Saturday, September 14, 2013

Ok folks, just to preface, this isn't really a "recipe" per say, more of a decoration guide.  But I'm posting it here because it's food related.

I made these for my son's birthday this year, and the kids seemed to think they were a hit.  I sent over 30 to school for a class of 24 and got 0 back, so that's good right?  lol


What you'll need:

- Cupcakes (I cheated, Betty Crocker is my friend)

- Lots of frosting.  I used 1 tub of plan white vanilla (which I split to make the green for the pigs and the yellow on the birds), 1 tub of strawberry (optional, but it's a LOT easier to make red frosting when you start with pink!), and chocolate (you could sub another color, but this is used for the accents, like eyes, eyebrows, mouths, etc).

- Candy oranges (for the beaks)

- Regular mini-marshmallows (for the eyes)

- Key lime marshmallows (for the pig noses)


Decorating instructions:


For the pigs:

- Add food coloring to get a green-ish color.  Don't be afraid to use a lot.  I used enough to make it just darker than my key lime marshmallows.

- Frost the cupcakes.

- Cut the key lime marshmallows in half for the pig snouts.  Cut more in quarters for the ears.

- Place them on the cupcakes (see pic for reference).

- Take some regular mini-marshmallows and cut them in half for the eyes.

- Place them on the cupcakes just next to the snout to make eyes.

- Use your chocolate frosting to dot on the eyes, snout, and if you'd like, a mouth.

And ta da!  Pigs are done.


For the birds:

- Grab your strawberry icing (or regular white if you're brave), and add a lot of red food coloring (white is going to take a ton more, and you still might end up pink).  Then frost.

- Take some leftover white icing and mix up a yellowish color.  Frost just the bottom third in a semicircle-ish shape.

- Cut a few of the orange slices along the already indented sections (see picture).

- Place the orange slice section just above the yellow "belly" of your bird.

- Make a wide "V" shape just above your "beak."

- Take some mini-marshmallows and cut them in half length-wise, then cut them in half again (so you end up with a thin half-circle).  Place them under your eyebrows for the eyes.

- Dot on some eyeballs.

And your birds are done!


I'll admit it takes some time to do the cutting and placing of candy toppings, but it's fun for the kids and easier than decorating a cake (in my opinion anyway).


BONUS TIP:  I hate getting out the frosting bags for projects like this.  I mean really, all you need it for is the chocolate right?  So I came up with my own cake-decorating hack.  Use a medicine syringe!  Loading it up can be a bit messy.  I used a knife to add just a little at a time.  But once it's loaded with frosting, it's actually easier to use (in my opinion) than a cake decorating tip/bag).  And for small amounts of frosting like the ones in this project, you hate to dirty a whole bag.



Happy frosting!

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