We Now Return You to Our Regularly Schedule Blog

Alright, we are back in business here on my blog. In fact I have many pictures, although no recipes, for you today. Last week, my friend Heather asked if I could make some construction themed cupcakes for her son Kogan's 3rd birthday. I quickly made up a construction guy's face ala Bob the Builder. Heather thought it was cute, but Kogan, a boy who know what he wants and isn't afraid to ask for it, wanted a dump truck or digger on his cupcakes. So, this got me working on making something I had never done before. I saw a technique on a blog, Cake Journal, about making fondant plaques with a 2D image. So before I showed Heather what I would do, I did a test run, to make sure I could do it, and we had a winner. Below is the procedure to make the plaques. I used a marshmallow fondant, which I was going to include the recipe for, but I already had so many pictures to share with you, that I hope to share that with you next week, when I use it again for another cupcake order.



I should also mention that you will see more then just Dump Truck Cupcakes below. You see, Heather and Kogan share more then just the Mother/Son bond, they also share a birthday. So I made up some cupcakes, just for Heather, with pink and yellow fondant hearts. You can't forget Mom on her birthday.



Then along with these cupcakes, I included the cupcakes I made for the Halloween party Jeff and I went to this past weekend. Gotta say, the cupcakes costumes were better then ours. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out, and planned to do them for years to come.



Ok, enough of me blabbing on, here are this week's cupcakes.







After you have rolled out and cut the fondant into circles, place the image you want on the plaque. Then using a pin, pinprick the outline of the image into the fondant.

Here is a close-up of the outline that you have created.

Using a very stiff royal icing, a pastry bag and a small round tip, trace the outline to make your design.

Now, with a thinner royal icing, fill in, or flood, your outlined image to make your design come alive.

A whole fleet of dump trucks ready to roll onto the cupcakes. Let the plaques dry over night so that when you place them on the cupcakes, they hold their shape.

Then with a swirl of buttercream on your cupcake, your edible art work is ready for the party.

Here are the cupcakes I made up for Heather's birthday.

Fondant hearts with some royal icing.

These are the mini cupcakes I made for the Halloween party. If you have some frosting, some candy corns, a little fondant and time, these are easy and a big hit.

Monster, Dracula and the Mummy.