Cupcake Bouquet

A while back I discovered cupcake bouquets and filed the idea in my memory as an awesome Mother's Day surprise. Last year I made brunch for my mom and purchased tulips (her favorite flower) for the center piece. Now that I have a Wilton cake decorating class under my belt I knew I could tackle this beautiful and life like creation. I planned another brunch for this year and was excited to see my mom's reaction to the center piece.

Couple of months before May I purchased 12" wooden dowels, semi circle shaped floral foam, a flower pot, green tissue paper, and Wilton Color Mist. As Mother's Day approached I became nervous and doubted my abilities. I realized that 12" wooden dowels would not work even though I remember it being mentioned in a blog. Thursday before Mother's Day my coworker said, "You should have had your skills down last week." I knew I would assemble the cupcake bouquet an hour before my mom arrived which would not give much time for any emergencies or accidents. Quickly I began searching the web and You Tube for techniques on how to produce this amazing bouquet for my wonderful mother.

The following are suggestions that I comprised from my search on the world wide web with some of my modifications:
1. You can use any size container or pot.
2. Ripping green tissue paper will create pretty leaves. Use a knife or dowel to "tuck" the leaves between the cupcakes.
3. Frost your cupcakes the day before or several hours a head of time so the butter cream crusts and will stay in place when it is time to assemble.
4. Place the cupcakes in the fridge an hour or more before you assemble so the cupcakes are firm and not as moist.
5. Wrap the floral foam in plastic wrap so you don't get pieces of foam on your cupcakes.
6. Use toothpicks! Two toothpicks for regular size cupcakes and one cupcake for mini cupcakes.
7. With a knife poke the under side of the cupcake so that the cupcake easily slides onto the toothpicks.
8. Tip 2D makes fabulous roses. Other flower options are out there and it just depends on what you like.
9. Watch You Tube videos and research images, etc online to calm your nerves and help you prepare for the assembly process.

Let me just say that Color Mist Food Color Spray from Wilton is amazing!!! I find that tinting icing is tedious and when I saw this at a craft store I knew it would be awesome for roses. However, I had another freak out moment when I read the instructions. It is basically like spay paint for frosting so don't ignore the cover your workspace instruction. It made them look natural which I know sounds weird but it took my mom a few minutes to realize the bouquet on the table was really cupcakes.

For Christmas my parents gave me The Big Book of Cupcakes from Betty Crocker. I tried the from scratch vanilla cupcake recipe. They are delish but of course the parents like the other vanilla recipe I've made in the past because it tastes like wedding cake. So hard to please. Geez!

Assembling the bouquet was easy so all my time researching paid off. Of course the look on my mom's face when she realized the bouquet was made of cupcakes was PRICELESS! Truly, you can all make cupcake bouquets and wow your friends and family.

Mother's Day Brunch:
I think I have shared my love for the Food Network in the past. I decided to make all of these recipes after seeing them on Paula's Best Dishes and Barefoot Contessa. My mom and I love the zucchini and sun dried tomato quiche from the DeKalb Farmer's Market so it made it's appearance at this years brunch too.

Baked Blintzes with Fresh Blueberry Sauce

Quiche and Blintz

Strawberry Butter served with croissants

Berry Parfait

Happy Mother's Day!!!