Shattered glass cupcakes

This recipe comes from the book "A Zombie Ate My Cupcake" by the ever talented Lily Vanilli . Red velvet cupcakes, buttercream icing, raspberry sauce and 'glass' shards. My 'glass' was way too thick, I will need to either make less next time or use a bigger tray!

The Ultimate Chocolate Treat

You've probably seen recipes for this one floating around the web - I know they certainty caught my eye! So simple, and yet so pleasing, both visually and orally!
Take a simple chocolate cupcake, and cut a hollow out of the top, the same way you would if you were making fairy cakes. Fill the hollow with a spoonful of Nutella. Top with a Ferrero Rocher. Easy, and delicious.

Gotta Catch 'em All - Version 2

They say practice makes perfect, but I'm still not happy!

Oh well, just an excuse to make more cupcakes I suppose! ^^

This time I used a black chocolate decorating tube, which looks better and doesn't bleed, but it harder to use as it needs to be constantly re-heated as the chocolate sets. 

I also had the issue of too much icing sugar - I add icing sugar to the hard icing to make it less sticky and easier to mould, but it left a white sheen on the final product.

The birthday boy was happy though, and that's what counts!

Pokemon Cupcakes, Version 1

These cupcakes were made at the request of one of my nephews. I used hard icing for the Pokemon faces and a black gel to paint in the features - I found that this tended to 'bleed' onto the hard icing, though, so I don't think I will use them again. As for the Pokeballs, I used up all of my liquid food colouring trying to make black! Time to invest in some black gel colouring, I think!

Rainbow Butterfly Cupcakes

It has taken two solid evenings of work, but they're finally done! Chocolate butterflies on rainbow cupcakes! Created specially for a special 4 year old on her birthday.

Directions for how to make the butterflies can be found at this blog: http://annies-eats.net/2009/05/26/butterfly-cupcakes/ I think that this is another recipe that will take a while to get right!

As for the cupcakes - just a simple vanilla cake, divided into six parts and coloured, then layered into the pattie cases. While they look good, I'm a little disappointed that I could not get the layers even, as I have seen some other people do - if anyone has any tips, please let me know!

I know it's not a cake, but...

It's rainbow jelly! I saw a photo by a friend and just had to try it. It takes a while but is well worth the effort.

A few tips:
- make the jelly a little stronger than you normally would.
- wait until each layer is fully set before you add the next layer. Even if it takes you two days!
- don't pour the jelly all in one spot - you'll end up with a hole in the layers beneath! Pour it around evenly, and not from too high up.

Next, I'm thinking about rainbow jelly trifle!

Because sometimes you just want chocolate and sprinkles...