A Wine and Cupcake Fundraiser

I adore our preschool! It is a co-op so I work there one day a week and take a class there every Wednesday night. It is a lot of work, but I like to get my teaching fix, see what the kids are doing, and make connections with other parents who are in the same boat. Every year we have an auction to raise money for our school and this year we decided to do an adult party book. I quickly offered up our patio and my culinary (uh hum) skills and added a "Sunset Wine and Cupcakes Party." Right up my alley, right?!

The view from our patio, unfortunately it wasn't this spectacular for the party...

Now, for the menu... I knew that I wanted to make mini cupcakes, at least three kinds.
I aim to please :) Mocha cupcakes with espresso frosting and margarita cupcakes are two of my favorites so I knew I would be making those. Then I thought about this great cupcake place up in Los Olivos called Enjoy Cupcakes. They have wine infused cupcakes in all flavors that pair perfectly with our mediterranean climate varietals that you find in our wine country. My very favorite is their blackberry syrah cupcakes. YUM-O! But I couldn't find a recipe anywhere! What's a girl to do? Research... I guess... I found a blackberry frosting recipe on one blog, a chocolate merlot cake on another site and made a few changes. Voila! 
Our party was on Saturday so I spent the past few months shopping around for wine to find a good deal on some nicer bottles. It was a big group so I knew I would need at least 2 cases. Being as I cannot stand running out of anything at a party, I bought 3 :) Thank goodness for Costco and BevMo's 5 cent wine sale! We ended up getting some pretty nice bottles for around $5 each. I baked all of the cupcakes on Thursday, made the frosting on Friday and frosted and decorated the cupcakes on Saturday afternoon. It worked out perfectly and was pretty stress-free (which is not normal when it comes to party prep for me)! It pays to do advanced preparation. I should do it more often!
The party was a huge success! Lots of laughter, lots of compliments and lots of wine...

More to come... including recipes!!!!!!!