!!! Black Light Neon Birthday Party !!!

Last week I got an order to do my first 13th birthday party for one of my repeat customers. :)  I'm always nervous when doing children because they can be your toughest customer.   I was really excited because I hadn't had a request for neon colors, and I've been waiting to pop open those colorings to see just how vibrant they would be!!!

 

I had to do three flavors--Chocolate, Carrot Cake, and Oreo  Madness. Since I needed to do six different neon colors, the frostings had to be altered so that all of the colors could be neon. So, instead of the traditional cream cheese buttercream for the Carrot cake, the Oreo filled buttercream for the Oreo Madness, and the rich milk chocolate buttercream for the Chocolate, each were piped with vanilla bean buttercream. And my vanilla bean buttercream is pretty good if I do say so myself:) 

 

My plan was to surprise my client with an extra kicker by making the frosting glow-in-the-dark. That would really have put a big smile on those little faces! I even ordered the black light a week ahead of time so that I could test it out. Of all the times for something to NOT arrive in time---this was one of those times....ugh... I proceeded to make it anyway, and even took two of the cupcakes into the dark just to see if it worked......it didn't :(... 

 

While this was a small fail for me, my client still loved the cupcakes when she saw them..pheewww,  thank goodness. After gathering like 6 different recipes for glow-in-the-dark frosting,  I think I've come up with the correct ratio of tonic water to use... and yes, tonic water is the "secret", yet simple ingredient.  I promise that will post a successful batch of glow-in-the-dark cupcakes very soon. Until then , I hope you like the neon cupcakes I created!