Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Gorgeous and Easy Sunflower Cupcakes

My amazing Aunt Dorthea showed me how to make these sunflowers when I was almost twelve years old. We were living at my Grandma's house at the time and Dorthea lived in the apartment adjoining the house. I'd slip back to her apartment now and then to watch her decorate wedding cakes. She was making daisies. But when she showed me this flower technique I was so excited. Not only was it simple, it was accessible for even an eleven year old! It was like she had given me permission to be a baker. Yes, after 25 years of baking using this technique for flowers, I am now willing to share the secret. Are you ready? I think it may surprise you. Start with a normally frosted cupcake... though I do slightly mound the frosting in the middle.

Blackberry gummy candy for the center...





Large marshmallow. Did you read that correctly? Yup. Marshmallow. With sharp scissors, cut the end like this. Keep your scissor blades clean between cuts by wiping them off with a lightly damp clean wash cloth.

With a clean new paintbrush, lightly paint the petal with food coloring of your choice. Place petals on the outside edge of the cupcake.

Put a second layer of petal on top of the first layer and slightly closer to the center. Put your blackberry candy in there too.
For the smallest petals, I use mini marshmallows, cut in a similar way.


When flower is finished, lightly dust with powdered sugar to keep it from sticking to everything it touches, and to add a little more drama. As if this cupcake isn't dramatic enough.


There you go. Make some sunflower cupcakes!

2 comments:

Bergamot said...

the cup cakes look really pretty..i do not like marshmellow but as a decoration for sunflower cupcakes they just fantastic

mlebagley said...

I didn't realize that your blackberries were candy! Yumm! These are beautiful! I've made flower cupcakes using mini marshmallows before, but never a combination of the large and small ones. Very cool!