Thursday, March 29, 2012

Candy Cupcakes Part III - Mini M&M Bite Sized Rainbow Fish Cupcakes


Oh how I *so*  love these little guys!!  Once again, I've been seeing them on blogs and Pinterest, so I don't even know who to give credit to for this idea...but whoever you are, well done!!  How great are these?  I even had a lot of fun putting them together.  And, it's so easy!  This would be a great activity to do with children.  Here is the first time I came across these cupcake fish.  I made a few slight changes - I did not place the M&M's on an angle and I added M&M tails.

To begin, you need either store bought or or make your own mini cupcakes.  You can find mini-muffin liners at the grocery store and they can be placed in a mini muffin pan.  Fill the liners about 2/3 full.  It's much easier to frost them if the cake is even with or a little above the top of the liner.  If they don't quite reach the top, you can put them aside to use for the "water".

To assemble these you need a bag of M&M Minis, White Icing (either a can or homemade.  I always recommend homemade.  It really makes a difference!), Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue food dye, and either 2 Ziploc baggies or  piping bags.


Split the white icing into five parts.  Dye one yellow, one orange, one green, one blue, and leave the last white.  Set the white aside.  Next, decide how many cupcake minis you would like to be fish and how many to be "water".  Set the water cupcakes aside.  Start icing the designated fish ones in each of the four dyed colors.  Once you have completed this step, it's time to add the M&Ms...the best part!


The photo below shows the first steps of placing the M&M's.  Coordinate the M&M colors with the cupcake icing color.  If you are anal like me, you will be careful to make sure the"M" logo is facing down.  Add two red M&Ms for the fish lips:


The next part of the transformation is to add the eye.  Fill a Ziploc bag or piping bag with 1/2 of the white icing.  Snip a very small bit off the corner of the baggie or  bottom of the piping bag.  I used a Wilton Tip #3, but realized I didn't need to after all.  Squeeze a dot of white icing where you would like the fish eye to be located:



Now take a brown M&M and gently push it into the center of the white icing dot:


Adorable!  Right?!  Next I made the "water" cupcakes to place randomly around the fish, as if they were swimming around.  In the second Ziploc bag or piping bag, I placed the white and blue icing together.  I squished the two colors a bit, careful not to fully blend them:


Snip the end of the bag again, a little wider this time to make more of a wave pattern, and ice the cupcakes.  I used a piping tip for a little more texture, but if you don't have one to use, it'll be just fine.  I used an up and down motion sort of like this ^^^^ in two or three layers on top of eachother until the cupcake was covered.    Then, I arranged the cupcakes and water on a Fish Platter:


So cute!  Yet, something was bothering me.  I realized it was missing tails!  The photo I first saw didn't have tails, and lots of others didn't, either.  A few I saw used flattened Starburst Candies shaped like a tail and placed on the end, but I didn't have any.  Instead, I decided to use some of the leftover white icing I'd used for the eyes as "glue" to add some M&Ms for tails.  This worked fantastic!  


Now I was happy!  The "gluing" of the tails worked because the M&M Minis are so light.  I'm not convinced this method would have worked with regular size M&M's.  I believe their weight would have made them fall off the edge.  However, this was a success and I just love these little guys!!  I like anything with fun, bright colors, really, though.


Well, tomorrow is my last day of Candy Cupcakes.  Stay tuned for M&M Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes!


41 comments:

  1. I LOVE these!!! Very cute and clever! The kids will love 'em too! Come link up to Foodie Friday

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    1. Thank you very much! I can't wait to make them with my nieces!! I linked them up to your party...thanks for stopping by with an invite! :)

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  2. I'm loving this series of yours. These are SO cute. Love them!

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    1. Thanks, Dorothy! I'm glad you are enjoying the candy cupcakes. :) Having a theme sure made it easier to decide what to make for the week. This week I'm so busy with Easter prep I haven't had time to make anything. Hope you have a great holiday!!

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    1. Thanks, Marigene! Thanks for visiting Life Is Sweets - hope to see you again soon. :)

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    1. Thanks, Michelle! I'm glad you like them. :) Hope you'll visit Life is Sweets again soon!

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  5. I LOVE these!!! And great "fix" on the tails- they are perfect!

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    1. Thank you very much! Unfortunately, some of the tails broke in transit. I'll have to come up with something a little more secure. But I love these little guys!! Thanks for visiting - hope to see you again soon!

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  6. How fun are these?! I LOVE them!! I need an excuse to make them:D

    Maysem @ http://odetoinspiration.wordpress.com

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    1. Thank you, Maysem! I took these to my hair salon and everyone loved them. I keep trying to come up with places to drop off the things I bake. My husband doesn't like sweets, so it's up to me to either eat them or get rid of them, lol. Thanks for stopping by, visit again soon!!

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  7. Hi Debbie,
    This is an OUTSTANDING presentation of your Cupcakes. These are the cutest little cupcakes I have seen in a long time. They will be perfect for the lake this summer. Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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    1. Thank you so much, Miz Helen!! I just love these cuties, too! Serving them at the lake sounds divine....I'm glad you enjoyed them. :) Also, I'm so glad you were spared tornados in your area. What a frightening to go through. I'm happy you and your family are safe!

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  8. Wow. Adorable. These are the cutest cupcakes ever! I'm stopping by from The Chic and Crafty Party @ The Frugal Girls.

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    1. Thank you so much! This is one of those "wish i had thought of it myself" ideas!! They were so much fun to make, too! Thanks for visiting Life Is Sweets, please stop back again soon!!

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  9. These are too cute!

    makingitfeellikehome.blogspot.com

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  10. Omgosh, I am addicted to cute food. LOL! These are adorable. Now the challenge to figure out why I need to make adorable cute little fishy cupcakes so my hubbie doesn't look at me like I am weird.
    stopping by from Inspired by Family Mag.
    Mari

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  11. Very cute! Thanks so much for sharing! Visiting from Chef-n-Training!

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  12. What adorable fish cupcakes. They are perfect for so many different party themes. I would love it if you would post them on my first linky party, Dare to Share.

    Pam
    http://pamspartyplanning.blogspot.com/2012/03/dare-to-share-linky-party.html

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  13. These are so adorable! Thanks for sharing at Must Try Monday!

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  14. OMGGG!!!! This seriously looks amazing!!! Loving this recipe, thanks so much for sharing! I'm definitely gonna try it out and let you know how it goes :)

    I'm following you now! Love your blog! And I'm an aspiring foodie blogger so hope you come by and visit :)

    www.annaracaza.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi again!!! Just wanted to let you know that I did attempt these cupcakes and here's how they turned out :)

      http://annaracaza.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/rainbow-m-fish-cupcakes.html

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  15. Thanks for linking up at A Little Nosh. You're featured this week! http://www.alittlenosh.net/2012/04/tastetastic-thursday-45.html

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  16. These are so cute! Thanks for linking up with Strut Your Stuff Saturday. We're hoping you will join us again next week with more great ideas! - The Sisters

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  17. I made these for a birthday party last year - actually, the kids did most of it! They loved being able to place the smarties on. So fun!

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  18. Congratulations!
    Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Hope you have a fabulous week end and enjoy you new Red Plate.
    Come Back Soon,
    Miz Helen

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  19. These are just too too cute!! How fun and colorful. :0)

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  20. Amazingly cute! I've pinned this post and I'll be making these for sure!

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  21. these are adorable & I'm so glad you linked them to Kids in the Kitchen - I have a little guy who is crazy about fish! He'll love these for his birthday :)

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  22. You are so creative and talented! You deserve every award and recognition, for sure! Thank you so much for sharing them with us at Kids in the Kitchen. My children sure would love to eat them, whereas I love admiring them! Hope to see you again next Tuesday! :)

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  23. Okay, these have to be the cutest cupcakes of all time. They turned out so great! I love them!

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  24. You are right...the tails were exactly what they needed!!! They are so super cute and fun!

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  25. LOVE these! Thanks so much for sharing at Scrumptious Sunday! This week's party is open, if you haven't already linked up!

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  26. Oh my gosh these are so stinking cute! I love the "water" too! Stopping by from BruCrew!

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  27. That is a smart idea yo make the fish cupcakes. They are lovely soo much! :)

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  28. Hi Debbie! I just wanted to let you know I included your lil' cupcakes in a post on my blog! Here's a link:

    http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2012/05/under-the-sea-cupcake-decorating-ideas.html

    Thanks for the fantastic inspiration - as always!! : )

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    1. Heather!! I'm so honored....THANK YOU!! I've said this before, but it's so thrilling to be featured on your amazing blog, since I'm such a fan of yours!! Thank you, also, for letting me know about the feature...I've been sick and out of the blog loop. What a welcome back!! :)

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  29. Debbie, love these cupcakes!! Great post and they gave me inspiration as I made them. Here's my version for my son's fish birthday party.

    http://laurellanecrafts.com/2013/05/20/colorful-fish-cupcakes/

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  30. This is AMAZING. I actually feel that this is a project that I can re-create myself. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing these step by steps.

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