Cupcake Adventures

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Yes, in case you're wondering, I do plan to include cupcakes in my WIP. :-) Something useful has to come out of all this!

This month my book club is meeting to discuss a novel called "Little Bee." (It's a good read, BTW). So I decided to create "bee" cupcakes for them.

Now--please keep in mind that I am a rank beginner, my piping is loopy, and my icing isn't always of the best consistency. If it's too thin, piped ridges don't stand up. If it's too thick, piped lines have a tendency to break. So I'm always searching for the perfect combination.

Anyway, I took photos so these directions will make sense.

First I baked chocolate cupcakes with a Rollo in the center of each. We'll get fancy and call these chocolate caramel cupcakes.

When they had cooled, I made buttercream icing and divided it into four colors: a wee bit of yellow and black; generous amounts of blue and pink. I then stood my piping bag up in a vase so I could fill it with icing.

Using a flower tip (#125, if you want to know), I created flowers on the top of each cupcake. My icing was a little thin--a little more powdered sugar would have helped them to have more definite "petals."

Next, I piped a little dot of black onto each cupcake in order to "glue" a black jelly bean, the body of my bee. I also piped a little black head and a wee little black tail. Two sliced almonds created the wings.

Then I piped three yellow lines across the back of each bee. Ta da! A hive of bees has invaded my flowery cupcakes!

I only hope they'll hold up until my book club ladies arrive. :-/

Enjoy!

~~Angie