Cupcake Bouquet

Today is My Mother-in-law's birthday and I felt like it was the perfect time to try to create this fun little bouquet...

I guess it's Murphy's Law that my handy dandy professional dessert decorator broke in the process and I did not have icing bags. *Note to self, ALWAYS have icing bags in the house in the future.  If I had made time to get the icing bags and use the correct decorating tips, I'm sure this bouquet could have been a million times more beautiful.  On the upside, I was able to use a flower tip and less fancy frosting decorator to create this bouquet.  It took just a few minutes and I think I've found a new favorite and incredibly easy way to say celebrate many occasions in the future! 

I love Pinterest!  With that said, I read a few posts about making certain my cake was firm enough to hold securely to the toothpicks.  After browsing about a million recipes, I found this one bowl, super simple, gem of a recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup low fat milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients first, add in wet one at a time, blend until creamy, drop into cupcake liners and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden and toothpick comes out clean!  How simple is that?

I personally think yellow cake is completely boring, but this one may truly be my new love!  It is incredibly delicious!

 

I glitter painted this little pot to give it some extra pizazz, then tucked the foam ball in nice and secure.


This incredibly simple Buttercream frosting is easy to make and dries beautifully:

1/2 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons milk

Cream the butter in your stand mixer, add about 1/2 the powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk.  As soon as you have all the ingredients mixed in, scrape down sides and bottom then add final amounts of sugar and milk as well as any food coloring.  It's ready to go!

I placed the toothpicks in two's (pointing upward to keep the cupcakes from falling off and secure) throughout the Styrofoam ball.

 

Wanting to hide the Styrofoam, I cut squares of tissue and secured them to the toothpicks before adding back the decorated cakes.

Some of the websites I found encouraged decorating the cakes while they were secured to the toothpicks, others encouraged decorating before.  I tried the first without success and decided it would be easier to decorate, then add the cupcakes.  The downside of this was that I did it before my frosting was hardened and I made a few smudges.

I couldn't believe how easy this cutie came together!  After adding the decorated cakes, I tucked in a few more tissue rectangles into the holes and popped the entire thing in the refrigerator to cool.  This little project took a little over an hour to create. I think it's quite possibly cuter than any cake I could have made in that time!

Just for the record, the cakes aren't the only thing feeling cool...

Have a beautiful day, friends!