stripes of fondant. This was before I knew much about fondant. Let alone working with stripes! Now of course, I won't touch a stripe that isn't made out of a fondant/ modelling chocolate blend. But I won't cover the base of a giant cupcake like that again, anyway. Making a pure chocolate case for the base is very easy, and very cute. 

See how here. 

(The recipe I use for the sponge is this one: http://www.teacakeandcreate.blogspot.co.za/2012/06/cupcake-recipe.html)

And if you decide to leave the base uncovered - that's fine too. Naked cake is trendy, right? ;o)

Happy baking!

xxM