Peter Rabbit Cupcakes

Here comes Peter Rabbit pushing a wheelbarrow full of carrots from Mr. McGregor’s garden. These Peter Rabbit Cupcake Kits and Cupcake Holders by Meri Meri will brighten your Easter and bring you back to your childhood and the wonderful world of Beatrix Potter.

Peter Rabbit and Wheelbarrow

Do you remember Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Tom Kitten?  These adorable cupcakes will remind you of all your favorite Beatrix Potter tales, and if you’re not yet a fan maybe you will bake up a batch of these delightful cupcakes and become inspired to begin reading Beatrix Potter’s beautifully illustrated classics.

Peter Rabbit Up Close

These Peter Rabbit cupcake holders are designed as little wheelbarrows. They are very simple to put together and each wheelbarrow holds one cupcake.

Peter Rabbit and Friends

Each cupcake pick features a different Peter Rabbit character.

Peter Rabbit

Use tip 4B to pipe the decorations on each cupcake. My friend Grace had the brilliant idea to use orange sugar pearls at the center of each flower.

Benjamin Bunny

Egg yellow gel paste is used to color the frosting on these cupcakes. Use about one-quarter teaspoon per 4 cups of frosting to get this shade.

Jemima Puddle-Duck

You will need about four cups of frosting to decorate 12 cupcakes using tip 4B.

Tom Kitten

Jelly beans, sugar pearls, and orange carrots can be used for added color!

Decorating Supplies

For perfectly sized cupcakes, use a batter scoop to fill your baking cups. I use one level scoop per cupcake.

Ready to Bake!

Even the cupcake cases have Beatrix Potter Characters decorating them.

Cupcake Tip 4B

Begin by piping from the center outward using tip 4B.

Fully Piped Cupcake

Continue all the way around until the cupcake is completely covered.

Placing the Sugar Pearls

Use tweezers to place each sugar pearl. Then carefully push down using your finger.

Piping Grass onto the Cupcake

Use grass tip 233 to pipe the blades of grass. Layer the tufts of grass for a full look. Sprinkle with carrots.

Grass Cupcakes with Carrots

To get this shade of green frosting, add one quarter teaspoon avocado gel paste, 3 drops leaf green gel paste, and one drop mint green gel paste per 2 cups of frosting.

Name Tags

Print up name tags and stick them to toothpicks to personalize your Peter Rabbit cupcakes.

Jelly Bean Cupcake

If you are having an Easter party or family get together, these Peter Rabbit cupcake holders will make your table extra special.  Use your Peter Rabbit cupcake holders as place cards, and each guest will get their own special treat!

Row of Rabbits

Put your Peter Rabbit cupcakes on parade or display them on cake stands for a dazzling centerpiece.

Cupcakes on Cake Stands

Polar Bear Cake

A polar bear eating ice cream? What could be more fun and delicious than a snowflake covered cake with a happy polar bear on top? Just the thought of a polar bear eating ice cream makes me smile, and children will be pleased to see that polar bears like ice cream just as much as they do!

Happy Polar Bear

Cozy in his striped scarf, this polar bear couldn’t be happier while enjoying his ice cream.

Polar Bear Backside

Aside from the polar bear itself, most of the decorations for this cake are made using cutters of various shapes. This speeds up the decorating process. The polar bear is sitting on a scalloped fondant circle made using our scalloped cutter set.

Tools

Using different cookie cutters to cut out fondant decorations is a simple and easy decorating idea.

Snowflakes

Cutters that imprint patterns or textures will give more dimension and depth to the design. A non-stick mat is a wonderful work surface for rolling out fondant because you can leave the decorations on it while you work and they won’t stick.

Snowflake on Cake

Attach the fondant snowflakes to the fondant covered cake by applying a bit of water using a small paint brush.

Name in Lower Case Funky Tappit Letters

These fondant letters are made using the funky lower case letters tappit set.

Tappit Set

For this cake I wanted the first letter of each word to be capitalized, so I used the funky letters and numbers tappit set and the funky lower case tappit set.

Cutting out the lettering

Roll out long strips of fondant to cut out the letters using the tappit set. The tappit cutters are designed to cut each individual letter separately.

Fondant Letters

I use the pink (1/16″) dough bands on the 9″ rolling pin to get the fondant to the correct thickness.

Tappit Letter Detail

I love the tappit sets because they produce stylish, crisp, clean, sharp looking letters. Tappit letters produce a fresh unique look that is different from hand piping plus there is the added benefit of being able to move letters around. If you make a spelling mistake with the tappit set, just remove the letter from the cake. Mistakes made with icing are much harder to fix.

Lettering on Cake

Apply the tappit letters using a tiny bit of water applied with a paint brush. If you allow the tappit letters to dry, they will be stiff enough to attach to your cake with royal icing at the base of each letter so that they are free-standing.

Rounded Border Set

The scalloped edge that surrounds the top tier of the cake is created with our rounded border cutter set. Cutter sets like these have endless uses and are great to have on hand for quick design ideas.

Top Tier

Scalloped stripes in alternating shades of blue add extra detail to this cake.

Sculpting the Polar Bear

The part of this cake that is most daunting is probably sculpting the polar bear. I was inspired to make this bear by a greeting card I saw on one of my favorite stationary sites, Hello Lucky. A sculpting tools set will help you out with sculpting figures.  Don’t be afraid to try because it is just fondant and if you mess up you can always eat it and start over!

Starting the Scarf

Making the scarf is a lot of fun, and the technique can be used for a variety of decorations. Begin by cutting small uniformly sized strips of fondant in two alternating colors. I use a ruler and x-acto knife to cut the strips to the same size.

Scarf and Ice Cream

Next use the small rolling pin to roll over the strips of fondant. Roll over them with even pressure so that they meld together. Now you have the fabric for the scarf.

Cut Out Shapes

The strips that have been rolled together should be stuck to each other and form one piece of fondant from which you can cut out a scarf, bowtie, or any shapes you can think of.

Polar Bear

Polar Bear

Skate Boarding Dragon Cake

Make this daring dragon cake for your skateboarding daredevils. The colors can be tailored to their favorites, and a message can be added to the fondant skateboard. This dragon cake is inspired by the dragon cake in Debbie Brown’s 50 Easy Party Cakes.

Cover a Cake Board with Fondant

Take a 12″ cake drum and place a dollop of buttercream in the center (spread with angled spatula) and then cover with colored rolled fondant. I prefer Massa fondant from Switerland, It comes in a big tub, but homemade, Wilton, or Duff’s Charm City Fondant will work just fine too.

Trim Excess Fondant

After the drum is covered, take a sharp knife and trim the excess fondant. Next, neatly shape the edge  with your fingers or a fondant smoother.

Bake Two Cake Halves

I ended up baking two cake halves in pyrex bowls because I need a larger cake to feed 24 kids. For a slightly smaller cake use our 6″ ball pan.

Level The Cakes

Next, cool the two halves overnight and then level them with a cake leveler as needed.

Assemble The Ball

Pipe an icing dam around the edge of the bottom half and add a filling of your choice.  Place the second cake half on top and press down to make sure it is settled. Now crumb coat with buttercream icing using a spatula.

Mold The Head

Make sure to mold the head at least 2 days ahead of time. While drying set on parchment or a silpat and support with tissue papper.  Attached the ears by applying a tiny bit of water with a decorator’s brush.

Mold The Parts

Sculpt the tail and neck piece 2 days ahead of time also. As the fondant sets up add the nostril holes with the opposite end of the decorator’s brush.

A Spot of Icing

Add a spot of royal or buttercream icing to the fondant covered cake drum before placing the cake.

Assembly

Place the cake as shown and add the neck piece and tail.

Roll Out The Fondant

Take a string and measure the circumference of your dragon cake.  Roll out  a fondant circle that has a diameter equal to the measurement you just took. Roll out (with cornstarch) so that it is 1/4 in thick.

Drape The Fondant

Roll the fondant onto your 21 in rolling pin and then drape over the cake supporting the fondant as you cover it.

Form The Body

Form the body around the cake using fondant smoothers and your fingers.

Place The Head

Cut the mouth into the dried head with a sharp knife and add the eyes (colored fondant).

Add A Skateboard

Now add a skateboard or other prop.  This was made of fondant (colored with gel paste, like all my fondant) and dried for 2 days.  I thought about piping happy birthday on it, but ran out of time.

Fondant Rocks

I had my husband sculpt all these fondant rocks.  He came up with a method of twisting two colors of fondant together, forming a ball, and then tapping them with a butter knife and crumpled tin foil.

Fondant Dragon Wings

The last thing to do is add the wings.  Again, make these ahead of time so they can dry thoroughly. Attach the wings with a little water.

Side View and Tail

Here is the back view of the finished cake.

Final Cake

A Skateboarding Dragon Cake Just in Time for Shelby’s 10th Birthday Party!

Haunted Forest Cupcakes

Create a petrified forest full of spooky trees and plump pumpkins. These Haunted Forest Cupcakes are sure to please this Halloween.

Supplies

Begin with black baking cups, haunted tree suckers, Bundt bon bon pumpkins, and a pastry bag filled with blue frosting.

Blue Frosted Cupcakes

Use Americolor Royal Blue gel paste to tint your frosting. Ateco tip 825 is used to pipe frosting on these cupcakes.

Cupcakes with Pumpkins & Trees

Add some plump little pumpkins to spice up these cupcakes.  These pumpkins are chocolate, made using our bundt bon bon mold and decorated with green royal icing.

Single Cupcake

Add your own details and decorations to these cupcakes to make them your own.  Yellow sugar pearls will add an extra splash of color and purple polka dot baking cups are also a fun choice.

Haunted Forest Cupcakes

Haunted Tree Chocolate Lollipops

Haunted Tree Suckers are Spellbinding and Simple. Great for Halloween parties and fall gatherings, these chocolate suckers will add a spooky spectacle to any celebration. When I saw these molds I couldn’t resist the petrified faces on these trees and immediately wanted to make a haunted forest of chocolate trees.

Supplies for Haunted Trees

This project is wonderful for beginning chocolatiers because you need only a few supplies and one color of chocolate. To make these chocolate pops I use the haunted tree chocolate mold, one 12 oz squeeze bottle, one pint glass (this is to hold the squeeze bottle), 16 milk chocolate melts, and 4.5″ lollipop sticks.

Chocolate in Mold

Place the a lollipop stick in each one of the mold cavities and then squeeze chocolate into each cavity. Be careful not to overfill the molds because this will cause the chocolate to flow outside of the cavity and will create a border. If you overfill the mold, just wait until the chocolate has set because the excess chocolate can be trimmed away once it has solidified.

Tapping the Mold

Tap the mold on your work surface to release air bubbles and ensure that the chocolate fills in all of the crevices. You can also hold the mold above your head to see if air bubbles remain. Continue tapping until air bubbles no longer rise to the surface.

Haunted Trees in Mold

Put the mold in the refrigerator for ten to fifteen minutes. Flip the mold onto a flat surface and the suckers should release easily.

Haunted Trees

Mouse House

Create an adorable Autumn cake with two whimsical mice living in a pumpkin house. This Mouse House cake is one of my favorites. Fabulous for Fall, and cute as a button, this cake will capture the imaginations of young and old alike.

Mice Peeking Out

Mouse

The cake design is from Debbie Brown’s 50 Easy Party Cakes, a book that I absolutely love! This book can be found on our site, and I highly recommend it because it has tons of inspiration and provides instruction on making simple but striking cakes.

Mouse Looking at You

I chose to make a pumpkin flavored cake with cream cheese frosting to go with the Autumn theme. This cake is made with two half spheres. You can make this shape cake with a ball pan or if you have a bowl that is oven safe and fairly round, you can bake two halves to make the pumpkin.

Sculpted Fondant Mice

One of the nice  things about this cake is that the mice figures can be sculpted far in advance. I suggest making them at least 2 days ahead of time so that they have plenty of time to dry. You want them to be pretty sturdy by the time you place them on the cake, so that they are easier to work with and don’t break. To prevent sticking, set your figures on a silpat (non-stick baking mat) or parchment paper to dry.

Side View

If you are intimidated by sculpting fondant figures, this is a good cake to start with. The mice are fairly simple, and you can make the figures far in advance which will give you time to practice. A fondant sculpting set will help you with the small details, and this product can be found in our store www.cakecupboard.com.

Bottom of Pumpkin

Covering the pumpkin shaped cake in fondant is easier when the cake is placed atop a tall cake pedestal. This enables you to see the sides and bottom. If you don’t have a cake pedestal, you could also rest the cake on a round jar lid that is smaller than the base of the cake. This will allow you to work the fondant all the way under the cake so that you won’t see any seams or bunching at the bottom. Once covered in orange fondant, I transfer the cake to a green fondant covered cake board. If you lift the cake from the bottom, you will minimize fingerprints in the fondant, since this bottom portion will be covered when set on the cake board.

Mouse House Back

To make the windows that the mice peek out of, I used the round end of a large decorating tip/tube. You could also use a small round cutter if you have one.

Mice Peeking Out

I attached everything except for the mice to this cake with a tiny bit of water. For the mice, I used royal icing to make sure that they would stay in place.

Mouse Tail

The curly mice tails and pumpkin stems add interest and detail to this cake.

Looking down at the Mouse House

Paisley Cake

This paisley cake is something I made for my mom’s birthday. I love that the paisley chocolates that decorate this cake resemble a beautiful wrapping paper pattern.

Paisley Cake Side View

This cake is covered in fondant, and the bow and pearl edging are also made of fondant. The pearl/bead edging is made using a 4mm bead mold brushed with super pearl luster dust (that is why the pearls are shiny and opalescent).

Paisley Cake Closeup

The paisley chocolates are attached to the cake with royal icing. See below for a photo journal of the making of this cake.

Leveling the cake

This cake is an 8″ square so I leveled the layers using a small cake leveler. I then cut one of the layers in half, so that there would be three layers.

Filling the cake

The cake is a champagne cake with a champagne custard filling. I piped a buttercream dam around the perimeter of the cake to make sure that the filling would not ooze out. Champagne cakes used to be popular and could be found in many bakeries. I remember the classic pink champagne cake that was covered in pink chocolate curls. It was stylish and delicious!

Stacking the cake

The stacked cake is about three and three quarter inches tall. This means that once the cake is crumb coated and covered in fondant, it should be about four inches high.

Crumb coating the cake

Here is the crumb coated cake. Crumb coating is applying a light coat of frosting (in this case buttercream diluted with water) to cover the cake and seal in all of the crumbs. Once this crumb coat sets up, you are ready to apply your final coat of frosting or cover your cake in fondant. The crumb coat is a rough coat and does not need to be perfect. It is intended to seal in the crumbs so that your final coat will not have any crumbs or bits of cake peeking through.

Smoothing the crumb coat

If you are covering your cake in fondant, you will want your crumb coat to be smoother than if you were going to apply another layer of frosting. This is because the shape and texture of the frosting that is underneath the fondant will show, so you want to get it as smooth as possible. To do this I fill an asparagus steamer with boiling water. I then dip a large bent spatula into the water and wipe it off with a paper towel and then run the hot spatula on the sides and top of the cake to smooth.

Smoothed cake

This is the cake after I have smoothed it with a hot spatula. Don’t fuss over the frosting too much, because the fondant will cover small imperfections.

Covering the cake in fondant

This is the fondant covered cake. The red silicone rolling pin is the one that I use to roll the fondant. The straight rolling pin in the background is the one that I use to roll the fondant onto and pick up to lift and place on the cake. I use the fondant smoother (right side) to smooth the fondant over the cake.

Trimming the fondant

I use an x-acto knife to trim the fondant from the bottom of the cake.

Making fondant pearls

For this cake, I am trimming the fondant ribbon with fondant pearls/beads. I use the 4 mm bead maker to make the strings of pearls that will be attached to the ribbon. The super pearl luster dust is brushed into the pearl mold to keep the fondant from sticking.

Adding ribbon to the paisley cake

Next I begin adding the fondant ribbon and pearls to the cake. Both are attached using a tiny amount of water (painted using a fine paint brush).

Materials for paisley cake

Now its time to start adding the paisleys to the cake. The fondant bow is formed using rolled paper towels stuffed in the loops to keep its shape while it dries overnight.

Attaching the paisleys

Adding more paisleys

Paisleys panoramic view

The paisley chocolates are attached to the cake with royal icing. Royal icing is very strong and the chocolates need to be held in place for less than a minute to get set on the cake.

Dried fondant bow

The bow has dried overnight and is now sturdy enough for the pearl trim to be applied.

Adding pearl/bead trim to the bow

The fondant pearls are attached to the ribbon by applying a very small amount of water to the ribbon using a fine tipped paint brush. The strings of pearls will stick to the surface that is covered with water, but too much water will make them fall off and can also leave marks on the fondant.

Attaching fondant pearls to the bow loops

Attaching the pearls to the bow loops was probably the hardest part. I had some strands of pearls that I had made the night before, but found that I could not attach them to the bow loops because the curves were too much and would cause the strands to break.  I ended up making additional fresh pearls for the bow loops.

Putting the bow together

Even though the bow looked like one piece when it was drying, it is actually five different pieces. If  it was all one piece, it would be even harder to attach the pearl trim. The final five pieces were assembled on top of the cake as the final step.

Paisley Cake birds eye view

Here is the finished cake! It was a lot of work but definitely worth it!

Paisley Cake corner

The paisleys with polka dots are my favorite.

Paisleys

Paisley Chocolates

Paisley Cake

When I first saw these paisley chocolate molds I knew that I had to make something special with them. They are so whimsical and unique and add a lot of detail to any creation.

I made these chocolates to attach to a cake that I was making for my mom’s birthday.The cake is designed to look like a gift and I think that these paisleys are perfect because they really look like a beautiful wrapping paper pattern. My mom’s favorite color is pink, so of course the paisleys are made using three shades of pink chocolate.

Mini Paisleys

To make the paisleys you will need the following ~

Paisley accessory mold and paisley mini mold (if you are making a large quantity I recommend you use at least two molds. The more molds, the faster the process will go.)

2 bags of pink candy melts

Pink or red candy coloring

Tools needed for this project are as follows ~

Three 12oz squeeze bottles

Chocolate in Bottles

Very fine tipped paint brush

Candymelter palette

Electric skillet (optional)

Toothpicks (use these to periodically stir the chocolate in the candymelter palette)

Begin by selecting the three colors that you will use to make your paisleys. I suggest deepening shades of the same color, but you can use any color combination. I chose pinks, but once I saw the finished chocolates, I found that two of the shades were too close to together and could not really be distinguished from each other, so I suggest distinctly different shades.

Step 1 – Pour both bags of pink candy melts into a microwave safe bowl(I use a large Pyrex bowl). Melt in the microwave on the defrost setting in 30 second increments stirring each time. It is critical that you stir in between each 30 second increment. This will ensure that the chocolate is heating evenly and will prevent it from getting too hot which will make it seize and become difficult to work with.

Single Paisley

Step 2 – Use a funnel to fill one 12 oz squeeze bottle with melted chocolate and place it in the electric skillet which should be turned on to the lowest possible setting and lined with thick dish towels. The electric skillet is great because it will keep your chocolate from cooling down and hardening while you work. Rotate the bottle every so often to ensure that it is evenly heated. Note – Do not leave the electric skillet unattended as it is a potential fire hazard. If you are not using an electric skillet to keep your chocolate at working temperature, you may have to microwave the chocolate once it is too cool to work with. You can do this by removing the squeeze bottle lid and placing the open squeeze bottle in the microwave on defrost setting for 20 second increments until the chocolate is sufficiently warm.

Paisleys & Flowers

Step 3 – Divide the remaining chocolate into two separate bowls. Use the red or pink candy food coloring to tint the remaining two bowls of chocolate to different shades. Make sure you are using candy food coloring as regular coloring is not suited for use with chocolate because it is water based and will cause the chocolate to seize. Candy food coloring is an oil based product that is specifically designed for use with chocolate. Begin by dropping a couple of drops into the chocolate, stir and continue to add coloring until you reach the desired shade.

Step 4 – Use a funnel to fill the other two squeeze bottles with the new shades of chocolate you just mixed. Place the bottles in the electric skillet to keep them warm.

Step 5 – Plug in the candymelter palette and squeeze a dollop of each of the three different shades of pink from the squeeze bottles into separate aluminum cups in the palette. This is the chocolate the you will use to paint the details on the paisleys.

Stage 1

Step 6 – Using a very fine tipped paint brush begin painting the first level of detail onto the chocolate mold. You can use any of the three colors that you want, but keep in mind which color you are planning to use as your background color. The background color is the color that you will fill the mold with after the details are dry. The details should contrast the background color so that they really stand out.

Step 7 – Once the first layer of detail has dried (dry time will vary depending on air temperature), you can paint the second layer of detail. I generally paint this layer with the the color that you will not be using for the fill. You have already used one color for the 1st level of detail, and you are planning on using one color to fill the mold, so the only color that is left is the color you will use to paint the second layer of detail.

Stage 2

Step 8 – Once all of the details have dried, it is time to fill the molds. Use the three different colors that you have in the squeeze bottles to fill the molds. You can use the same fill for all of the cavities in the mold or you can vary the fill color. Because I used all different color combinations, I used all three colors to fill the cavities. If I had used light pink and medium pink for the detail colors, I would use dark pink as the fill color. If I used Dark pink and light pink as the detail colors, I would use medium pink as the fill color. The idea behind this is to make the different shades pop as much as possible. If you are putting these decorations on a cake, you may also want to consider the cake background when choosing the fill color. If the cake is white, you know that any darker shades of pink will contrast best against it. If the cake is light pink, you know that a chocolate that is filled with light pink will blend into the color of the cake, and stand out less. Your color choice will depend on the look you are trying to acheive.

Stage 3

Step 9 – Place the molds in the refridgerator for approximately 15 minutes or more until the chocolate is hard.

Step 10 – Release the chocolates from the mold. I do this by turning the mold upside down onto a piece of parchment paper (the chocolate will not stick to this)

Step 11 – Enjoy! These fantastic little chocolate decorations will look amazing on a cake or placed on top of cupcakes or brownies.

Stars & Sprinkles

If you’re feeling patriotic and have dreams of backyard BBQs and 4th of July cookouts these chocolate stars are perfect for adding some color to your festivities. Use them as cupcake toppers for spectacular 4th of July cupcakes, or use them as a border at the bottom of a cake. The possibilities are endless and because this is a quick and easy project, kids will be happy to join in the fun as well.

This is a great chocolate project for those who are just beginning to work with chocolate. There is just one color of chocolate that you will need and the Ice Princess Chocolate Mold is very easy to work with.

Ice Princess Mold

To make these stars, you will need the following tools -

~One 12 oz squeeze bottle

~Small Paintbrush

You will also need the following Items -

~Ice Princess Chocolate Mold

~1 bag (16 oz) white chocolate candy melts

~Tricolor Nonpareils

Step 1 – Begin by melting the chocolate. I melt my chocolate in the microwave by emptying an entire bag of white chocolate melts into a large Pyrex bowl and microwaving it in intervals of 30 seconds on the defrost setting, stirring in between each 30 second interval.  The stirring will ensure that the heat gets distributed throughout the chocolate and it melts evenly.

Step 2 – Once the chocolate is fully melted and smooth (no lumps), use a funnel to transfer the chocolate into a 12 ounce squeeze bottle.

Filled Mold

Step 3 – Now you are ready to fill the mold! This mold is made of silicone and though they are originally designed for making ice cubes, I found that these silicone molds work great for chocolate. They produce crisp designs and the silicone is very flexible making it easier to remove the chocolate. This mold is pretty deep so I only fill each star about 3/4 full.

Hint – Keep your chocolate squeeze bottle upside down in a pint glass when you are not holding it. This will keep all of the chocolate close to the tip and will eliminate air bubbles and the chocolate explosions that you sometimes get from hidden air pockets.

Squeeze Bottle in Pint Glass

Step 4 – Once all of the star shapes are filled with chocolate, tap the mold several times to allow air bubbles to float to the top. Next place the mold in the refrigerator on a flat surface for about 15 minutes.

Step 5 – Remove the mold and pop out the stars. Gently pry away the silicone from around each of the stars before trying to release them. This will help detach them from the mold.

Step 6 – Repeat the process to make more stars, or if you have enough, move on to decorating your stars.

Decorating Supplies

Step 7 – Prepare your decorating supplies. For my stars, I’m staying with the patriotic theme by using tri-color nonpareils which are in red, white, and blue. You can use any combination of sprinkles you like. Nonpareils work well because they are small and provide good coverage. Now you will need two small dishes or plates. Place your sprinkles in one dish and squeeze a bit of chocolate (maybe two tablespoons) into the other dish.

Hint – If you are done with your chocolate, pipe the remainder that is left in the squeeze bottle into small dollups on a piece of parchment paper. Don’t forget this step, because if your chocolate solidifies in your squeeze bottle, it will be almost impossible to remove (you would need to rewarm it). Once the wafers that you pipe are dry, all you need to do it put them in an airtight bag or container and they will be ready for re-melting for your next project.

Star Painted with Chocolate

Step 8 – Begin decorating! Pick up one of your chocolate stars and use your small paintbrush to paint the chocolate onto the surface of your star.  Do this quickly so that the chocolate doesn’t set up as you work. You can rewarm the chocolate in the microwave if it gets to cool. Once the surface of your star is coated in chocolate, immediately dip it into the sprinkles. Press it down firmly and remove it. It should be covered in colorful sprinkles! Repeat this with the remaining stars be creative with your decorating. I chose to fill in just the center of some of the bigger stars. You can create any pattern by brushing the chocolate on isolated areas of the stars.

Stars closeup

Star covered in nonpareils

Have fun with these stars by throwing them in a fruit salad, using them as cupcake toppers, decorating a cake with them, making a candy necklace, or anything else you can think of. Use your imagination and if you enjoy this blog and decide to try it yourself, please send in your pictures. We would love to post them and share all of your wonderful projects!

Star Cupcake

Star Cupcake

Pretty N Punk Cupcakes

Starting this project I was excited because I have never used Bella Cupcake Couture Cupcake Wraps, or any cupcake wraps for that matter, and when I saw the Bella Cupcake Couture Lu Lu Black and White Cupcake Wraps, I was inspired and knew just what to make. I love the elegant pattern on these wraps and black is an unexpected color that is not usually associated with cupcakes so I thought it would be fun to make something different.

Bella Cupcake Couture Wrap

Starting out, I anticipated this to be an easy project. Just bake and frost some cupcakes and place them in the wraps right? Wrong. I started out by baking standard sized cupcakes and when the cupcakes came out of the oven and cooled I quickly realized that they were going to be too small for the Bella Cupcake Couture Wraps. Looking down into the wrap, the top of the standard size cupcake was a good 1/2″ below the edge of the cupcake wrap, and the cupcake had at least 1/4″ of breathing room all around it. I knew that even if I mounded on giant swirls of frosting, the cupcake would still look sunken and inset from the wrap.

Standard Size Cupcake in Wrap

My options were to place the cupcakes on some sort of stilts to raise them up so that the top of the cupcake would be level with the edge of the wrap, to go ahead and frost the cupcakes using as much frosting as possible so that the problem wouldn’t be as noticeable or to bake new larger cupcakes. The stilt idea seemed clunky and complicated and I knew I wouldn’t get the results I wanted by frosting the cupcakes I already had made, so I baked new cupcakes. The next size up that I had in baking cups was a 1-7/8″ wall by 2-1/4″ diameter base baking cup. This is the size in between standard and giant (Texas sized), and if you don’t fill it too full you can use a standard size muffin baking pan.

Cupcakes in a Row

Just for reference, a standard size baking cup has 1-3/8″ walls (sides) and a 2″ diameter bottom. Note: 1-3/8″ walls and 2″ diameter bottom measurements must be approximations because although these are the dimensions that are called out on the packaging, when I measure the baking cup it seems closer to 1-1/2″ wall and 1-7/8″ diameter base. These are the most common size and the kind that people generally use. They come in a variety of different colors and patterns, and you should be able to find some variety of these size at your local grocery store.

Large Baking Cups in Pan

Using the new larger baking cups I baked some new cupcakes. These larger cupcake liners stuck up way above the edges of my cupcake pan. I filled each cup with 1/2 cup of batter (next time I would use 1/3 cup because this was too much) and baked them for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees F. When these cupcakes emerged from the oven I could tell that they were much much bigger, but the question now was… are they too big? Unfortunately the answer was yes. Bigger than the standard size cupcakes but too big for the cupcake wraps, these cupcakes would not do. Now I was determined that I would make a cupcake that was not too big, not too small, but just right.

Large Cupcake in Bella Wrap

Because I didn’t have any other in between size baking cups, I had to create my own by cutting approximately 3/8″ off of the entire rim of the larger baking cups. They originally had a 2″ wall (the packaging again read 1-7/8″ wall, but when measured was closer to 2″) so this brought them down to a 1-5/8″ wall. This may not seem like a big difference being that the standard baking cup was only 1/4″ shorter, but because of the differing base diameters, the overall size was quite different. I continued to cut the baking liners three at a time until I had 12. I placed them in the standard size muffin pan and filled them with approximately a level scoop (I use a 56 mm scoop) and a half of batter (this is approximately 1/4 cup), and baked them for about 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F. After letting the cupcakes cool on a wire rack, I dropped one into the wrap and found that to my relief and delight these cupcakes were the perfect size.

Medium Cupcake in Bella Wrap

Now the fun part! Decorating the cupcakes. My idea for decorating was simple… Pipe frosting on the cupcakes using a large decorating tip and then sprinkle with black sugar pearls and place in cupcake wraps. This part of the project went pretty much according to plan.

I wanted a vibrant contrast color that wouldn’t fade in the background or be drowned out by the black, so I chose electric pink. I put approximately 5-6 cups of buttercream icing in the bowl of a six quart Kitchen Aid mixer and using the whisk attachment I mixed in almost a whole bottle of electric pink gel paste to get this shocking pink. Hint: The frosting will become darker as it sets. If you want to make sure that your frosting is the color you are hoping for, color it the night or day before you want to use it and color it just a shade lighter than you want. By the next day, your frosting will have developed to its final shade.

Decorating Supplies

I used a 14″ pastry bag and Ateco tip 825 to pipe frosting on the cupcakes. Start piping from the outside edge of the cupcake and end up with your swirl ending in the center.

Next use your fingers to sprinkle black sugar pearls onto the cupcakes.

Pink Cupcake

Now gently place the cupcakes in the Bella Cupcake wraps. I found that the best way to do this is to hold the cupcake directly over the assembled wrap with one hand. Bring your other hand under the wrap and up through the opening in the bottom of the wrap to grap the cupcake and gently guide it down into place.

Now you can add additional decorations to your cupcakes such as the chocolate skull toppers we added here, or place them on a pedestal for an elegant display.

Recap – To do this project at home you will need the following:

~Bella Cupcake Couture Lu Lu Black and White Cupcake Wraps (1 pkg-12wraps)

~12 Large Baking Cups (1-7/8″ wall and 2-1/4″ diameter base)

~14″ Pastry Bag/Decorating Bag

~Ateco Tip/Tube 825

~Black Sugar Pearls

~1 Bottle Americolor Electric Pink Gel Paste

Optional:

~12 Chocolate Skull Toppers

Cupcakes on Cake Stand

All dressed up in Bella Cupcake Couture Wraps, these cupcakes make a wonderful centerpiece for any celebration. I love that these cupcakes are very versatile and can look elegant and chic or a bit edgy and punk when you add the skulls.

Skull Cupcakes