Here are the fruits of today’s labor.  We had an order for 200, yes 200, soccer ball cupcakes.  All were hand decorated and piped with chocolate fudge.  It officially took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to create all the cupcakes and then about an additional hour to recover.  (Hunching over a workbench for hours at a time tends to do a number on your back and neck.)  But here they are nonetheless.  The picture below only shows half of the order.

The cupcakes were ordered for a Bar Mitzvah with, you guessed it, a soccer theme.  Like so many these days, the customer opted to forgo a traditional cake and serve individual cupcakes instead.  While I admit that 200 was a little daunting, I feel as though I conquered something.  A cupcake marathon, if you will?  (Side note – have you ever attempted to draw a soccer ball?  Turns out when you investigate, the pattern is made of up both black pentagons and white hexagons.  Now, try to imagine piping those shapes, with straight lines and crisp angles with chocolate fudge in the middle of the summer!  I promise, it was not the easiest of tasks.)  I hemmed and hawed over their likeness to real soccer balls, but in the end, if you squint, I think they are good enough.  Everyone who came into the bakery kitchen today who could identify the cupcakes as soccer balls got a hug (it was that kind of day).