March 10th, 2010
I was honored with the opportunity to create some cupcakes for a bridal shower last weekend. The bride’s colors were David’s Bridal Regency with candy apple green accents, and the main flower was hydrangeas. Working from the hostess’s requests, these were the result:
To keep the focus on the two main colors of the purple and green, I ordered brown paper liners from Confectionery House, which has one of the greatest supplies of paper liners on the Internet. These perfectly matched the chocolate cupcakes. The hydrangeas were created with fondant, cut using the smaller of the cutters that came with this set from D&G Occasions. To shape them, lay the cutouts on a foam fondant pad and, using a ball tool, gently roll along the insides and edges of the petals until they begin to curve. Transfer them to a cookie sheet to set. To make the baby hydrangeas, I used a candy apple green luster dust and brushed it on the insides of the petals. I then layered on a little bit of yellow luster dust to give the flowers added dimension and shine. Finish the flowers by securing a small ball of fondant to the inside of the flower using a mixture of 1 part meringue powder and 2 parts water as a glue.
Categories: Uncategorized
February 20th, 2010
Let’s face it: roses are pretty, but they die. Cupcakes can be eaten. So what could be better than getting a bouquet of roses you can eat? Hmm?
These are so easy to make, it’s almost like cheating. Here’s the deal: instead of swirling the frosting from out to in, you swirl it from in to out. Simple, right? The other trick is to use a 1M tip. I also found that stopping the rose before you get to the edge of the cupcake makes an overall cleaner appearance. Now once you’ve stopped to admire them in all their beauty, you can enjoy how they taste going down.
Photo credit: Kristen Faust
Categories: Uncategorized
February 20th, 2010
I’m not normally a fan of February 14th, other than its my dad’s birthday, which is the only thing I need to celebrate that day. But when Crate and Barrel throws uber-cute, heart-filled cupcake wrappers on the shelves, you sort of find a way to put your misgivings about the holiday aside and just buy into the commercial hype. Before you know it, you’re all hearts and roses abound, and those things kinda do make you feel all warm and fuzzy even as you’re trying really hard to hold back that gag reflex. I’m not sure what all of this says about me, and I’m not sure I really want to go exploring that road, so let me just point out these extra lovey-dovey cupcakes I made that day:
These were also an experiment in getting the technique of “shapes on wires” down, which I must say turned out rather well. To do it, roll out your fondant a bit thicker than usual. I rolled mine probably a good 1/8 of an inch. Cut out whatever shapes you will be using, and let them dry for about 24-48 hours. Cut the wires to the length you want, and then insert them into the shapes. Voila: shapes on wires. By making them thicker and letting them dry, you reduce the chances of them cracking as you insert the wires. And having things work right the first time makes me feel warm and fuzzy, too.
Photo credit: Kristen Faust
Categories: Uncategorized
January 11th, 2010
Okay, let’s first just get it out there: I know this is not a cupcake. However, I just had to share it with you since this is one of my first rolled fondant cakes that I have really liked. This was for my niece’s 1st birthday party (Happy Birthday, Kelsey!) and it was made to match the party supplies that my sister ordered.
The cake was marble cake (I cut my workload in half and used a box mix … gasp!) with vanilla buttercream frosting on the inside. The bottom layer was covered with a deep pink-colored fondant, and the top layer (her “smash cake” was covered with light pink fondant. The ladybugs were made out of beige, black, and red fondant pieces, all of which were cut out using various sizes of circle cutters. I attached the heart antennas with wires, and piped the border using a grass tip and green buttercream. The ladybug eyes and dot details were created by using black sugar pearls.
Photo credit (Ladybug Cake): Kristen Faust
Categories: Cake
Tags: Custom Cake, Ladybug Cake, Ladybugs
December 20th, 2009
Meet Nick and Cluent, Santa’s two favorite elves. Okay, they’re really my nephew’s favorite elves, of which he probably has at least 30. Nick writes him a letter and usually leaves a treat or a surprise on the days preceding Christmas, and this year, he brought an elf who was dubbed Cluent. No one is really sure how or why he came up with the name, but his obsession became my inspiration for this next cupcake design.
You Will Need:
- 24 cupcakes of your choice, baked in Christmas-y liners
- Buttercream frosting, prepared (enough for 24 cupcakes plus a little extra) divided and colored white and peach
- Pastry bag fitted with a small round tip, or a Ziploc bag with about 1/4″ of the corner snipped off
- Mini M&Ms (48 brown for 24 cupcakes)
- White rolled fondant, colored red, green, peach and pink
- Small leaf shape cutter
- Small circle cutter (about 1/2″ diameter)
- Pastry bag or Ziploc bag fitted with an open star tip
- 48 toothpicks
Directions:
Begin by icing the cupcakes with the buttercream frosting. Level the icing by rotating the cupcake while holding the flat edge of a knife level, about 1/4″ away from the cupcake. Place some of the frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip, or a Ziploc bag with about 1/4″ of the corner snipped off, and pipe a dot of icing in the center of each cupcake to be the nose. Add the eyes by slightly pushing two brown mini M&M’s into the icing. Take the melted coating chocolate in the squeeze bottle and pipe the chocolate in the shape of a smile. (You can either pipe it directly onto the cupcake if you’re comfortable doing this, or pipe it onto waxed paper, refrigerate it, and then peel the chocolate off of the waxed paper when set and place it onto the cupcake.)
Roll out the pink fondant and cut 48 circles using the small circle cutter. Place two circles on each cupcake to be the cheeks. Next, roll out the peach-colored fondant, but roll thicker than the pink for extra sturdiness. Cut 48 leaves (ears) using the small leaf cutter. Place one on each side of the cupcake, setting them firmly in the buttercream.
Stick two toothpicks in the top of each cupcake (about 1/2″ apart) to support the hats, leaving about 1/2 of the toothpick exposed.
Next, roll out the red and green fondant, and cut into triangles, rolling the tip of the triangle over to give a floppy hat effect. Place each triangle onto a cupcake, allowing it to be supported by the toothpicks.
Fill the pastry bag or Ziploc bag fitted with an open star tip about halfway with white buttercream. Pipe the buttercream along the base of the hat, and at the tip of the hat.
Categories: Cupcakes
Tags: Christmas Cupcakes, Elf Cupcakes, Holiday Cupcakes
