Thursday 17 December 2009

Christmas Cupcakes 2

photo courtesy of Cherrapeno.blogspot.com


As promised, I am going to let you in on a few more of my Christmas cupcake ideas! It's just a week or so before the big day and cupcakes are so easy to make and so much fun to decorate! So if you still need to think up a dessert look no further, these treats are sure to please.

1. Melted Snowman Cupcakes
These are probably my favorites because they're just so adorable and silly. You can use whatever base you want, vanilla, chocolate, red velvet...you name it! You could also be more festive and make gingerbread cupcakes, roasted chestnut cupcakes, or you could keep it simple. Here's what you'll need:

Ready to roll fondant
Orange food coloring
A Tube of black icing
A red M&M for the hat
2 cups of powdered sugar

Roll some fondant into a ball for the head of the snowman, and a smaller ball to top off the hat. Color some fondant orange and shape it into a small carrot which will be used for the nose. Now mix the powdered sugar with some cold water. There's no exact amount, but add it slowly. You will want this icing mixture to be slightly runny, but don't overdo it or you'll have messy snowman cupcakes instead of melted snowman cupcakes!
Now spoon some of the icing over the cupcakes. Place the snowman head on the cupcake, and place the carrot on the snowman's head for his nose. Use the black icing to dot on buttons and eyes. Using some icing as adhesive, place the M&M on top of the head for the hat, and place the small ball of fondant on top of that. Viola! Melted snowman cupcakes.

2. Christmas Wreath Cupcakes
If you're going for ease, this is the one you want. These cupcakes are so easy to decorate, yet so festive. All you will need is:

Any cupcake base
white frosting (vanilla, cream cheese, boiled, etc)
Red and green M&Ms or other round and small candies

Take your cupcake and frost it. Make sure the frosting is flat, no fancy swirls needed for these cupcakes. Take your green M&Ms and place them flat in a circle (you choose the size) on your frosting. Leave one M&M out, so it's an almost circle. Now take two red M&Ms. You are going to place them on the cupcakes so that they are on there sides. Have them both angled inwards, like a triangle. And....that's it! These are the easiest Christmas cupcakes to make and you could really get creative with the red and green candies, making all sorts of designs. If you get white candies you could make snow flakes, Christmas lights, or whatever you want.

That's all for now. Soon I'll post some new cupcake recipes and don't forget about Valentines Day! It's right around the corner and I'll have loads of cupcake decorating ideas prepared.

Happy Holidays and enjoy your cupcakes.