Hello, Cupcake

A couple of my visiting teaching people just graduated high school (they turned 18 early and joined RS early), so I wanted to make them a treat. I found these ideas online . . . I LOVE the internet. Check out these cupcakes!

I actually changed a few of the ingredients. I used a Ghiradelli caramel square for the top of the cap rather than a chocolate-covered graham cracker . . . I thought the cracker would be too heavy. The cap was made by "gluing" the square and a mini Reese's cup with melting chocolate, then gluing a Fruit Roll-up tassel to a mini blue M & M. (If you want to make these, I suggest using a toothpick as a dowel . . . the cap is pretty heavy, and won't stay put!) The diploma, in the original recipe was made with fondant . . . uh, I've never worked with that stuff, so I found these new Golden Oreo straws that I covered in white chocolate . . . and the ribbon is again, Fruit Roll-ups. Everything went very well, except the frosting. I suspected I made it too thin, not to mention it was a super humid, rainy day. The frosting totally fell, so that's why it looks so pathetic in the picture! Anyway, I thought they came out really cute.

Here's a birthday card I made last month. I was inspired by some of Melanie's cupcake pics on her blog, especially the first one. I came up with a way to make a 3D cupcake card. I wanted to imitate piped frosting. So, okay, I do need to perfect this technique . . . it's not the cleanest card I've done, but I think it's a good idea nevertheless.

And finally, if you're as cupcake crazy as me, you've got to check out this book, Hello, Cupcake. It has the cutest designs for easy cupcakes and the best part is the ingredients are all easily found in a supermarket. Who keeps dragees in their cupboard, anyway?