Bake Me I'm Yours...Cupcake Celebration (9 page)

sugarpaste: green

5mm (
³
⁄
₁₆
in) spacers

fluted circle cutter to fit the top of your cupcakes

small Christmas tree stencil (DS)

royal icing

superwhite dust

1
Brush the cakes with syrup or alcohol, or add a thin layer of buttercream or ganache to help the sugarpaste stick.

2
Knead the sugarpaste to warm, then roll out between the spacers.

3
Mix the superwhite into the royal icing to whiten it, and adjust the consistency of the icing – you need to have the icing fairly thick but still spreadable, so be prepared to add more icing sugar or water as necessary.

4
Place the stencil onto the sugarpaste and carefully spread the royal icing over the stencil. Once the icing is of an even thickness, remove the stencil, taking care not to smudge the pattern.

5
Cut out the tree patterns using the fluted circle cutter. Using a palette knife, lift a paste circle carefully onto each cupcake, easing the fullness in if necessary. Run your finger around the edge of each circle to smooth the sugarpaste.

These sublime chocolate cupcakes, complete with personalized animal print decoration are sure to be a wild success.

you will need

cupcakes baked in leopard print paper cases

complementary flavour buttercream or ganache

3cm (
¹¹
⁄
₆
in) circle cutter

script letter cutters (FMM)

piping bag and coupler

piping tubes no. 18, 16 and 4 (PME)

modelling paste:dark brown, mid-brown and cream

craft knife

foam pad

1
Knead each colour of the modelling paste well and roll into thin sausages.

2
Place 4 or 5 sausages of the dark brown paste around a mid brown one, then add further cream sausages around the dark brown ones (you may need a little water to help them stick together). Roll all together to elongate the sausage. Repeat.

3
With a sharp craft knife, cut through the sausages at 2.5cm (1in) intervals. Place the cut sections on top of each other to create parallel bands of colour running through the paste. Squeeze to ensure the sections have stuck together and there are no gaps.

4
Carefully slice across the length of the paste every 3mm (⅛in), then roll over the slices with a rolling pin to thin the paste to 1.5mm (
¹
⁄
₁₆
in).

5
Cut 3cm (1in) circles from the paste, then cut small circles using the piping tubes from the remainder.

6
Finally cut out appropriate letters from the dark brown and cream pastes, and attach first the brown letter and then the cream to the centre of each large disc.

7
Place all onto a foam pad to dry.

8
Spread a layer of buttercream or ganache over the cakes. Take a palette knife and, starting at the edge of the cupcake, make circular strokes over the icing to create a rough circular or spiral pattern – don’t worry about being especially neat.

9
Add the dried letter discs to the tops of the cupcakes and the smaller discs in a spiral.

The classic colour combinations of purple and bronze bring class and style to these cakes. The stencils are available in a wide range of classic patterns, or why not try some stencil lettering for that personal touch?

you will need...

cupcakes baked in fuchsia pink paper cases