What? Halloween is only 9 Months Away! ;)

I've been on a bit of a hiatus.  I hadn't intended to be away for so long, but life happens, right?!  I had this Halloween Cupcake-scape in cue since last October and initially thought it was too late to post it.  But then again, why not?!

The idea came from my an order my neighbor placed for a birthday cake for her son, who was turning 6.  He requested a Halloween theme to celebrate, and we arrived at this idea instead of a traditional cake. 

Begin by baking cupcakes in the flavor of your choice.  While they are cooling, start on the chocolate trees.  You can find directions for making them here.  They cannot be easier to put together!

While the chocolate trees harden, arrange the cooled cupcakes in a random pattern close enough that they are touching.  Dye a batch (or can) of icing green to create a "grass" color.  If you would like to use homemade icing, you can find my favorite recipe here.  Using a Wilton Grass Tip #233, start piping the grass.

Now comes the fun part - using your imagination to create any type of Halloween scene you'd like!  I decided not to be too ghoulish, as this was to be for 6 year-old children.  I made some white chocolate ghosts using a ghost lollipop chocolate mold.  These, too, were super easy.  Melt white chocolate, pour them into the molds (first, I melted a bit of dark chocolate, just a small amount, and used a small brush to paint in the eyes and mouth), add the lollipop stick and place in the refrigerator to harden.  When you pop the ghosts out, you can use the lollipop stick to anchor the ghost into a cupcake.  

I also added a chocolate tree, sprinkled a few autumn leaves quins underneath the tree, placed a few sugar pumpkins around, and randomly threw on some candy skulls.  

Lastly, I added a "BOO" banner to tie it all together.

This was a really fun cup-"cake" to put together.  The birthday boy was happy and the kids loved it.  Mission accomplished!

I'm looking forward to blogging about desserts and such in the coming weeks.  I haven't been blogging, but I sure have been baking the last few months.  I'm excited to start experimenting and trying new things and hope you'll find some things of interest, too!

Happy New Year to you all, and thanks for continuing to follow Life Is Sweets!!

Autumn Leaves Are Gently Falling on Chocolate Trees!

That is, they are gently falling from chocolate trees onto plush buttercream grass!  Oh, how I love October - the changing of leaves, crisp days and nights, hats and scarves, Halloween, my birthday and, of course, new baking possibilities!  Apples, pumpkins, and cider...oh, my!  So many recipes, so little time.  Where should we start?  I say with the bright colored leaves of fall!

Awhile ago, as I always seem to be, I was browsing through fall baking ideas.  I fell in LOVE with  the chocolate trees I found here.  All you need is chocolate and Autumn Leaves Quins...which, as it turns out, are not so easy to find.  Eventually, I ordered them from Amazon.com.  They took a bit of time to arrive, but when they did I was hardly able to contain myself.  I baked up some cupcakes immediately, melted the chocolate, placed waxed paper on the counter (any flat surface will do), and started on the trees.

Once you have melted the chocolate, pour it into a plastic pastry bag or Ziploc baggie.  Cut the end (or corner of the bag if using a Ziploc) off a little at a time.  You can always make a bigger whole, but cannot make it smaller!  I learned this the hard way when I cut too much off the end and had a flood of chocolate flowing everywhere.  Next time, I will use a funnel to pour the chocolate into a squeeze bottle for more control over the flow.  I'm still orienting myself with pastry bags in general!

Make the rough shape of a tree and a few branches on the waxed paper:

Next, take a toothpick to make a thicker trunk and whimsical branches.  Be sure to use enough chocolate to make a sturdy tree trunk because you want the tree to be strong enough to stand on it's own once placed in the cupcake.  Also, do not worry about smoothing the chocolate perfectly.  The swirls and texture will make the hardened chocolate look more tree-like.

While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle some of the Autumn Leaves quins on the branches.  Work on one tree at a time.  The leaves will stay on the branches nicely once the chocolate hardens.

While the trees are setting, approximately 10-15 minutes, begin frosting the cupcakes.  I mixed up some buttercream icing, but you can use canned frosting if you prefer.  Dye the icing green using gel or liquid dye.  You can spread the icing on the cupcake as your normally would, but I bought an icing tip shaped to create the effect of grass (as well as many other things).

Once the cupcakes are frosted, carefully peel a chocolate tree off of the wax paper.  Start with the trunk and work your way up.  Go slowly, especially with the branches, and there should be no breakage.  Look at how lovely the leaves look!

After you've lifted the tree, push it into the center of an iced cupcake.  Repeat this process until you have created an entire forest.  The result is magical!  Wouldn't these be cute at place settings on a Holiday table?

HAPPY FALL  EVERYONE!!!