Friday, June 11, 2010

Sunflower Cupcakes

There are so many things I want to bake, I don't know where to begin.  I'm antsy to get back to cake decorating, especially since I've gotten hooked on Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss!  Plan to get my hands on some fondant again very soon. 

I did make an apple pie for my pie monster using the beautiful red pie dish that Claire got me for Mother's Day.

But then I saw Dede Wilson's cupcake book and just had to learn how to make the sunflower design.  Her entire book is fabulous.  I particularly like the way it's organized.  It begins with Master Recipes for all types of cupcakes (white, yellow, chocolate, carrot cake, pound cake, crumb cake, even brownie cupcakes), as well as various frostings, icings, glazes--even a poured fondant glaze.  Then these recipes are followed by 60 different creatively designed  cupcakes, each with a picture, recipe, tips, and advice on how to create the design. She gives step by step instructions that are easy to follow. Check it out.


The sunflower was easier than I expected. I used chocolate ganache in the center using the grass tip to get the squiggly effect where she used chocolate sprinkles, and I used tip #352--a petal tip--to make the petals.  I'm not experienced decorating with tips and buttercream at all, but I followed her simple directions and it worked!  The cupcakes are chocolate (her recipe) and the icing is Italian Meringue Buttercream (Cake Crumbs recipe).
I also played around with her Wacky Faces cupcakes--that's me, Bruce, and Chloe in the middle of course.
And since I love black and white cookies, I had to make a couple of her Black and White cupcakes--with Bruce's favorite chocolate ganache only jumbo cupcakes.


 Okay, I got that out of my system.  Now it's time to get serious about cake decorating.

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