Cupcake Challenge: Candy Flower Cupcakes

Well it is week #4 over at Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Challenge. This is the last week we will actually present a cupcake. Our challenge this time was to decorate the cupcakes with candy while maintaining the summertime theme.

I chose to make flowers because really, who doesn't love to see gorgeous flowers in the summer? Around here we have a wonderful botanical garden with a great kids area and some of my friends are there a few times each week!

Now I am painfully aware that my flowers are far from gorgeous. But in all fairness, it's a little hard to pipe Candy Melts when you can't even see straight due to a bout of vertigo!

To make them I printed out three different pictures of flowers. I taped them to a cutting board and placed a piece of wax paper over it. I then melted the Candy Melts and put them in a piping bag. Just follow your template and fill them in with whatever colors you choose. I kept the center open so that I could fill them with Sixlets after they were on the cupcakes. Place the flowers (still on the cutting board) in the fridge until they are firm. Gently remove them from the wax paper and place on top of the cupcakes.

You are not limited to flowers with this technique! You can do any design you can think of! Sometime soon I plan to make a monogram cupcake with a chocolate letter made this way.

Now the actual cupcake was a "Birthday Cake" cupcake. It was just your basic yellow cake topped with vanilla buttercream. There is actually a reason why I chose this flavor. Did you know that more people have an August birthday than any other month? The recipe I used is listed below, but feel free to use your favorite recipe or even a mix.

Be sure to check out what's happening in Cupcake Challenge and keep your fingers crossed that I get that FLIP!

Birthday Cake Cupcakes
(Makes approx 24 regular cupcakes)

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and remaining cup of butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the dry mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk. Mix well after each addition.

Spoon ¼ cup of batter into each liner. Bake for 13-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 3 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.


Vanilla Buttercream

½ cup vegetable shortening
½ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar
½ cup whole milk

In a large bowl, mix together shortening, salt, vanilla, and 2 cups of the powdered sugar. Add in remaining sugar, 2 cups at a time and alternate with milk. Add more milk to thin and more sugar to thicken the icing, if needed. Beat on high speed for 10 minutes until light and fluffy.