Happy Cupcakes...

Well we are entering week two of our spring break...and I know I should feel lucky to have two weeks off, and don't get me wrong I love my two weeks off, but I do have kids who also have two weeks off plus the overwhelming job of avoiding the "Mom, I'm bored" nonsense. Now they are two great kids who really do know how to entertain themselves so...ok, ok here's the truth...

...I'm bored.

So I was reading my favorite blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (now this is not a shameful plug...she has no idea who I am)

Anyway she did these great fondant covered cupcakes and they looked like so much fun...If you don't know what fondant is it is a kind of icing that you roll out and color and very much like edible playdough for adults...and if you don't know who Pioneer Woman is she is very much like Sesame Street for adults...lots of great information and just as many laughs...I suggest you check her out...again she has no idea who I am.

So I thought I would share with you (all three of you) Isabella and my experience with fondant covered cupcakes...and by the way I felt very much like Martha Stewart today...kinda scary.

First you make the cupcakes...now PW (Pioneer Woman) has this amazing chocolate cupcake recipe...I have my own favorite recipe...

It's called Betty Crocker...now I didn't say I aspire to be Pioneer Woman...I just like her.

So you make the cupcakes according to the box direction...and you do need eggs...so don't be like me and go out and get all the stuff for these amazing cupcakes but then come home and realize that the cupcake mix needs eggs and have to go back to the store...just don't.

Well you know my whole can't have caffeine trauma...(if you don't you can read a couple of blogs back and find out the awful truth) so I picked chocolate cupcakes because I can't eat chocolate...

...I aint no dumb guy.

Chocolate, what chocolate?? I didn't lick the bowl...I don't know what you are talking about.

Then you make the buttercream frosting...it helps the fondant stick to the cupcake...

This is a 1/2 batch...I knew i only needed a little bit...and left over frosting...well let me just say

...I aint no dumb guy.

Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter
1 t. vanilla
1 pound of powdered sugar
heavy cream

1. Cream butter and vanilla
2. Mix with mixer adding powdered sugar a little at a time.
3. Add cream very slowly until desired consistency.

So you have to ice the cupcakes with a little buttercream frosting...the fondant will stick better...only ice one at a time right before you put on the fondant on (a few pictures down)...also make sure the cupcakes are completely cool first.

Here comes the fun fondant...I never have worked with it but I do watch Ace of Cakes so I felt like I was already pre qualified...
This is fondant...now PW said there are a lot of different brands of fondant in crafting stores, but I live in the little known city of Los Angeles and this was the ONLY brand I could find...I know it is what I get for living in such a small town.

Isabella and I picked out 8 different food colors so we divided the fondant into 8 pieces...

...we aint no dumb guys.

I use Wilson's gel food coloring for all my baking needs (no they don't know me either)...it doesn't water down your icing...so we took a couple of toothpicks of icing and put it on the piece of fondant.

Then you work it...twist it...squish it...

...knead it...and knead it...or is it kneed it...I know their is a 'k'...just not sure of the other letters...you will "kneed" (ha ha) a little bit of cornstarch to keep it from sticking...

then roll it...pretty thin...no I don't know how thin...geez I am channeling Martha Stewert not Albert Einstein...now that I think of it Martha would know that answer...ok I just don't know...get over it.

then you cut out a circle using a circle cutter just bigger than the circumfrance of your cupcake...see I used the word circumfrance, aren't you impressed...but I did have to think a minute if that was the right word...pretty sure it is.

Then you put the cut out piece on your hand and put the cupcake on top.
Using the inside of your hands wrap the colored fondant circle around the cupcake.

Here are all the colors we used and a cupcake of each (and some tennis balls why they are there I don't know)...Bella's display idea...it works very nicely. You will need to roll up the fondant when you are done with it and cover it, so it doesn't dry out.

We then used various cookie cutters to make our designs...the end result looks like this...

Aren't those just the darndest, cutest things you have ever seen...

Now we don't know how the cupcakes taste...cuz they were just too cute to eat. GS's one is the blue one that looks like it has a boob on it...purely by accident I can assure you...I would never do something like that...geez.

We put some in the fridge to give to her teachers when we go back to school...we'll let you know if they survive...as I have never used fondant before let along test its refridgerator life. I'll let Bella and GS tell you how they taste...Andrew hates all things cake and things that look like playdough so he'll never know...and I made chocolate cupcakes so I'll never know.

...I aint no dumb guy.

More later

- A Ro