Striping the icing - Spongebob Cupcakes

It is Valerie's birthday and she wanted Spongebob cupcakes.  Of course, what else does a 17 year old want right?  The wrappers were Wilton and were pretty cute except that they are thin and the color of the cupcake kind of bleeds through the wrapper and so they weren't magnificent and bright (and we like magnificent and bright!)

 We were wanting to give the top of the cupcakes a feeling of the ocean...and Spongebob of course, so we decided to use a "striping" technique with the frosting.  This shoots a specific color out of the bag on only part of the icing stream.  It's fun to do it with different colors because you can kind of get a wavy/tie-dye effect.

You will want to use a disposable icing bag.  I've always used paste food colors and painted "stripes" down the side of the bag and then put the frosting carefully into the bag on top of it.  We were out of the paste colors I wanted (yellow and light blue) and so used what we had which were gel colors - you can buy them in the grocery store in the baking aisle.  I think it worked well enough! We used a size 32 star tip and swirled the tops in individual circles.   I think that while they each turned out a little different - probably due to the semi-liquidy colors and the 100 degree outside temperatures we were experiencing (and thus melting icing)  - they are pretty magnificent when taken as a whole.

Here are a couple of pictures of two of the difference tops so that you can see the details:

Flower Cupcakes

Valerie was inspired to make these beautiful flower cupcakes from "What's New Cupcake?" by Tack and Richardson.  The flower petals are mini marshmallows cut on the diagonal and pressed in colored sugar.  She made her own colored sugar because we had just run out  - and it was kind of fun!  The hardest part was cutting all of the marshmallows and putting the sugar on.  The sugar had to be pressed on while the marshmallow was still moist and freshly cut so they had to pretty much be done one-by-one.  After that it was a breeze to place them around the cupcake top. 

Making Your Own Colored Sugar Sprinkles

Did you know you could make your own colored sugar?  I didn't either.  Our colored sugar sprinkle supply had just run out and rather than run to the store for more, we made our own.  You just put the tiniest drop of food coloring into a baggie filled with white sugar.  Shake it and roll it till it is all incorporated.  Lay it on a plate to dry.  Ours dried a bit clumpy so we put it through a sifter to get out the bigger chunks.

No, these cupcakes aren't the most beautiful - that's not why we posted this picture.  We wanted to show you how very deep and vibrant the colors can be when you make your own colored sugar sprinkles.  These cupcakes were made using the left over colored sugar we had used in another project.  We rolled the tops in the sugar just to use up what we had - both with the cupcakes and the sugar.  They are colorful and fun!

Cupcakes or Pies?

Valerie made these cute cupcakes that look like wee little berry pies!

The inspiration came from "What's New Cupcake?" by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.  Trying to keep with the berry pie theme, she used strawberry cake mix.  They would have been equally awesome with any flavor cake mix however.  The "berries" are red and purple M&M's and the frosting was mixed with a little cocoa power and the tiniest bit of yellow food coloring. So cute!

CupcakeCreations Cupcake Cups

These beautiful cupcake baking cups by CupcakeCreations were spotted at Ace Hardware and were available for around $4.00 for a package of 32.  They are advertised as "heavy duty baking cups, easy peel,  and no muffin pans needed".  They are indeed far more sturdy than the standard baking cup we've been using for years.  Could they stand up to the the test, being filled with batter and baked without a muffin tin?  Indeed they did!  They also do peel away easily and are sturdy enough that when we made cupcakes in the larger cup, we could partially peel the wrapper away, holding it in our hands while eating the cupcake with a fork - handy for the messier type of cupcakes that you could never just peel and eat (think banana cream - messy but yummy!)  Not only are they sturdy but they are beautiful as well!  We also found a very elegant black with gold swirlies cupcake cup.  As you can see they come in regular and large sizes.  The smaller orange one on the right is the standard size cupcake and the one on the left a much larger specialty "bakery" size.

We loved these cupcake cups and will  definitely use them again...and again...and again...

What's New Cupcake? - Book

We've had a lot of fun thumbing through the book "What's New Cupcake?" by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.  This amazingly creative cupcake idea book contains everything from the cute duckies you see on the front cover to cupcakes that resemble sushi, Chinese take-out, and a stuffed turkey straight from the oven (and lots of other non-food related cupcakes as well).  Frankly, most of them make me tired to even think about.  Too much work for this gal!  My daughter Valerie has far more energy than I do however, and is more than excited to take them on!  I told her I could deal with no more than one a week and so far she is sticking to it.  We've already got a few to post for you.  In the meantime, you can pick up this book from your local bookstore, craft store or online and have some fun for yourself.  Be looking for fun cupcakes made MOSTLY by Valerie in the next couple of weeks!
Cindy

CAKE-BALLS RECIPE

So here is a question for you:

If it is made with a cake mix and a can of frosting AND if it is served in a cupcake wrapper, is it a cupcake?  Good question.  If you read the title above and saw the pictures below, you know this isn't really a cupcake but a recipe for cake-balls.   WHAT IS A CAKE-BALL? (you might ask...)

The recipe sounds easy enough:

1. Any flavor cake mix - make and bake according to package directions.  Let cool till you can easily handle, then crumble into a large bowl.

2. Any flavor canned icing.  Melt in the microwave then pour over crumbled cake, stirring till thoroughly mixed.

3.  Refrigerate for several hours till mixture sticks together.  Using a melon baller, form balls of the cake mixture.

4.  Dip the balls into melted chocolate.  (The recipe calls for one 3 ounce bar of chocolate.  I used two bags of chocolate chips and it wasn't even enough).  Decorate with sprinkles if desired.

Okay - I said "sounds easy" - remember?  It was not as easy as the recipe made it sound.  My daughter and I decided to tackle this recipe on a Friday night and didn't end up finishing till late Saturday afternoon. The first problem was that the balls were not properly balling using the melon baller.  We ending up scooping the mixture with the baller for uniform sizing then ended up rolling the balls in our hands.  Then, when we tried dipping the balls into the melted chocolate, they ended up totally falling apart.  We decided to freeze the balls overnight to make them stick together better.  The next morning we re-melted our chocolate (in the microwave) and while the balls did stick together, we found that the frozen balls cooled the chocolate so quickly that it was difficult to work with.  We had to continually melt the chocolate while making sure the balls did not thaw too quickly and become too mushy to use.  In retrospect, it would have been far better to melt the chocolate and keep it over a double broiler while dipping.

The verdict?  They were indeed a royal pain to make.  But -  O...M....G....!  They are so delicious!  Especially if you are able to keep them into the next day.  The flavors just really meld together into a very moist and tasty bite-size treat.  Would I make these again?  Yes, BUT - this time I would use a double broiler or the Wilton Chocolate melter.  My sister who has made these before also told me that she uses more frosting than called for and uses homemade.  She couldn't tell me the exact proportions (because she cooks with instinct like me).  If I do make these again, I'll try it her was and pay close attention to the proportion and let you know.  But YES, yummy and thumbs up for cake-balls!