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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Moooooo-ve Over Other Sweet Treats, The Cows Are Coming Home!


I have been having a crazy-busy spring/summer season!  Lots of travelling and hosting guests who've come to tour NYC.  I've also been filling baking orders, but have been on such a time crunch I was never able to photograph and blog about them.  This time, however, I tried something new and decided to share my experience:  Fondant.

I have been afraid of fondant and dreading the day I had to use it.  Finally, that day came and I reluctantly purchased the necessary tools to make these cow cupcakes.  I have no idea when or how I developed the idea that fondant was a messy, sticky, difficult substance to work with, but I could not have been more wrong!  It's pliable, not terribly sticky, and FUN!!

These cutie cows were favors for a birthday party.  I was shown a picture to work from, and it was clear that the only way to accomplish this design was to use (in my opinion) the F-word.  Fondant.

Unfortunately, since I have family visiting from Buffalo, I was not able to photograph each step involved in putting these together.  I wanted to be efficient and still spend time with my guests.

To that end, I bought pre-made white, black and pink fondant from Michaels.  I also used candy eyes and black decorating gel for the snouts.

To begin, I rolled out the white fondant.  I made pretty thick discs and next time will make them thinner, since there's really no reason to use so much when topping a cupcake.

These are the tools I used to cut the shapes:


I used my graduated circle cookie cutters and matched the size of the head to the size of a cupcake.  Next, I used a smaller circle for the pink "snout" area.  After cutting the snout I used my fingers to press it onto the white head, forming it into an oval shape.  I used the smallest cutter from a "Fondant Flower" set from Michaels Craft Store to make the spots on the cow.  Certainly, you can make all kinds of different spot shapes, but I decided to be a little more uniform in the design, though I randomly placed them on the head so no two cows would be the same.  :)  The smallest circle cutter was for the ears.  I cut circles and then pinched the bottom of the circle together for a 3D ear effect.


I assembled them in this order:

  • Large circle head
  • Pink circle snout pressed onto the head
  • Black spots randomly placed on the head
  • Pressed in the eyes (which didn't stick very well, so I dabbed some black gel underneath them to act as a "glue".
  • I rolled bits of white fondant to make a "snake" sort of shape for the horns.  I placed them underneath the head and pressed the "forehead" area down into the horns to make them stick.
  • I rolled pink fondant on top of black fondant and then cut circle shapes with a cutter.  I pinched them into an ear shape and used the same "sticking" method as the horns to make them stick to the head.
  • Random smiles, smirks, and nose dots on the snout using the black gel.
  • I left them on a cookie sheet overnight to dry.

The next day I made vanilla cupcakes and vanilla buttercream icing.


I placed a dollop of buttercream on top of the cupcake and then pressed a cow on top:



And that's it!  The process took about 2 hours of rolling, cutting, shaping and placement.  I had fun doing it and can't wait to try some more new designs with my new friend, fondant!!  :)


27 comments:

  1. These are the cutest things ever! Thanks so much for sharing at Whimsy Wednesdays.

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    1. Thank you, Jenny! Fondant is much less scary than I thought, lol!! Thanks for hosting each week!

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  2. I just love these!! So cute!! I'd love to have you link this up to Tasty Thursdays on The Mandatory Mooch. It's a new weekly linky party with 3 days left. Hope to see you there. Thanks, Nichi
    http://mandatorymooch.blogspot.com/2012/07/tasty-thursdays-1.html

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  3. Awesome!!!!! I'm pinning these to inspire. Thank you!

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    1. Thanks so much for pinning these! They were fun and much easier to make than I expected. :) Hope to see you back at Life Is Sweets again soon!!

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  4. Beautiful! And Yummy looking!

    Candace

    I work for http://www.cool2craft.com/ so if you're interested in being featured on our Creative Community Blog, email me at candace@cool2craft.com

    My personal blog: http://spiritclay.blogspot.com/

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  5. My daughter is describing these to my husband as I type. She wants me to make them! So cute!!! Adorable party favor. Thank you for linking to Foodtastic Friday!

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    1. Awwwww.....I'm so glad your daughter enjoyed these!! Because they were so easy to make and put together it would be a great project to do with kids. Thanks for hosting your party each week...see you there on Friday!

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  6. How stinkin' cute! I found you at Creative Thursday Link Party.

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    1. Thanks so much, Lori! I appreciate your clicking on my link. :) Thanks for stopping by Life Is Sweets...hope you'll come back again soon!

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  7. So stinkin' cute!!! Found you at Creative Thursdays Link Party,

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  8. These are soooooooooooo beautiful and cute
    Really AWESOME
    You are very talented and super creative !:)

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    1. Thank you so much, Winnie!!! I've been on a break from blogging, but now I'm back!! :) Hope you've been having a great summer season so far!!

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  9. I think these adorable cupcakes are simply MOOOOO-VELOUS! =) Cute cute for sure! You rock when it comes to creativity! Thanks so much for linking up at Weekend Potluck. {But did I miss a link back to our post?=}

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  10. Some people are just cow crazy. I can't wait to share this with my cow crazy friend.

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    1. I hope your friend enjoyed them!! :) Thanks for stopping by Life Is Sweets...visit again soon!!

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  11. My daughter would never stop mooing if I made these. Super Cute!

    throughbetsyslookingglass.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks, Betsy!! I'll check out your page, too. :) Hope you'll stop by Life Is Sweets again soon!!

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  12. Those are way too cute!! Such a cute cupcake.

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  13. these turned out really really cute!

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  14. These are adorable!!!! Thank you so much for linking up to Tasty Thursdays last week. Hope to see you again this week!!
    Nichi - The Mandatory Mooch

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  15. These are fabulous! Can I invite you to link them to my Crafilicious link party:
    http://www.sweetlivingmagazine.co.nz/craftilicious-link-party-2/
    Jane

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  16. Thanks so very much for sharing this amazing tutorial at last week's say G'Day Saturday linky party! I've just featured them at my blog and will be tweeting about them right now!

    Best wishes and hope to see you again this weekend!
    Natasha in Oz

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  17. These are amazing! Featuring these today on my Facebook page as a Fantabulous Friday Feature!!

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  18. Gorgeous. Sharing this to Facebook
    Carolyn

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