I came across this recipe for the cutest Flower Cupcakes at the grocery store. I saw the book in the checkout line and begged my boyfriend to buy it; being the great guy he is .. he of course bought it.
I had no idea why I wanted it so badly, but I did. I carried the book around in my purse for about 3 weeks, wondering when I could make these fabulous little flowers, and then the idea came to me .. these would make a great Mother's Day gift!
The recipe is pretty simplistic, to be honest.
Non-Food Items Required:
Mini-Muffin Pan (a 24 works best)
Some sort of Tin/plastic/glass Pail, Terra Cotta Pot, ect.
Green Floral Sticks
Baking Cups
Colored Tissue Paper (I chose green)
Floral Foam
Scissors/Sharp Knife
Yellow & Green Food Coloring
#18 Piping Tip
A Coupler
12" Disposable Decorating Bags
A Tall glass (I use a beer glass)
Rolling Pin
1 Gallon Ziplock Bag
Leaf Candy Mold (silicone works best)
2 Cup Measuring Cup
1 Cup Measuring Cup
Mixer (you could do it by hand, but your arm is gonna be worn out lol)
Several Large Bowls
Food Items Needed:
1 Box of Yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
Water2 16oz Cans of White Frosting (again, Betty Crocker .. Rich & Creamy)
Eggs
Vegetable Oil (unless you use Applesauce to make the cupcakes less-fatty)
2 Boxes Confectioners Sugar
Gummy Raspberries & Blackberries
Peppermint Flavoring (recipe called for spearmint, but I don't like spearmint)
Granulated Sugar
1 Pack of Oreo Cookies
Cream Cheese
Once you get the batter mixed up, and you've got the baking cups loaded into your mini-muffin pan, fill each baking cup around 3/4 full.
Once your cupcakes are finished baking, let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then unload your pan and put the muffins on a rack to cool for about 30-45 minutes.
Now go load than pan back up .. cake batter doesn't need to sit around for long .. so you need to work as quickly as you can! 
While the cupcakes are cooking/cooling you can make the leaf mints. These are pretty easy to make as well, but you'll have to buy a candy mold (like $4 at the wonderful Lobby of Hobby).
The mints I made only have 5 ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups of Confectioners Sugar (sifted and declumped)
- 3 oz of Cream Cheese (pre-softened to room temperature)
- Peppermint Flavoring (I used 1/4 of the bottle, but I like them strong)
- Green Food Coloring (again, I used 1/4 of the bottle, I wanted them dark)
- Granulated Sugar (for mold release)
Once you mix all the ingredients together you'll need to knead the "dough" until the color is evenly distributed. (and I suggest wearing gloves, unless you want Incredible Hulk hands for the next month lol)
Once the color is evenly distributed, you'll need to shape it up, using the molds. There is NO BAKING involved in these mints; which is why I love them so much lol. You just simply pinch off a small piece of the dough, roll it into a ball, then roll it in the Granulated Sugar (this helps the dough release from the molds, plus it makes the leaves kinda sparkley lol).
Only pinch off a small portion of dough. Press the dough into the molds firmly; this sets a good impression that wont distort when you release the mints from the molds. Once you have your mold loaded, flip it over and pull the edge up while pressing the bottom of the mold, to pop the mints out. Refrigerate them immediantly.
By the time you finish all your mints your last batch of cupcakes should be cooling, so you've still got a little time to kill. Now we need to make the dirt for our flower pots!
Get out your Rolling Pin, a Pack of Oreo Cookies, and a large Ziplock Baggie (I prefer the zipper kind).
You'll want to remove the white filling first .. then put the cookies into the Ziplock Bag, press the air out, zip it up, and start smashing them into oblivion!
Warning: Don't be tempted into eating all that white filling .. you'll regret it later LOL.
Ok, so by now your cupcakes should be sufficiently cooled & it's time to get to the really fun part .. the decorating!
First you've gotta turn that white icing yellow! So spoon the icing into a large bowl, squirt in a good amount of yellow food coloring (the paste works best, but I didn't have any .. so liquid it was lol).
Note: don't use too much, or it will thin out your icing
The first thing I usually do is find a tall glass. This will help you out tremendously when filling up your piping bag.
The second thing I do is fold the end over, like a sleeve. Then I use the back of a spoon to fill 1/2 the bag up .. pressing as much icing to the front of the bag as possible.
The third thing I do is "burp" the bag. This releases air bubbles trapped under the icing inside the bag.
If you don't burp it, you may get a suprise later on while you are decorating .. a nice big blow-out! I twist my bag up and pipe out a little to make sure I have all the air out of the tip.
You start by making a 6 legged spoke design (pretty much an star with a tail lol). You want to start in the middle and pull outwards, leaving a small tail hanging over the edge of the cupcake.
Next you want to make a loop between each spoke. Again, starting in the middle, and doubling back. You want this to be on top of the spokes though, and you should end up with 6 loops.
Once you've got all the petals on your flower you need a center.
Most flowers have a grainy looking center, and these flowers are no different (the recipe said that they were Sunflowers but I decided I thought they looked more like Black-eyed Susans).
The best thing for the job are the Gummy Raspberries & Blackberries by Jelly Bellies (all Cracker Barrels have them & so does Target).
Note: The ones at Walmart aren't the same, size-wise or taste-wise.
Once you've picked all the red ones out from the black ones (they are so yummy, aren't they?) Just plunk one down, upside down, in the center of your cupcake .. and you've got yourself one pretty, little flower!
Just do this 6 more times to complete 1 Bouquet!
Surely before you started you picked out a cute pot or pail to put your bouquet in (if not you better run to Hobby Lobby real quick lol).
I got mine at Hobby Lobby on sale (1/2 price .. woot!). You can use a tin pail, a plastic pail, a terra cotta flower pot .. anything with some weight to it will work.
Then you'll want to put some florist foam into the bottom.
Next you'll want to cut up a piece of tissue paper (I thought green was cute .. any color would work though). I cut a sheet in half, then cut it in half again. You put the 2 pieces together and stuff them into the pot (on top of the foam).
Now you're ready to add your "dirt", stems, & leaves. I used green florist sticks for the stems (since I couldn't get my hands on any green licorice sticks).
The final Stage is adding the flowers. This part can be a little tricky & requires a little patience.
I sat mine down on top of a sharp knife first, then used a pair of scissors to make a small hole in the bottom of the baking cup, then I just slid the cupcake halfway down onto the stick.
Note: going further than 1/2 way can lead to a stick popping through the top of your flower!
I made mine the day before I needed them, and refrigerated them overnight.
Suprisingly enough, even being in the fridge without a cover, they were still moist and delicious the next day. I was really afraid they were going to be dried out, but they weren't at all!
I will say this, I had to drive from Cullman to Jasper with 5 of these little lovelies in my lap. I don't think they would have survived if they hadn't been refrigerated 1st.
All in all I had 4 casualties on the drive over (most were because I went to deep into the cupcake .. some were due to me hitting bumps lol) I think there would have been more had the cup cakes not been cold to start with.
They were completed thawed out by the time we arrived though .. and everyone loved them! I thought the other patrons at the restaurant were going to tackle me a few times .. everyone wanted to see them lol
