Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Lovely Little Ladybugs!



Omigosh I am so excited I was actually able to make these!  I've been wondering for some time now why people bother to use fondant and gumpaste for cakes, cupcakes and cookies.  I mean, they look beautiful, but you can't eat them despite the fact they are edible.  You can eat fondant, but it's not tasty.  So what's the point?  Then I made the Minnie Mouse Cupcakes and it was so much fun...I started to get it.  It's about channeling your inner elementary art student days and being creative.  You can make anything you want!

Now, I've never been terribly good at art - drawing, sculpture, visualizing - so I'm going to start with only the most elementary designs.  Like a ladybug.  How can you screw that up?

I began by making a batch of strawberry cupcakes.  I used a box mix and added a package of vanilla pudding and used 1 cup of milk instead of water to make it a bit tastier.  While they cooled I began shaping the ladybugs using gumpaste.


Gumpaste becomes hard pretty quickly and is very sticky, so you can use Vegetable Oil to help keep your hands free of gummy residue and to keep the gumpaste pliable.  Rub some on your hands and coat your work surface before handling the gumpaste. I used it quite generously with no negative effects of the design.  Using smallish amounts of gumpaste at a time, work some coloring into the paste using your hands.  I didn't use gloves and the dye made a mess of red all over my hands, but it washed right off.  I used Wilton No-Taste Red gel dye.  I could not photograph this process since I didn't want my camera to be covered in red!

Next, I made odd oval shapes in different sizes.  I worked some black dye into a separate ball of gumpaste and then used it to make the heads and dots, as in the photo above.

Then it was time to mix up some buttercream.


Buttercream Icing

2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk


In large mixing bowl, beat butter on high speed until fluffy.  Add three cups of sugar, one at a time until combined.  Add vanilla extract and milk, along with last cup of sugar.   Beat until smooth.  Add more milk, one teaspoon at a time, to reach desired consistency of frosting.


I removed about 3/4 of the icing from the bowl and mixed green dye into it to make the "grass".  I used a Wilton Tip #233.  To make the grass, squeeze the icing in the piping bag gently and lift up as you stop squeezing.  After covering the cupcake completely with grass, place the ladybugs randomly on top.


I divided the remaining 1/4 of icing and split it into 2 bowls.  One I dyed yellow, the other light purple.  I used a Wilton Tip #2D. Before piping the flower on top of the cupcake, I made a few practice flowers to get a sense of the pressure to use and just how it worked in general.


Once I felt I had the hang of it,  I piped some flowers randomly on the cupcake and used tweezers to add one white dragee in the center of each flower.


And then the last step - adding a white picket fence around my little ladybug garden.  I picked up some cupcake wrappers I found at my local Michaels Craft Store:


And Voila!!


I honestly think it's so amazing you can go from a simple, plain cupcake to something so special and cute!


I'm pretty excited to try some new sculpture and other avenues of decoration I have resisted.  I'm not sure what I'm going to try next, but the sky is the limit!!!  Happy Spring.  :)







32 comments:

  1. These are just lovely. You make it look so easy, that maybe even preschool art skilled me can do it.

    Regina
    www.thecrazynutsmom.com

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    1. Honestly, Regina, and I mean this sincerely, if I can do this YOU can do this!!! I was very intimidated using gumpaste, but it's not difficult AT ALL! Good luck!

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  2. Debbie
    Congratulations on your beautiful cupcakes! They are lovely. It is so much fun to have a project turn out like the image you see in your mind's eye.

    Can't wait to see what other baking elements you experiment with.

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    1. Aww, thank you SO MUCH, Robyn!! Happy Spring!!

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  3. These are so great! you'll be happy to hear that I have a fondant recipe that you will actually enjoy eating :) it's on my blog under recipes - kids in the kitchen tab up top - thank you so much for linking up with us - I'm inspired to make some of these upon my return trip home! ;)

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    1. A tasty fondant?! Yes, I will have to give that a look!! Thanks so much for letting me know about your recipe...I'll definitely let you know how it turns out!! Have fun making the little ladybugs!!

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  4. Wow!!! What a talent you have! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful ladybug cupcakes with Kelli and I at Kids in the Kitchen link up. I am not sure if I could make them, but I sure do admire them! I know my kids would love to eat them! Hope to see you again next week and your amazingly talented recipes! Blessings!

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    1. Carrie, you definitely can do it!! I'm not a skilled artist by any means. The design is actually VERY Simple, apart from making your hands red and black while working the dye into the gumpaste. Definitely give them a try!!

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  5. This is too cute! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday :)

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    1. Thank you, Lisa!! Thanks for hosting each week. :)

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  6. These are ridiculously cute! I have wanted to do ladybug cupcakes for a while - do you mind if I pin this post?

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    1. Definitely try them! Much, much easier than I ever thought!! Please do pin post this...I appreciate that you would like to. :) Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon!

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  7. These came out so cute! I use a similar buttercream icing, but I use almond extract rather than vanilla. It adds a little something different to the icing. Thanks so much for sharing at Whimsy Wednesdays.

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    1. It's my pleasure to share them - thanks for hosting each week! I'm totally going to try the almond extract, sounds delicious! Thanks for the tip. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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    1. Thank you! I have seen this design around various places, so I can't take creativity credit, but they were a lot of fun to put together! Thanks for your visit - hope to see you again soon!

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  9. These are adorable and too cute to eat!! Thank you for linking to Foodie Friday! I'm featuring this recipe this weekend! www.notyourordinaryrecipes.com!

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    1. Thank you SO SO much for the feature!! What a great start to my week!! I'm so glad you like the ladybugs. :) Have a wonderful week!

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  10. Looks like delicious, and easy to make.

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    1. They are so easy and so much fun to make!! I need to hone my skills some more, but, you are right, at least they are delicious no matter how they look! Thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again on Life Is Sweets!!

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  11. These are adorable! Thanks so much for linking them up to Things That Make You Say Mmmmmm! this week.

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    1. My pleasure, Karyn! Thank YOU for hosting!! Have a great week. :)

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  12. My pleasure, Karyn! Thanks for hosting your great party each week. :) See you on Monday!!

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  13. These are really cute! Thanks for sharing at Sweet & Simple Sunday! By the way, I've found that mixing 1/2 gum paste and 1/2 fondant works great too! You still get the same effect, but the fondant seems to cut down some of the stickiness of the gum paste. Just a little hint!

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    1. Ah, mixing fondant and gumpaste...thanks for the great hint! The bits stuck to my hands really did drive me crazy! Thanks for hosting your great party. Have a great upcoming weekend. :)

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  14. They are so cute, I know the kids just love them. So creative.

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    1. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I've seen it around before! I think kids would really have fun putting them together. I did, lol!! Enjoy the upcoming weekend!

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  15. This looks so yummy! I would love for you to link up at my Linky Party via: http://ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com/2012/03/show-me-what-you-got-linky-party-7.html

    Mrs. Delightful
    www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much for the invitation...I just linked these up! Thanks, also for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!! :)

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  16. These are so cute!! Thank you so much for linking up this week at Fantabulous Friday @ Little Becky Homecky!

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    1. Thanks, Katie, for hosting each week! Enjoy the upcoming weekend. :)

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  17. Hi Debbie, I recently read your post about not finding a tasty fondant, but I use home made marshmallow fondant and I find that it is actually tastier than store bought fondant! I found it at http://wwww.megzcakes.ca :) Thanks for sharing your lovely cupcakes!

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