Hello, Cupcake!

We have guests coming to stay with us for the weekend so, instead of working on new projects, I've been cleaning my house. The fact of the matter is that my life definitely doesn't allow for daily baking and crafting (though I wish it did!) so on days where I don't get to be creative, I'm going to share things that inspire me.

Today's inspiration is the book Hello, Cupcake and its follow up What's New, Cupcake?

These two books are full of incredibly cute cupcake designs mostly made of candy and snacks. I won't claim that all of them are easy (hand painting butterflies in chocolate was not the simplest thing I've ever done) but many of them are quite quick to put together. Every design I've tried has turned out great and received a ton of compliments. The best part is that, aside from candy, you don't really need to purchase any special tools. The authors encourage you to decorate with icing in a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off!

Who would have thought that you could create cupcakes like these with nothing but icing, candy, chocolate melting wafers, plastic bags and a little patience!

Here are two of the types I have tried that I happen to have pictures of. The first is chocolate painted monarch butterflies and the second are "petit fours" I made for a baby shower. The cake in the middle was my own wacky design! Click on the pictures for bigger versions if you want to see more detail.

I absolutely recommend these; they are my go-to inspiration anytime I need a unique dessert. And once I've worked my way through all the ideas (it'll take a while!) the authors even have a blog that you can read here for more inspiration. Happy cupcaking!