The Cupcake Thread!

[AussieNic]

Think these were suppose to be butterflies?

 

[Mara]

nic those are great!! you reminded me of a farm animal birthday i did about 1.5 years ago...here is the pic the mom took.

i did a barn cake (wow that was a feat) and then i did a bunch of cupcakes with farm animals, toasted coconut haystacks, and grass and some that spelled out birthday boy's name and his age. the mom took it all and arranged it on this board she did with the sky and earth, it looked so cute in the pic!

for the animals i just did fondant cutouts (round and scalloped) and then assembled the 'faces' of the animals on top of them. i really would have loved to 'mold' the animals but i am not that talented!!

 

[Mara]

ummm sleep deprivation strikes. i forgot the pic, here it is.

 

[Mara]

and here is a pic i took of the cupcakes/animals. this was fun but i was so stressed about it coming out right!

nic it''s amazing what you can do with fondant, get yourself a tub of it at your local shop and some food coloring and you can make almost anything hehe.

 

[AussieNic]

Mara, your farm inspired cakes are just gorgeous! I love them!! I think they would make a fantastic birthday ''cake'' for my DS''s 2nd birthday....if only he liked cake

I have only attempted fondant once. DD and I were having a bit of a play with it. the heat/humidity here isn''t the nicest, and it just kept melting, almost, in our hands. We started off with coolish hands though?? The only place to buy groceries in our little town, has a box of ''icing'' which I think may be a cheap version of fondant. I think i will start searching and buying online some more. I need to find my love for baking again I think...

 

[Mara]

nic...you can also make your own fondant! google a recipe...i don''t know how you will have to adapt it for your climate but maybe worth a try.

 

[Dandi]

AussieNic they are fantastic, you''re so creative!!!

Where in Aus are you from?

Mara they are tooooooooooo cute. I love the ears on the little piggies!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 2/28/2010 9:58:17 PM
Author: Mara
HH ... lol at the funfetti! one of my coworkers LOVES FUNFETTI!!! she will eat cupcakes of course and homemade sure but she just adores the funfetti. isn't there a matching funfetti frosting? why wouldn't you use that? i think it would go best with it.


if you totally want to make a homemade frosting with funfetti i would say a regular buttcream ..not sure WHAT to flavor it with because funfetti is a 'taste' that i can't even really explain, maybe butter cake with extra sugar bites is a good way to describe hehe? you could do strawberry flavor maybe? and for your 'color' theme just color the frosting with food coloring.

Thanks Mara, this friend is crazy for FF so what mamma wants, mamma gets. I'll never mess with a pregnant woman and her cake. She doesn't do the pre-made frosting, she says it burns her teeth. She prefers buttercream, heavy on the butter. That's totally A-OK by me because it's what I like too. I was thinking about just plain vanilla but thought that might be a bit boring. I made up a batch of strawberry buttercream a few weeks ago that was good flavor wise but needs some tweaking in the texture. But it's pink because I used fresh strawberries. Would it be weird to have strawberry flavored blue/green frosting?

ETA: your barn animal cuppies are adorable!! I was thinking fondant/gum paste cut outs might be the way to go with the turtles, but turtles don't really have cute faces or features to highlight! Another idea I had was to make little heads, legs, and tails and stick them into the cupcake with the dome of the cupcake as the shell. My backup plan is to use blue frosting as water and then stick a Haribo gummy frog on it because those kind of look like turtles.

What's the difference between gum paste and fondant?

 

[Jas12]

Hi cuppie pals. It''s been a while since i posted, but my preggo self got a craving for some baked goods, so i decided to do some practice cuppies for my sister''s upcoming wedding shower.
Here colors are pale yellow, ivory, and pale grey. I bought these pretty laser cut liners but then didn''t know how to decorate the cuppies to compliment them. We are having a "High Tea" shower for her with petite fors, rose champagne and tea of course and so it''s going to be a very lady-like affair.

These are the two designs i came up with tonight. What do you think (keep in mind they were practice, and the color, presentation is not all perfect) . What design do you like better, or should i do something else totally? Ideas? They are for my one and only little sis so i want them to be just right.

Oh and i was also thinking we may do them as favors. I have clear cello boxes that fit one cuppie. I could place them in there with a thin grey ribbon and a thank-you tag (the stationery i have for her invites and cards is in her colors with a vintage floral motif)

 

[Jas12]

another pic

 

[Jas12]

Nic--your cuppies are so adorable. I really like the butterfly ones! I think those would be great for a girl''s b-day and not overly time consuming either!!

 

[Mara]

Jas your decor made me think of this cupcake pic i saved a LONG time ago, I really loved how it looked and the irridescence on the pearls.

I really like your pearl idea, but I don't love the rose on top of each, I don't know it just doesn't seem to really work for me...somehow it could be better but I'm not sure how.

Anyway maybe this pic will give you some additional inspiration. Is there a flower she is using in her wedding flowers you could potentially use?

I have always loved those laser liners but never could figure out how to use them either! I think they look better with the higher frosting too.

 

[Jas12]

Hey Mara! I think the scale of the rose may be off or something--or too flat looking. I don''t think she''s really chosen her flowers yet, but roses will probably be in there somewhere. She has a vintage feel to her wedding.
I really like the roses, but think maybe they would be better on a mini.???

 

[Mara]

or what about using small/mini roses and ''cascading'' them down the side of the cupcakes or something...like putting 3-4 in a little swirl to follow the frosting...hmmm. just thinking out loud.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Jas, these are beautiful!

Mara, your farmyard theme cuppies look incredible - would you mind telling me how you did the frosting under the little faces? What size / style piping nozzle? It looks great!

THanks
Jen

 

[Jas12]

Mara, yes, i was either thinking go big or go small. These are not ''right'' (even tho they are sooo pretty in person, gotta find the right application for them)
Her invites also have birds in them. I wish i was a little more talented with free-molding fondant. I could try those too and see how they turn out. Gotta find the motivation/time.
Thanks for the suggestions.

MrsM--A large open star or plain open tip will get that effect of a big dollop. Not sure exactly which one mara used, but i am sure she''ll chime in. Hold the piping bag directly over the cuppie while squeezing out the frosting, and keep the pressure applied evenly until the frosting sort of pools and covers the base of the cake. Then just quickly pull it off by stopping the pressure and apply the topper. it''s a nice effect, and actually easier than making swirls IMO.

 

[Jas12]

MrsM--oops, just looked at mara''s pic again, and they look like swirls--so ignore what i said

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

LOL! I couldn''t figure out if they were swirls or not. They look really elegant (for farmyard faces haha).

I love the little faces, too. Sweet!

 

[jas]

Had to share -- my first attempt at pastry bagging it...

Chocolate almond cuppies (ok) with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (a touch o' almond and awesome).

ETA: such a wee picture. hee.

 

[Mara]

Mrs M sorry I missed this...it is an absolutely monstrous swirl tip ... I have to go dig it out and find it but I got it at a cake store I think. You can order the really big tips online though too. And it''s a huge tip, not just a regular jumbo. You need really thick frosting. But a dollop would be fun too, I love dollops!

Jas those are great!! Way better than when I first was pastry bagging for sure!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

So I may have found a solution to the design of my turtle cupcakes. I found these at C&B last week and I think with minor modification and some frosting detail I''ll be able to pull off something super cute.

You have to use your imagination. 4 of the petals will become legs, then one above will be the head and the one below will be the tail. I might shave this last petal down a bit to make it look more like a tail.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Date: 3/8/2010 8:59:11 PM
Author: Mara
Mrs M sorry I missed this...it is an absolutely monstrous swirl tip ... I have to go dig it out and find it but I got it at a cake store I think. You can order the really big tips online though too. And it''s a huge tip, not just a regular jumbo. You need really thick frosting. But a dollop would be fun too, I love dollops!

Jas those are great!! Way better than when I first was pastry bagging for sure!

Thanks Mara. I''ve been hunting for one, with no joy. If you come across a link, I''d appreciate it. It makes the frosting look fantastic!

Jen

 

[Amanda.Rx]

How have I never seen this thread before?? I

it! And I love to bake!

I don''t have any cupcake pics, but here are a few of my creations: First: The Scroll Cake

The cake is simple- just a yellow box mix with home make chocolate & vanilla frosting. The love swirls- they''re my favorite design!

 

[Amanda.Rx]

Next is my hubby''s birthday cake. I try to make it for him every year. CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CAKE!

It''s semi home-made: Devil''s food or dark chocolate box mix with home-made peanut butter icing. To make the icing, I just use the standard Wilton buttercream icing recipe and mix creamy peanut butter in it until I like the taste. I usually have to add some extra milk too. Then, I just top it with chocolate chips & peanut butter chips. It''s super rich, but really yummy.

 

[Amanda.Rx]

From the inside.

SanDiegoLady- it would be a great Father''s Day cake, if your dad likes the flavor combo.

 

[shimmer]

I was wondering about this thread the other day! Happy to see it back... I made cake pops for my niece's 6th birthday last week. They were absolutely delicious--chocolate cake crumbled up with cream cheese frosting and dipped in chocolate and pink melting candies. Then I made a centerpiece with the pinks. Here the chocolates are drying:

 

[shimmer]

And the centerpiece:

 

[Dandi]

YAAYYYYY so hapy to see this thread up again!!

Amanda.Rx!! Girl, where have you and your amazing talent been hiding?! Those cakes look to DIE for! Your scrolling in incredible, and that PB cake.... yuuuuuuuum!!

shimmer, they are TOO CUTE!

How do you do those?! I love them!!

 

[shimmer]

Dandi-thanks! I love them too, everyone did! They taste good for days so you can totally make them ahead of time.

This was my first time making them and I found an excellent tutorial on a site called Recipe Rhapsody. Basically you crumble a cake and mix in some frosting, roll into tiny balls and refrigerate overnight, melt the choco/candy (I used a mini crock pot to keep warm, highly recommend this), stick in the lollipop stick (6") and carefully dip and tap off the excess. Then sprinkle if desired and stick in a foam block (or, when I ran out of room I used an upside down cardboard box with holes stabbed in it

) to dry. Then I got little clear 3x4" treat bags and wrapped them up after about an hour. I left them out until the party the next day and then after they were in the fridge, but still tasted amazing yesterday which was 4 days later!

I found the centerpiece idea on another website, I just got a 1" foam circle that fit inside the tin and covered with gum balls and poked the cake pops in. I was looking for pink candies but couldn''t find any, and my niece wanted a gum ball machine for her bday anyway so it worked out.

 

[Amanda.Rx]

Thanks, Dandi & SanDiego!

Now that I''ve found this thread, I may have to get back in the kitchen and play some more! I got a brand new Kitchen Aid mixer as a wedding gift! SCORE!