Shamrock Mini-Cupcakes

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to make a huge batch of mini cupcakes for a fantastic charity, the St. Baldrick's Foundation (which raises money to fund research for childhood cancer. Look them up and donate! It's an amazing cause!). They were having a head shaving party/ spaghetti feed and wanted a fun dessert. 

The charity is Irish/St.Pattys day themed, so we wanted to make some fun/glittery little toppers. 

Using pre-colored fondant I rolled it out about 1/8in thick and using a small primrose cutter, I punched out a pretty green primrose. To turn it into a shamrock I took a very sharp knife and simply cut one of the petals into a rectangle for the stem. It actually worked A LOT better than I expected. 

Then I started making TONS of them...

Until I reached 450 (400 for orders, 50 just incase)...

I let them sit for a day or two to help them dry out (much easier to pick up and place on the cupcake that way). When they were ready, I mixed HOT water and corn syrup in a spray bottle and lightly misted the shamrocks with this mixture until they were slightly tacky, but not too wet. Then I used a dry paint brush, dipped in emerald green disco dust, and sprinkled it over the top - making sure to cover each one really well.

I let that dry and went over it one more time (using even less water/corn syrup this time), to ensure that each one was well covered

Then onto the next project - the cupcakes :) 

Yummy buttery vanilla mini cupcakes!!! I always add an extra tsp. or two of a Butter/Vanilla extract because I like my cucpcakes to be a little richer. 

And using a scoop is THE BEST advice I could give you! Get one for your large cupcake and minis. It will absolutely change your (baking) life!!! Haha! :) I know that sounds silly but I used to loathe cupcakes until I got my little scoops. No more batter on my hands, no more mess, or unevenly baked cupcakes! Seriously the best! 

See, it makes them all so even and nice! 

And it helps me finish in 1/2 the time! 

I baked those off (always at 325deg. no matter what the recipe says, to help them raise more evenly), and placed them on cooling racks until they just cooled down.

And then I baked 412 of them :) 

Placed them in boxes (with double strength cardboard on the bottom) and wrapped them with Saran Wrap so they didn't dry out overnight. 

The next morning I made up a fresh batch of fluffy white buttercream and used a (very) large round tip to frost them. 

And then placed the glittery shamrock toppers on top of the cupcakes before the buttercream crusted. 

They looked wonderful when they all got done!

And 5 boxes, 400 cupcakes, and they are done! :) Yay! 

Getting ready to drop them off at the event and I couldn't help but grab a little photo op with Abe Lincoln (all dressed up for the fundraiser). He approves of the cupcakes :) lol! 

And all set up! 6 tiers and even had to cover some of the table. 

They looked really spectacular on the table! The whole thing was as tall as I was and a big hit!!! :) I am so in love with this cupcake tower! The visual impact was wonderful! Better than I ever expected!!!

Doll Dress Cake #2 w/Flower Cupcakes

My project this weekend was a birthday cake for my daughters friend's party. She was turning 7 and loved Princesses and her favorite color is Purple :) so this cake was a total winner for her! She was SO SO excited to see her finished cake!
I started by practicing with my new frosting tip (#070-a handy little ruffle tip that actually looks a lot like fabric!). I went around the outside of the pan to get a feel for it, and it actually worked out pretty well.

I also made some flowers to place on top of the cupcakes that will be going with this cake. I used pink and two shades of purple to make some simple drop flowers. And finished them off with edible glitter to make them shimmer.

The flowers ended up onto of the cupcakes for the party. They turned out AMAZING!!! I loved them SO SO SO much! They were simple vanilla with whip kreme buttercream but everyone was in love with them.

Now it was time to decorate the cake. She wanted the dress to be pink and purple so we started with a pink crumb coat (purple frosting filling inside the cake) and added extra pink frosting on the front so that the front of her skirt could be a pink Corneille lace pattern. Because she loves princesses, I made sure to add a lot of glitter on the front/pink part of the skirt.

I then added layer after layer of ruffles (the pics look kind of blue but it was just a dark plum purple) until we finished the bottom of the dress, as well as adding a simple beaded border to the bottom and front of the dress to help finish off the edges. I also added one of the light purple glittery flowers(and two small white ones) to the front of the dress to help finish it off.

I was really happy with it, so of course something had to happen! Haha! Well, my cake cooling rack fell over and smashed into the side of my cake ripping off 4 layers of ruffles (which cannot be added in easily). To avoid disaster I was able to add a bunch more layers of ruffles, but it was a rather tricky fix.
Then on the way there, the extra ruffles were too heavy and the back/top ruffle started to rip and tear but that's alright...it's in the back! Hahaha! That's what I kept telling myself to stay calm and not freak out on my husband while we were driving! Lol!
Despite everything...It ended up looking wonderful! The birthday girl (and everyone else) loved it!!! :) I had a ton of fun making this cake and was so happy with how the cupcakes turned out! Everyone was happy and went back for seconds, so I would say this project was a success.