Garden Bugs Mini-Cupcakes for my sister's birthday!

I swear, all my posts will NOT be about baking. I just happens it's birthday month. That and the fact that I am channeling my creativity into cute baking outlets rather than "serious" art at the moment. Not that baking art isn't legit, but maybe I have been watching too much "Ace Of Cakes" lately. Guilty as charged.

Anyway, I wanted to bake something special for my sister's birthday but I had to factor in that whatever I create must: a) survive a six hour car ride, and b) also be appealing to three nephews under the age of ten. I assumed they would not appreciate pink girly cupcakes so I thought a cute bug theme might still appeal to them, although I was worried about their finicky taste regarding unfamiliar food. Happily they like bug cupcakes and even ate the fondant bugs :)

I made three kinds of mini cupcakes (42 in total). The first set were little caterpillars.

The cupcakes were made from a home made chocolate cupcake recipe and the little nests are chocolate frosting with chocolate sprinkles. The Caterpillars are green fondant and sprinkles.

 

















The ladybug cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes with white frosting and chocolate sprinkles. The ladybugs are red and blue fondant and chocolate shot for antennae. Why are they so much cuter in groups?


 



















These are little scarab beetles. The cupcakes re chocolate with white frosting and white non-pareils. The scarab beetles are blue fondant with pink and lavender sugar crystals and chocolate shot antennae. These were made with my mom in mind. I remember how she likes scarab beetles.







I feel that I should mention here that I don't actually like sweets and, other than tasting these as I go to make sure they are good, I don't usually eat much of what I bake. I just really like making them. And feeding them to people. It fulfills a necessary maternal instinct of mine to nurture people.

"M-Alice In Wonderland": My Birthday Party 2009

 

I chose the "M-Alice In Wonderland" theme for my birthday party this year.  It was intended as a kind of bizarre tea party gone awry.  It lived up to that goal and then some.  Here I am as "M-Alice". 

 

 

I made my own cake, of course.  The cake itself was a checkerboard cake assembled from strips of white and chocolate cake so that when cut they resemble a checkerboard.  There are kits for this kind of thing but they only come in small round 9" cake pans and I wanted to do a larger rectangular cake, so I had no choice but to do it by hand.  It was tricky, and I miscalculated the number of layers I needed, so I ended up with a shorter cake and a surplus of white cake, but it worked out in the end and was a three layer checkerboard.  To do it properly I would have needed another layer of chocolate.  But it turned out fine since my carb-fearing guests didn't finish the cake anyway, opting more for liquid refreshment ;) 

I stayed up late making all of the integral Wonderland characters,my versions of them.  It is important to me when making novelty cakes and edible art that it in indeed is completely edible, making it a greater challenge.  Therefore I don't want to use anything plastic or cardboard or foam, etc.

Most of the figure forms are built of marshmallow and draped in fondant (Alice, White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat) while the other ones (Caterpillar, Mad Hatter's hat, Red Queen and King) are built completely of fondant.  Their feature and accent pieces are made of rolled and cut Mamba candy, or candy such as licorice, sprinkles, dragees, etc.  I also made a tiny tea set out of a meringue, fondant and dragees.  I really enjoy these tiny obsessive tasks I can get lost in.  I get it from my mother ;)

I also made cookies in the shape of playing cards (for Alice's croquet match with the Red Queen) and tiny chocolate cupcake "gardens".  

I can't believe David sat patiently for so long carefully placing the little flower candies and sprinkles in a specific color scheme and arrangement.  They turned out adorable.

 As you can see I have now reached the "flammable" age (where it takes so many candles to count your years that things get a bit... flammable.  It's a valid worry when you are at a costume party covered in wigs, feathers and highly flammable materials ;)

 I always like to document the aftermath.  I couldn't bear to toss the rest of the cake, but I couldn't bear to eat it either so it sat in the fridge for awhile.  Interesting how the figures in their melted disarray bore a striking resemblance to me and my guests at the end of the night ;)

"Wake Up" by Sliimy (my birthday song 2009)

"Wake Up" by Sliimy

This reminds me so much of friends of mine in high school. I also love how the video is so DIY.

YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMHl_ck3u5E