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