Paper Plane Adventure Cupcakes

Today I’m seeing my friends Bec and Jessie for the first time since their baby boy Ari! They are having a party for Ari today to welcome him to the world, and the theme is Adventure. Hooray!

I ummed and ahhed about what to make for awhile, mostly because I didn’t have a lit of time and had even less money. So rather than make something elaborate with fondant, I went with paper planes because they’re simple and cheap.

Jessie is a vegan so these cupcakes are too! They’re a simple vanilla cupcake with a vegan buttercream frosting made from Copha and Nuttelex. I used some scrapbooking paper and Googled how to make paper planes. So instructions for those are on Wiki!

I tried to do a marbled effect with white and blue frosting to resemble a cloudy sky, but I think there wasn’t enough contrast with the blue. So it just looks like I haven’t mixed the food dye in properly 😛

And finally sprinkles, because sprinkles are rad.

:(

When good buns do bad things…

Easter Birds’ Nest Cupcakes

Hello all!

I know these are a done thing, but I saw on the internet once and really wanted to try make them myself. It’s my friend Bonita’s birthday this week, and with Easter coming up I thought it would be a good time to try!

The cupcakes themselves are vegan coconut and lime cupcakes from Cupcakes Take Over the World, with lime vegan buttercream frosting. The only non-vegan thing are the chocolate eggs. 🙂

Toasting the shredded coconut was probably the most daunting part, but it was really easy (just time consuming). I did it by putting the stovetop on a low heat, and stirring often to try avoid burning. I did this while baking the cupcakes, so it’d be cool by the time it came to frosting 🙂

To assemble, I slathered a thin layer of frosting on the top of the cupcake, then piped frosting in a ring. You can do a single ring, but I did 2-3 rings on top of each other for a deeper ‘nest’. Then I sprinkled toasted coconut on top of the ring to make the nest actually look like a nest!

Prepare to get toasted coconut everywhere, by the way.

At the last minute I added some sprinkles for added cuteness. I’m really pleased how they turned out; one of the few times something turns out the way I envisage which is always nice!

Happy Easter all 🙂