Ladybug Cupcakes: They are cute-sy but I love them!

Wanting to actually complete an entire cupcake, top hat and all, I did a lot of mixing and baking yesterday! After a quick trip to Michael's Craft Store for some Meringue Powder, Black Gel and Frosting Tips and another trip to CVS for M&Ms (dark chocolate so, of course, they are healthy!), Twizzlers Nibblers and Pretzel M&Ms (I needed these very badly to complete my cupcakes..my replacement snack in place of snacking on frosting and cupcake batter!), I was armed and ready.


I began with half a Meringue Buttercream Frosting recipe just for taste-testing purposes and playing with my new and old tips. The Meringue with the shortening has absolutely no appeal to my "delicate" palate so it is now a practice-only frosting stored in my fridge! Surprisingly, I actually quite missed the typical butter-y taste found in Buttercreams. The consistency was great though so maybe I will try a mixture of half shortening and half butter if I can drag myself away from the buttercream I am finally getting the hang of making!




Side Note: I am trying to form leaves with leaf tip #67 and it does not appear to be working! Every time I pull away to form the point of the leaf, the result is broken edges. How do I remedy this??




Wilton's Meringue Powder Buttercream Frosting Recipe

	(for flowers with upright petals)
1 teaspoon	Clear vanilla extract*
2 tablespoons	Water
1 cup	Shortening
1 tablespoon	Wilton Meringue Powder
1 pounds	Sifted powdered sugar (approx 4 cups)
	(for borders, flowers with petals that lie flat)
1 tablespoon	Additional water
	(for writing, making stems and leaves & frosting a cake)
2 tablespoons	Additional water

STIFF: MEDIUM: THIN: *Note: Clear butter & clear almond extracts can be included with or substituted for the vanilla. Flavorings can be up to a total of 2 t. DIRECTIONS: Sift the powdered sugar and meringue powder into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Cream shortening, flavorings and water. Gradually add sifted dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend an additional minute or so until creamy.

I baked 24 cupcakes using "My" Vanilla Cupcake recipe. While I thought this was a recipe I really enjoyed, it is not quite as moist the 2nd day while the original Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe tasted the same to me over a period of days. I will have to go back to the drawing board on that one!

For the buttercream frosting, I used the same recipe I have been using as of late with a touch less than 1/2 teaspoon of almond oil as the flavor was a bit too strong last time. The consistency was nice and thick! I added green gel food coloring to the mixture and continued adding until I achieved a grassy green coloring.

For the ladybugs: Martha Stewart recommends tinted marzipan but I was in no mood to tint my fingers red so I played with red M&Ms and Twizzlers Nibblers. The Nibblers are almost square with no texture on top. I thought if I could round off the edges they would be the perfect ladybugs but then I realized an M&M already works perfect so why fix something if it "ain't" broke?!

Armed with black gel and red M&Ms, I closed my eyes and turned around 3 times then Voila! I miraculously had little red ladybugs. Be sure to do the ladybugs ahead of time so the gel can harden a little.


For the grass: I very lightly frosted the cupcakes before I began the grass to give the frosting something to grab onto. You do not have to do this, however, I found when I did not take this step, the "grass" sometimes did not adhere when I pulled away. Using Wilton tip #233, I formed grass after grass after grass and it was beautiful! Like looking at a green as green can be putting green. Place the ladybugs on the frosting quickly before it begins to set or they will not adhere or at the end you can add a few more pieces of grass and adhere the ladybugs.






I absolutely loved these cupcakes. While they are quite cute-sy and not very manly, I am a girl so I get to be girly. If you would like to place put your manliness on hold for just a moment, you are more than welcome to enjoy these Ladybug Cupcakes! Afiyet Olsun!