How To Make Your Own Cupcake Bouquet

Since several people have asked how to make your own cupcake bouquet, I'm going to tell you how I did it so you can make one for your loved ones for Valentine's Day.  If you live near me and don't want to make one for yourself, I'm selling mine for $50.  It has approximately 14 cupcakes on this size.  281-804-3032.

So let's get started.  Use any size terra cotta flower pot.  I bought mine at Lowes.  I painted this one with Rustoleum Heirloom White which I had left over from my Halloween pumpkin project

Next I bought a styrofoam ball at Walmart, but you could use any floral foam.  The ribbon I found at Walmart also.

I left the plastic wrap on the ball because I didn't want foam to break off on my cupcakes.  Place the ball into the pot and insert toothpick to hold the cupcakes.

Starting at the bottom, insert cupcakes unfrosted.

Next add any green tissue paper cut into strips and insert in any open spaces.  I used this green and white paper I had.  I cut the top into little v's and just scrunched it up and inserted so that your foam doesn't show through.

Frost your cupcakes using a 1M Wilton tip starting in the center all the way around.  I used red and white frosting but it would be just as pretty only using red or pink.  

Tie your bow on pot and glue with a dab of hot glue.

Now you have a pretty Valentine Cupcake bouquet.  This would obviously be great for Mother's Day or a birthday in any color combination.  

If you try this, let me know how it turns out!  Thanks for sharing in my adventures!  Deana :)

Valentine Cupcakes

Valentine Cupcakes

I've been looking for the perfect red velvet cupcake recipe for quite a while.  I've tried so many only to be disappointed in the taste or texture.  This latest one tasted like a chocolate cupcake which is still heavenly.  I mean honestly red velvet is nothing more than a chocolate cupcake with a lot of red dye but I still want to find the best one. 

So let's have a little contest.  Whoever can come up with the "Best" red velvet cupcake recipe will win something homemade from me.  It could be cupcakes, turtles...the possibilities are endless!  Because I do make other things besides cupcakes.  :)

Submit your recipes by Feb. 1.  The winner will be announced a week later!  You can send it in a pm or just post on my Swirly Sweet Cupcakes page or my personal facebook page.  Good luck.  I'm really looking forward to this! 

Christmas Cupcakes

When I was a kid, we went to our maternal grandparents house every Christmas.  My grandmother always made this white cake with cherries and pecans called Whipped Cream Cherry cake.  It was just a white cake with cherry juice poured in, chopped cherries, pecans and homemade whipped cream frosting.
Last year, I made cupcakes with the recipe.  This year, my whipped frosting didn't turn out so I just used cherry buttercream frosting instead.  It still turned out fabulous!

Here is another picture with all the Christmas cupcakes.

All of these were made with the same white cake.  The Whipped Cream Cherry have a cherry on top.  I used peppermint buttercream frosting for the ones with the peppermint candy on top.  The angel cupcakes have almond buttercream frosting on top with silver sprinkles and a fondant angel on top.  The Christmas tree cupcakes are made with ice cream cones, piped stars, red hot candies and a fondant star on top.

The poinsettia cupcakes are done with a leaf tip.

Merry Christmas everyone!  Thanks for reading and sharing in my adventures.  Love and blessings, Deana :)

Nutella Cupcakes and Star Wars Cake

Last week I made Nutella Cupcakes for a wedding shower and some for my niece.  For the shower, I cut out stars with white fondant and then added their initials in purple to go along with her wedding colors of purple and white. Added some purple buttercream frosting.  The cupcakes are chocolate with nutella filling.

For my niece, I made chocolate cupcakes with nutella filling and nutella buttercream frosting with hazelnut chocolate candy on top. I've made these before and they are one of my favorites! 

 

My biggest challenge of the week was the Star Wars Cake.  I made fondant letters ahead of time so that I could just add them at the bottom instead of writing with icing.  But when I started to place the letters on the cake they broke and I ended up having to write it out instead.  :( Oh well, things don't always go exactly as planned with cupcakes and cakes!  I was happy with the way it turned out and I sure hope 5 year old Aaron loved it.  The Darth Vader cake is chocolate and the bottom layer is white.  Next up are Christmas cupcakes!  Remember if you are having a party or just want to serve pretty cupcakes for a Holiday gathering, I would be happy to make it special with cupcakes!  6 for $15 or 12 for $30.  281-804-3032.  Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.  Deana :)

 

 

Trip to Paris and Halloween Cupcakes

I finally convinced my husband to go to Paris a few weeks ago for our September vacation.  Once he agreed that it would be fun, he bought books and downloaded google translate on his phone to learn some French expressions.  Every day he practiced and would often speak to me with his new phrases.  He even learned how to say, "You are the love of my life" "Tu es l"amour de ma vie"  to which I responded, "Vous etes un bon mari" which means "You are a good husband."

We visited all the touristy places and took pictures of everything.  But on the 3rd day while on a very crowded Metro train back to our hotel, my camera was stolen right out of my purse.  I knew to be careful of pick pockets but this person must have been quite the professional.  After that, I held on to my purse like my life depended on it!  But all my pictures, gone!!  Not to worry, we still had one more day so we literally retraced our steps to get as many pictures as possible on our last day there running from train to train.  Would you like to know why French women are so skinny?  They walk miles and miles very fast, up and down Metro train stairs in ballerina flats, no heels even though they smoke incessantly, drink lots of wine and eat bread but no butter.  And let's not forget those fabulous pastries!  I like this French lifestyle!  You can see pictures of our trip on my regular facebook page but here are just a few in case you missed them.

As soon as I recover from the shin splints from running and walking and carpel tunnel from holding on to my possessions, I'm going to be a skinny little French girl too!  After all you can still eat cupcakes or French pastries as long as you walk all day. 

Here are some pictures of some Halloween cupcakes I made this week:  These are chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting.  Now all you have to do is go walk for miles and miles and you can have some!  Bon Appetit!  Thanks for sharing in my adventures!  Until next time....Deana :)

Frankenstein Cake

I could hardly wait to get home from my regular job to make this Frankenstein Cake I found at Bird On A Cake.  Since this is a practice cake, I used a cake mix just to see if I could actually do it, but I did make my own buttercream frosting.  Just added green gel food color and then chocolate buttercream for the hair with a Wilton basket tip #47.  It's supposed to look messy.  Good thing because it wasn't as easy as it looked, but still fun.  The eyes are white candy melts and brown M&M's.  The nose is a red peanut M&M and then twix bars on each side.  Kinda cute, isn't he? 

I have some cute ideas for my Halloween cupcakes that I'll be working on this week too.  Those will be my fabulous chocolate cupcakes from scratch. Stay tuned!

Watermelon Cupcakes for Labor Day

Normally I don't make cupcakes from a box but I found this recipe for watermelon cupcakes from Hoosierhomemade.com and thought they would be perfect for Labor Day.  If you happen to go to her website you will see that she used red and green ice cream cones to put the cake batter in.  I tried that but mine didn't turn out that great.  The batter in the cone wasn't cooked enough so instead of going back to the store to start over, I just made regular cupcakes.  Kroger didn't have watermelon jello but for those of you who live in Texas, I found it at HEB, however if you make the cones, Kroger has those.  I also added green and pink gel color because otherwise you will have a slightly pale looking cupcake. 

1 box white cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk with 1/2 tsp. vinegar mixed in buttermilk and let set for a couple of minutes
1/3 cup oil
1 small box watermelon jello
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together.  Add pink gel color to half and green gel color to other half.  Fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips to pink batter and 1/2 cup to green batter. 
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Frosting:  White, pink and green

For the frosting I used a cream cheese frosting and added mini chocolate chips for decoration.  Then for the topping I cut some watermelon with a small star cookie cutter and inserted with a toothpick. If you add the watermelon, I would recommend doing it right before serving the cupcakes and wipe off the excess liquid with a paper towel. 

Now excuse while I go eat the rest of my watermelon!  Yummy!!  The cupcakes are for a neighbor (and not the ones who always left their trash cans out by my kitchen window)  They moved!  Yay!