Make Your Own 'Petit Fours' at The Cupcake Corner

Throughout the summer, Laura Graney is hosting a variety of classes for youths, primarily based on cooking and jewelry making, at The Cupcake Corner on New Hyde Park Road. On Tuesday, Patch visited the shop for their fondant mini cakes class, where the group learned to roll out and decorate with the cream confection.

When asked how these classes came to be, Graney said, "When we first opened, a lot of moms from Saint Anne's were asking if we were going to be having parties and classes. By the second weekend that we were open, we had a party booked already."

She continued, "We wanted to offer something more in depth [than a traditional kid's party or class]. In November and December, we started doing gingerbread houses with my kids and their friends. The classes grew from there. When there's bad weather, we offer classes like ceramic painting. Parents feel like their kids did something that day [despite the weather]."

As participants Katie, Maggie, Natalie and Maria settled down to begin the class, two of them told us why they were looking forward to the day. Katie said that she loves baking because "you get to roll out dough and put in lots of special ingredients!" Maggie, a 3-year-old budding chef who loves to cook eggs, said that she was "excited for today!"

The children were first advised to pick out a color for their creations. As they discussed purples, blues and reds, they also started talking about their favorite things to do. They said singing, riding horses and so forth, but one voice, ringing out above the rest, shouted "making fondant!"

After the colors were picked, Graney demonstrated how to roll out the fondant, and each of the girls took a turn at the two rolling boards with rolling pins the perfect size for small hands. Graney noted that "when fondant doesn't come out correctly, you have to take the fondant off and do it all over again." Yet all of the girls seemed to be professional bakers as they delicately cut and trimmed their fondant pieces to fit around their cupcakes.

The girls learned that water glues fondant onto other fondant, and while Graney went to get water for each of them, we asked the girls if they were having fun. The question was met with shy, yet eager smiles and an enthusiastic "Uh huh!"

As they painted on their designs and placed buttons onto the cupcakes, their creations really began to come to life. Natalie, who brought a Snow White doll with her to class, created a Snow White-themed cupcake with a glossy red base and yellow trim. The other girls opted for bright colors as well. Maria chose blue and red, Katie chose purple and blue and Maggie opted for purple and yellow. The color choices led the group to declare that they were celebrating "Easter in July!"

As the class finished up, the girls held onto their enthusiasm. Katie gathered boxes for the girls to put their cupcakes in, and Maggie brought a pencil so that everyone could write their name on her box. Natalie summed up all of the girls' work when she turned to Katie and said of her cupcake, "That is so beautiful!"

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