Cupcake Bouquet

Hello Again!

Okay, so I have spent the last week thinking about my learning project and what my next step should be. I have learnt so many amazing things so far but there is so much more out there! After much consideration, I decided that this week I would take a little break from cakes and revisit the wonderful world of cupcakes! Now I couldn’t just make any ordinary cupcakes, so I decided that I would attempt a brand new decorating technique! This week I was inspired by the beautiful summer flowers and am going to be creating a cupcake flower bouquet!

 

Here is a picture of a cupcake bouquet that i will be using for inspiration! I am going to use my creativity and add my own personal touches by choosing what colours I will be using, as well as what types of flowers I feel I can pipe with the most success! Hold on everybody! Here goes nothing!

 

Preparing My Pot:

I started by doing an online search as to what materials I would be needing and how to assemble the pot! I found a great picture tutorial on a website called TipHero on “How to Make a Cupcake Bouquet” and I found it to be really helpful! I then ran to my local dollar store to collect my supplies. For this project, I needed:

• 5 1/2 ” terracotta pot
• Styrofoam blocks or ball
• Green tissue paper
• Tin foil
• Hot glue gun

 

Step 1: I began by cutting my styrofoam in order to fit my pot. The website recommended using a styrofoam ball but I couldn’t find any so I had to improvise! I then decided to put a layer of tin foil over the styrofoam because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get any on the cupcakes!

         

Step 2: I then plugged in my hot glue gun. While it was warming up, I cut a round circle out of my green tissue paper. (I made the circle a little bigger than the top of the pot so that there would be overhang) I then did a layer of hot glue around the outside of the pot and placed my tissue paper on top! My pot was now ready to go!

         

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Baking The Cupcakes:

I really wanted to try a new and exciting flavour this week, but I also knew that this sort of cupcake arrangement required cupcakes that were a little more dense and wouldn’t crumble under the weight of the buttercream. I took to Pinterest and searched for the perfect recipe. The majority of the recipes that were suggested were for vanilla cupcakes, so I decided that I would choose a basic vanilla cupcake and then incorporate a fun flavour in my fillingg instead! I looked at a few different recipes, but I decided to go with one that I found on a baking blog called Natasha’s Kitchen! The cupcakes recipe, which can be found here, had great step-by-step instructions and very positive reviews, which is why I chose it above the others I viewed!

1) I read over the ingredients and gathered my supplies!

        

2) My next step was to combine the sugar and eggs in the mixing bowl. I mixed it for about 3 minutes until it was well combined. I then added the oil and vanilla and continued mixing for another minute or two.

      

3) I then mixed all my dry ingredients in a bowl and alternately added these ingredients and the milk to the mixing bowl until well combined. (**Note: I didn’t realize the recipe called for buttermilk and I didn’t have any! I turned to Google to see if there was any substitution options. I found a website called A Taste of Home that said you can use regular milk and add a tablespoon of lemon juice to create the same result so I went with that! Spoiler alert..it actually worked!)

                     

4) The cupcakes then baked in a 350 degree oven for about 14 minutes. They came out moist, yet firm to the touch! I think they will work well for this cupcake bouquet!

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Building My Bouquet:

For the buttercream frosting, I am going to be using the same recipe I used in my last post because it turned out so well and will be stable enough to pipe the flowers with. If you would like to see how I made the buttercream frosting, please follow this link to my last post!

5) So I took my buttercream frosting and split it into 3 different bowls so that I could colour it 3 different shades! I chose to go with purple, pink, and yellow flowers! I also wanted to incorporate some fruity summer elements so I decided to put a fruit filling inside each cupcakes to match the colours of the piped flowers on top! All I did to create the fillings was add fruit purees (blended berries) to my buttercream frosting and stirred until combined! It’s a very simple step but totally worth it for that extra pop of flavour!

Before filling my cupcakes and getting ready to pipe my flowers, I spent some time watching some video tutorials online! I was super nervous about some of the flowers so I thought that I would watch videos that show different piping techniques, practice them, and then choose the one I am the most comfortable with for the cupcakes! I found a great video tutorial on Cake Style’s YouTube page titled “Amazing Buttercream Flower Cupcakes”, and let me tell you, amazing does not come even close to describing them! My jaw dropped when I watched how effortlessly the decorator was able to create her flowers! Check it out:

8) So after A LOT of practising and many failed attempts (a.k.a having to scrape the icing off the cupcakes and start again), I set out to create my bouquet! My favourite flowers were the roses so I decided to stick with those. I just used the link above to follow the picture tutorial on how to assemble my bouquet, but if you would prefer a video tutorial other than the one I am about to share, I recommend this one! Here is the video following my process of filling, decorating, and assembling the cupcake bouquet:

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Final Thoughts:

The cupcake flower bouquet turned out really well in my opinion! I am no expert and I know that my piping is not as advanced as the bakers in the videos I watched, but for a first attempt, I think it looked nice!

I found that the vanilla cupcake was the perfect base for this creation because it held up nicely to the buttercream frosting (and there was a lot of it!). If you’re someone who loves icing, this is the cupcake for you!

When it came to making the actual buttercream frosting, I added a little extra icing sugar so it was thicker than usual. I also had to make sure that I wasn’t handling the icing bag for too long or the icing became warm and didn’t keep its shaped when piped.

Difficulty Rating: 8/10

• This was by far the most challenging creation I have attempted throughout this learning project! It took a lot of patience and determination to keep going and not give up when things didn’t turn out right. I am happy I kept calm and didn’t give up because the end result was worth the struggle!

Would i make this again? of course!

• This is definitely something that I would make again because I actually really enjoyed myself throughout the entire process! I think it would make a great mothers day gift or be a total hit at any special occasion! It is a very time consuming process so I would make sure to have the cupcakes prepared ahead of time to speed things along.

Overall, this was a blast to make and I love learning how to pipe such beautiful flowers! I really feel like I have come a long way throughout this project and this project really showcases it! Like I said, this was no easy task and I had many “flops”! If you don’t believe me, check out the comparison between my first attempt and my last:

                            

I hope you’ve enjoyed my post and maybe even got a laugh out of my missteps! See you next week!

 

-Lauren