~Special Birthday and Adoption Day Cupcakes~

I was asked to make these for a friend's two beautiful children. It was a Birthday and an Adoption Day celebration! There were 40 color matching cupcakes in all, but only these two were decorated like this. It was such a HUGE honor! The cupcakes are a scratch recipe chocolate fudge cake, and the frostings are homemade semi-sweet ganache and whipped vanilla-almond buttercream.

Olivia's cupcake, the pink one, is decorated with a white chocolate rose, brushed with luster dust, and topped with a gelatin butterfly, the body of the butterfly including the antennae in their entirety is dark chocolate plastic. The pearls are made from white chocolate as well, rolled in pearl dust. Her name is rolled out of a fondant rope.

Evan's cupcake is covered in the semi-sweet ganache, with a special flag of his home Country, Guatemala. I was asked to make that the theme, celebrating his heritage! The "worry dolls" (little people) were inspired by a story his Momma told me about how they have these little dolls over there, you tell your worries to and place under your pillow to find peace. I tried to recreate those to the best of my ability, they are traditionally made with bits of string, fabric, and sticks inside for support. I used fondant for the flag, and a mix of fondant and modeling chocolate for the dolls. The bananas, a chief export, are both fondant and modeling chocolate as well.

My thanks goes out to the Momma of these two little tots, who put a lot of trust in me today =)  I am so thankful they are all happy with their treats, they could barely contain themselves!

Until next time,

Jessie