Flower Garden cupcakes
This past weekend I had my biggest job for cupcakes. I made 3 dozen cupcakes for a friend's wedding shower. My sister was throwing the shower and chose a garden theme. I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas, I felt like it was my own personal episode of Cupcake Wars! :) Not sure how they come up with, or bake, that many cupcakes that quickly though!
Given the colors were blue, pink, and yellow in the decorations, I wanted to represent each of those in a cupcake. I decided to go with a red velvet cupcake decorated with a pink rose, chocolate cupcake with a yellow sunflower, and a french vanilla cupcake with a blue daisy. The picture below shows the three cupcakes. It took a lot of time (and patience) to make them, but I think they turned out well and everyone seemed to like them.
For all three cupcakes I used icing dye that I found at Michaels. They were small containers, but it really just takes a tiny amount of the dye to change the color. I found that it didn't affect the consistency or taste of the icing as much as adding quite a bit of food coloring does. I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to create colored icing!
Here's how I created each of the cupcakes.
Rose cupcakes:
1. While the cupcakes cool, begin working on the icing. Start with cream cheese icing and slowly add pink dye until you get the desired color. The instructions on the box for using a tooth pick worked great!
3. Fill decorating tool, or icing bag, with icing.
4. Use the same rose tip for the roses as shown in the last post. This is the tip used for the pink icing in the picture below.
5. I piped them using a spiral pattern starting at the center.
6. I finished the look using some green icing with the leaf tip, shown below. It's best to experiment with the tip at first. The leaves are pretty easy to create. Position it as shown below, with the v-shape cutout on the side. Apply a small amount of pressure and then gradually release while pulling away from the base of the leaf.
Sunflower cupcakes:
1. Start by removing the creme filling from a dozen Oreos and separate the two sides.
2. Ice the cupcakes with a thin layer of green dyed vanilla icing.
3. Add one side of the Oreo to the top of each cupcake, lightly pressing it down. If the cupcakes are very domed, you may have to flatten them by cutting some off.
4. Using the icing dye, create the yellow icing.
5. Using the leaf tip, create the petals. This is the same tip used for the leaves, shown above. I used a thicker decorators icing to ensure the petals held their shape. I found the petals work best when applying pressure for a second or two at the Oreo, and then slowly releasing while pulling away from the cookie. I did slightly wider, shorter petals since I realized I didn't get quite enough of the decorators icing.
Blue daisy cupcakes:
1. Pour small blue sprinkles or colored sugar into bowl.
2. Slice regular size marshmallows in half diagonally.
3. Stick marshmallows down in sprinkles so the sticky side (where it was cut) gets coated in sprinkles.
4. Ice the cupcakes with a thin layer of green icing.
5. Place marshmallow petals onto icing.
6. Pipe a small circle of yellow icing in the center of the petals.
I finished the display up using crushed Oreos to look like dirt. I placed them in small boxes and put a sign in each to distinguish the type of cupcake.
Hope you enjoy making these cupcakes as much as I did! Here's a pic of the display at the shower.
Given the colors were blue, pink, and yellow in the decorations, I wanted to represent each of those in a cupcake. I decided to go with a red velvet cupcake decorated with a pink rose, chocolate cupcake with a yellow sunflower, and a french vanilla cupcake with a blue daisy. The picture below shows the three cupcakes. It took a lot of time (and patience) to make them, but I think they turned out well and everyone seemed to like them.
For all three cupcakes I used icing dye that I found at Michaels. They were small containers, but it really just takes a tiny amount of the dye to change the color. I found that it didn't affect the consistency or taste of the icing as much as adding quite a bit of food coloring does. I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to create colored icing!
Here's how I created each of the cupcakes.
Rose cupcakes:
1. While the cupcakes cool, begin working on the icing. Start with cream cheese icing and slowly add pink dye until you get the desired color. The instructions on the box for using a tooth pick worked great!
3. Fill decorating tool, or icing bag, with icing.
4. Use the same rose tip for the roses as shown in the last post. This is the tip used for the pink icing in the picture below.
5. I piped them using a spiral pattern starting at the center.
6. I finished the look using some green icing with the leaf tip, shown below. It's best to experiment with the tip at first. The leaves are pretty easy to create. Position it as shown below, with the v-shape cutout on the side. Apply a small amount of pressure and then gradually release while pulling away from the base of the leaf.
Sunflower cupcakes:
1. Start by removing the creme filling from a dozen Oreos and separate the two sides.
2. Ice the cupcakes with a thin layer of green dyed vanilla icing.
3. Add one side of the Oreo to the top of each cupcake, lightly pressing it down. If the cupcakes are very domed, you may have to flatten them by cutting some off.
4. Using the icing dye, create the yellow icing.
5. Using the leaf tip, create the petals. This is the same tip used for the leaves, shown above. I used a thicker decorators icing to ensure the petals held their shape. I found the petals work best when applying pressure for a second or two at the Oreo, and then slowly releasing while pulling away from the cookie. I did slightly wider, shorter petals since I realized I didn't get quite enough of the decorators icing.
Blue daisy cupcakes:
1. Pour small blue sprinkles or colored sugar into bowl.
2. Slice regular size marshmallows in half diagonally.
3. Stick marshmallows down in sprinkles so the sticky side (where it was cut) gets coated in sprinkles.
4. Ice the cupcakes with a thin layer of green icing.
5. Place marshmallow petals onto icing.
6. Pipe a small circle of yellow icing in the center of the petals.
I finished the display up using crushed Oreos to look like dirt. I placed them in small boxes and put a sign in each to distinguish the type of cupcake.
Hope you enjoy making these cupcakes as much as I did! Here's a pic of the display at the shower.
