mystery dinner cupcakes

I attended a murder mystery dinner party and my character was the owner of a winery

so I took cupcakes decorated w/grapes and vines

love red velvet cake batter

using a box mix because of limited time

baking

cakes done, now onto the frosting

 this is a frosting recipe from allrecipes.com

it was the picture that sold me on it

fluffy white frosting

1c. white sugar

1/3c. water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

stir together sugar, water and cream of tartar in saucepan over medium heat

until sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbly

whip the egg whites and vanilla together to soft peaks

add sugar mixture a little at a time, whipping consistently until stiff peaks form

takes 7-10min

this frosting tastes delicious and is easy to pipe

it has very similar taste (a bit sweeter) and consistency as marshmallow fluff

(for which I'm guilty of eating directly from the jar)

I used jelly belly raspberries & blackberries for the grape bunches

added some green coloring to the frosting for the leaves and vines

grape & vine cupcakes

I was pretty pleased with how they turned out...until I woke up the next morning

there were a few blackberry casualties

and in true fluff fashion, the frosting failed to maintain it's integrity

I will definitely make this frosting again, 

but needs to be made and pipped right before you serve it

frosting doesn't work well for detailed piping/decorating

it's probably best to stay away from heavy decorations too

just stick to nonpareils

since I used a box mix, I had remaining batter that I used for a mini cake

my new cake leveler worked great...so easy

if you plan on sprinkling crumbs on a cake, be sure to let it cool

first so you don't get crumbs that clump together

chomp!