Commencement season is upon us! (Or at least it is here at the UC.) Grads walking throughout campus snapping their photos by the entrance to Berkeley, at Sather Tower, at Sather Gate, and restaurants packed to the brim with families and friends celebrating a person’s amazing accomplishment!
It is hard to believe I experienced that a year ago. I graduated early in December 2011 and participated in all the commencement activities then, but I walked two more graduations since I was still in the area when May rolled around. I got my money’s worth out of the gown I bought and appreciated being able to experience it 3 times. Each guest speaker and speech was different, but the message was still the same: Do what you love and do it well.
I made these cupcakes last year for a student intern who was also graduating and leaving the office for bigger and better things. I made her favorite flavor of mine that I had once brought to the office before: Apple Cinnamon Streusal Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting. The Caps are really easy to make and I encourage you to try them out for your grad’s celebration. These are great to put on a cupcake tower like pictured above or do what my sister did for a grad party and place them on a platter writing out the year of the graduation.
To make the graduation caps: Place a Reese’s mini peanut butter cup upside down, add frosting to the top for “glue”, place a Ghiradelli chocolate square with the logo facing down, and add lines of frosting to create the tassel on top. I would not recommend using Ghiradelli squares that have a filling, despite being delicious, because those tend to break easily as you unwrap them. Stick to the Milk Chocolate flavor as it matches with the Reese’s Cup more. Make sure to decorate with the school colors whether it is with the frosting used on the tassels or the cupcake liners. Have fun and feel free to substitute the chocolate or the tassel decorations on top.
Congrats to the Class of 2013! Hope life after graduation is sweet and you do what you love and do it well!