What's New, Cupcake?

Like I've said many times, I'm a huge fan of semi-homemade baking. Last year, I purchased Hello, Cupcake and have wanted to make every single cupcake in the book since. In reality, I've only tried a few but love the easy and inventive techniques that Karen Tack and Alan Richardson have come up with. A lot of these cupcakes are made with unusual mixes of candies/snacks, and I probably wouldn't eat them, but I think they're so fun to make and jazz up any dessert table. Most of the cupcakes are playful and better suited for children's parties, so last July I made these animal cupcakes to supplement the huge sheet cake at my niece's birthday party:

I was most pleased with the elephants, especially since it was my first time using candy melts (the trunk and ears). But the monkeys turned out kind of creepy...(reminded me too much of the scary-ass flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz)

I just bought What's New, Cupcake (the second addition to the Tack/Richardson cupcake series) and thought I would try another one out for my niece's birthday this year. There were a lot of options for a 4 year olds birthday but decided on these candy flower cupcakes. For one thing, they are practically all sugar and I don't think my sister would be too thrilled if I showed up on any other day with these. And again, I thought they would add a nice decorative touch to the table.



Pink flowers made with marshmallows, spice drops, nilla wafers and melting candy.


Smaller flowers were made with m&m's and mini oreos (and pretzel stick stems)