And The Winner Is?????? Plus a Cupcake Easter Tree Idea.

Thanks to everyone who made such nice comments!  I wish all of you could win!  Thank golly for random.org - I could have NEVER just picked. Everyone would have won and I would have some "explaining" to do with the hubby AKA The Great Pumba of Family Finances.  

BUT rest assured if you did not win, your chances are NOT over - I will be giving away TONS of fun things every week.  Plus, next month I will giveaway ANOTHER My Cake School membership....yes that is what I said!

So without any further blab the winner of the one year membership to MyCakeSchool.com and the decorating kit is.....

***~~~ The Addicted Baker!!~~~***

CONGRATS!!!!!  Leave me your email in the comments section and I will contact you with details. 

Check back on Sunday because I will be featuring Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and featuring a giveaway Cookbook from her online store WITH a set of AMERICOLOR MARKERS!! 

Whoooop Whoooop!!

Am I the only person that can look at an object and say to themselves...how can I make that into a cupcake?  Or how can I use that with/for/onto a cupcake??? 

I doubt it.

Well, this past weekend I got out our Easter decor and this sad little Easter Egg Tree was just begging for some edible cupcake ornaments.

Sad:

Happy:

Here is how - I will say it is a bit futzy putzy but also very worth the time because it looks so darn cute!

Here is a little guide with some pictures to help out.

Tools:
Lonely Sad Easter Egg Tree
Mini Cupcakes - cooled
Ribbon
Something to poke a hole in the cupcake and liner - I used the end of a paintbrush
Medium to Stiff Consistency Buttercream in your chosen colors (I used a great crusting buttercream recipe from MyCakeSchool)  It really holds it shape so great!
Royal Icing (only IF you have it on hand, if not you can use some buttercream but Royal ensures a solid hold of the cupcake).
Piping tools (I used a variety of tips)
Decorative Add-ons of your choosing!!

Bake some mini cupcakes - I used a more dense cake recipe and let completely cool

Cut the ribbon to desired length.  I started out really long to give me plenty of room for error (about 8 inches).

Next I took the end of my clean paintbrush and drove a hole thru the cake and thru the liner. Pull out the brush - now you have a hollowed out part of your mini cupcake.

Here is where I got smart...only after about 10 THOUSAND tries and a lot of CURSING I figured out how to get the ribbon thru the cupcake. 

Attach the ribbon to the end of the paintbrush with a little royal icing or buttercream so that the paintbrush acts as a guide for the ribbon as it goes through the cupcake.  If you fail to do this the ribbon has a hard time making it's way through and not getting stuck up on the cake.

As you can see I tied a knot underneath to secure.  I also put a little dab of frosting there as well.

Now the fun part....decorating.  I chose to use yellow, pink, purple and green as you can see.  Using different colors and piping tips adds to the whimsical feel in my opinion.

A trick to piping frosting around the ribbon.  Tape it up onto a plate like I did here:

Once you get all of your mini cupcakes decorated the way you want them to look just tie them CAREFULLY to the Tree!! 

Here is what mine looked like when I was all done:

FUN FUN FUN!!

Wouldn't this be so cool for an Easter Sunday Brunch on a Sweets Table??!!

I think so.

Wanna know what is NOT so much fun??  Going thru a TON of decorating bags when you use multiple different colors of frosting.  ~ CHACHING $$$ ~

Here is a GREAT trick I use all the time and I learned it from Karen at http://www.karenscookies.net/. Yet, another therapist of mine.

Lay out a piece of saran wrap.

Place your frosting in the middle.

Wrap up the frosting and twirl the ends of the saran wrap like you were wrapping a piece of candy tight. 

Slip one end through your piping bag and thru the coupler ** Isnt' this model a CUTIE PIE!! 

Now, just cut off that excess hanging out and secure your piping tip on and away you go!  When you are done with that color, just remove from the piping bag and change to new color!  No Muss..No Fuss!! 

For a VIDEO TUTORIAL on this go here: http://www.karenscookies.net/Cookie-Decorating-Video-Color-Mixing-Bag-Filling_ep_74-1.html


Also I linked up to Hoosier Homemade Cupcake Tuesday- check out the other GREAT IDEAS HERE: HOOSIER HOMEMADE, Its a hodge podge life and Tidy Mom,

Thanks so much for stopping by!