The Perfect Swirl

I've been trying mounts of times to perfect the 'perfect swirl' for my cupcakes, and without practice, this skill does not come at the click of the fingers. You may ask why I'm so pedantic about 'the swirl'? Well if you've been around different cupcakeries you would have realised, they all come with a signature swirl.

Indeed, you can get the same flavours throughout all stores, but essentially it is the 'swirl' that people remember and come back for seconds. (Of course, taste is also key; we mustn't eat something for the sake of eating it. It must be enjoyed and savoured slowly. This is my philosophy.)

Following on from my last blog post, I am currently in the midst of testing out my recipes to get them up to standard.  Amongst my trials, I came across a 'dilemma', 'what is my swirl?'. What is Mama Bea's signature??

So out came the tools, first piping, then pasting, then researching, and more piping; it was a non stop continuous cycle. Of all the stages, the research was what I enjoyed most, I mean what better to to do than to look at how other cupcakeries around the world sell their cakes. To Google it is, and to share with you my joys, here it was I stumbled upon today:

 Above are tiny cupcakes from 'Little Cupcakes' in Melbourne

Cupcake Bakery- which has many franchises across Melbourne

Our very own 'Cupcake Central' also based in Melbourne

DC Cupcakes or also known as 'Georgetown Cupcakes'

And my all time favourite, Magnolia Bakery. Sigh..

The different coloured buttercreams and decorations make me want to bake again. (Mind you, it is quite late already) but this is the passion that's burning within, oh the eagerness just to get into the kitchen and bake.

You know what's so beautiful about all these cupcake stores? They all started off as a dream. A simple ordinary dream turned reality. None of them thought of opening a cupcake store, none of them thought their cupcakes would make a statement, none of them knew one day they'd be selling over hundreds of cupcakes to people across state. See that's the beauty of it! Expecting the unexpected, and making a dream, a reality. You've got to love it!

Okay, a little less craziness, and back to business. Right, so where did I leave off? Oh right, I think simplicity is what I learnt out of my past few days of baking. It's not about impressing, and I find that whenever I bake to impress, sadly my goodies fail. But when you bake from the heart, and bake because you just love it, everything goes to plan and comes out better than anticipated.

So what is my 'swirl'? What do you think would be Mama Bea's iconic swirl? I'll let you know in the next post! (Dramatic music, a cliffhanger).