Chocolate Moose Cupcakes

These cupcakes are also from the book What's New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. These took more time than the polar bears, but they are well worth it.  They are easier than they look too.    Also, I think that if you freeze your cupcakes, they will separate themselves from the wrapper slightly; at least that's what happened with these.  I still highly recommend this book!!! 

Here are some pictures of individual moose.  They're almost too cute to eat!

We tried using different colored mini M&M's, but you could just do the brown as suggested in the book.

These cupcakes were decorated March 2011.

Sunflower Cupcakes

chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting, buttercream frosting, mini chocolate chips (or regular as shown above)

A friend and I worked on these (there were about 2 dozen) and although they are simple, we learned that the consistency of the frosting is really important.  If it is too thick, then the petals won't make a point.  To thin frosting, add between 1/2 a tsp. and a tsp. of water to a cup of frosting, and keep doing this until you get the right consistency.  By the way, we used freezer Ziploc bags to hold the frosting.  Sandwich bags aren't strong enough to handle the pressure. 

These cupcakes were decorated June 2009.

Treble Clef and Bass Clef Cakes

Left Cake-8" round chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream frosting, powdered sugar

Right Cake-8" round white cake, buttercream frosting, cinnamon

Techniques Used-Basketweave, Shell Border, Stencil

Focus-Stencil

Stenciling cakes is one fairly easy way to spice up a cake.  It can be really intricately patterned or one big icon (as above).  I know Wilton and other cake decorating companies have different stencils, and I figure you can probably buy regular stencils as long as they haven't been used for other things and are cleaned.  The ones above of the treble clef and bass clef aren't store bought, and you may be hard pressed to find them.  I will let you know how I made these after I explain stenciling.

Stenciling Materials-stencil; fine mesh sieve; powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or spice (left cake has powdered sugar, right cake has cinnamon)

Stenciling-I recommend waiting to put on your top border until after you've stenciled your design.  It is possible (but harder) to stencil after the border is on there.  I also recommend practicing on another surface before trying the cake, especially if this is your first time.

1.  Lightly place the stencil where desired, making sure it isn't going to move.  Be sure to wait until the frosting is slightly dry (put it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so), otherwise the frosting will stick to the stencil.

2.  Hold your fine mesh sieve directly above the stencil anywhere between 4 and 12 inches from the cake.  Pour a little bit of powdered sugar (or whatever you're using) into the sieve and shake the sieve up and down lightly (a light bouncing movement).  Don't worry about the sugar "leaking" under the stencil; as long your stencil is flat to the cake and you're shaking up and down instead of side to side, the sugar will just fall straight down.  Repeat this until you have a fairly thick and even layer of sugar.  

3.  Lift the stencil very carefully and evenly.  Try and lift as smoothly as possible to avoid sugar from falling onto the cake.  You're done!

Making Your Own Stencil

Materials-Xacto knife, manila folder (or something hard and can easily be cut), pen

1.  Draw design on Manila folder.  As you are drawing it, try to imagine where the holes will be to make sure that you don't accidentally cut off inner portions of your design.  For example, on the treble clef (left cake), there is a little break on the top portion so that the inner circle wouldn't get cut off later.  Also, the straight line going down the right side wouldn't normally have little breaks either.

2.  Use the Xacto knife and carefully cut the folder.  Once that's done, you can start stenciling on the cake!

These cakes were decorated May 2010.

Polar Bear Cupcakes

These Polar Bears are from a great book called What's New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.  I highly recommend this book.  I believe you can get it on amazon.com for under $10.  The price on the back of the book is $16.95, and it would still be worth it if you had to pay the extra $7.  Anyway, there are other animals like whales, ducks (which are pictured on the front of the book), squirrels, moose(s?), flamingos, etc, and a whole section of April Fools cupcakes, and then of course, different holiday cupcakes that look pretty fun.  These cupcakes are the first ones I've done so I can't tell you if the others are as easy as these.  From the looks of them, most of them are pretty easy to do; you don't need a Masters in Culinary Arts to make these nor buy off-the-wall expensive ingredients.  Also, you might want to look at the prequel to this book, Hello, Cupcake!, which I don't have yet, but I'm sure it will have good cupcake ideas too.  Better yet, if you buy both of these on amazon, then you're almost to the free Super Saver Shipping amount.  Anyway, the polar bears were fun, easy, looked pretty cute, and even tasted good too!

These cupcakes were decorated February 2011.

Rainbow Cookies

Sugar cookies cut in half, buttercream frosting

Techniques-star, zigzag

These are fun little cookies that are great for your rainbow-loving girl. 

These cookies were created October 2009.

Clown Cupcake

cupcake, buttercream frosting, clown head (Wilton)

Techniques Used-dot, figure piping: clown (Wilton)

Focus-figure piping a clown

This is another easy cupcake that is fun to make.  You can even change the direction of the arms or legs to give each clown more personality.  I got the heads at Michaels (set of 6), but you can probably get them at any craft store or cake decorating store.  The ruffle is part of the head piece. 

This cupcake was decorated March 2009.

Piano Cake

9"x13" vanilla cake, buttercream frosting, mini Kit Kat Bars

Techniques Used-shell border, star border, bead border

Focus-piano keys, music note border

This was a fun cake to do.  It was frustrating at first, because I had some technical difficulties, but otherwise, it went well.  What happened was that I planned on using white Kit Kat bars for the white piano keys, but I couldn't find them anywhere!!!  I went to all the stores I could think of, and no one sold them.  What's funny is that now I can find them everywhere, but at the time I was apparently looking in the wrong places (like Walmart?).  Anyway, I ended up using some of the remaining cake and frosting it white, and then making indentions with a toothpick.  I'm sort of glad I couldn't find the white Kit Kat bars, because I think the white keys look better this way.

Piano Keys Materials-cake, toothpick, mini Kit Kat bars or similar candy

Piano Keys Directions-Before you start, look at real piano keys or pictures of piano keys.  Notice that the black keys and white keys are different widths.  Also, most of the black keys aren't centered over two white keys.

Decide how many keys you want; I will use the numbers from the cake above, so it will be less confusing, so there are 14 white keys.  The next step will be to lightly imprint the "edges" of the keys.  You will take a toothpick and evenly divide the white portion into 14 keys.  I suggest that you make a small mark on the corner first for each key, and then when you've determined that all keys are the same size, then make a line on the top and front side. 

Get the Kit Kat bars and break the pairs apart.  Cut all of the Kit Kat bars about 1/4-1/3 from the end.  Choose a slightly longer size than what looks good to you, for you will stick some of the Kit Kat bar into the side of the cake.  Also, notice where the words "Kit Kat" are on each bar, and try not to have them on the bigger piece, or at least have it on the end that will go into the cake.  Place the Kit Kat bars by pressing them slightly into the side of the cake.

Music Note Border Materials-same sized star and round tip (I used tips 21 and 12), two colors of frosting, small round tip (I used tip 5)

Music Note Border Directions-Use two different colors of frosting so that the music notes stand out more.  I will use the tip numbers above, again, to make it less confusing.  The white frosting will be for tip 21, the blue frosting for tips 12 and 5.  You will do a tip 21 shell border, but use tip 12 for every third shell.  Once completed, make vertical lines (about 1 1/2" tall) with tip 5, starting from the right side of each round shell.  Then pipe the flag of the music note on each.  Note (no pun intended):  If you don't pipe the flag, that's a quarter note.  Another note (again, no pun intended): instead of using a flag, you can make two-eighth notes by omitting the flag and piping a horizontal line to connect two notes, or two horizontal lines to make sixteenth notes.  Have fun with it! 

This cake was decorated November 2009.