Cupcake Fun!

In early May, I took a day off work to visit my friend Kendall's middle school ESL class for some cupcake decorating fun. It was a great opportunity for the students to practice their English skills asking me questions and for me to see how I might like teaching someday. Plus, we all got to eat cupcakes!!

The class is after school, and students have the choice between a few different classes. We had mostly girls sign up, but a few boys came in once they saw all the ladies head over to our classroom. They weren't totally sold on the cupcake idea initially....

But once they got started, they were just as into it as the rest of us!

We had two flavors of cupcakes --- yellow and chocolate. We then had chocolate buttercream and many different colors of vanilla buttercream as well. I brought a variety of toppings to play with too: sprinkles, chocolate chips, berries, marshmallows, and whatever else I pulled out of my pantry that afternoon. I gave them all the choice between spreading the frosting on or doing it the "professional" way with a piping bag. They caught on quickly with the piping, and that was definitely the method of choice. 

I brought in a couple of my aprons and my jackets from school. I thought I'd have to force them on the kids for a cute photo op, but it ended up being a race for who could get them on fastest!

One hour and whole lot of sugar later, we had a table of masterpieces:

All in all, it was a great success! I'm not sure whether the kids or Kendall and I had more fun.  I really loved teaching, and it got me thinking about classes and summer camps for kids who are interested in cooking and baking. Food for thought!