Cupcakes have been a favorite dessert for years but can also be given as a snack. They also do great as a gift for children. You can also organize a workshop for young and old or make cupcakes in a specific theme for a children’s party. You can adapt your cupcakes to the different seasons or to certain parties and themes. For spring, we choose fresh, vibrant colors such as green, yellow, pink, purple, red, orange and white. Possible figures include birds, insects, young animals and all kinds of flowers.
What are cupcakes and how do you make them?
Cupcakes are round, small cakes. You can make them pure or from chocolate. To make cupcakes you can buy ready-made dough in the supermarket or at a baking specialty store, for example. But you can also make your dough very easily yourself. For this you need four eggs, 250 grams of self-rising flour, 250 grams of sugar, 1 or 2 sachets of vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt and 250 grams of butter. Use this to make a quatre-quarts dough by mixing everything well. You can also add melted chocolate for chocolate cupcakes. Or you can put candied fruit or apple pieces in the dough. You divide the dough over the molds (with this dough you have about enough for 17 molds). Since you are working with self-raising flour, you should not fill the molds to the brim. Leave 0.5 to 1 cm. It is best to put the molds in a cupcake plate, otherwise they will sometimes warp and run out. Garbage in your oven and no nice round cupcake molds! After about 20 to 30 minutes in the oven at 180 ° the cupcakes are ready. Let it cool down for a while and you can start decorating.
What do you need to decorate cupcakes?
Fondant or marzipan
Basic ingredients to decorate cupcakes are fondant or marzipan. Fondant is a type of sugar. For those who don’t like marzipan, this is an excellent alternative. The properties of both are the same: you can roll them out or knead them into all kinds of figures. You can use a little water or a little jam to attach different shapes or figures to each other. Both fondant and marzipan are available in different colors and you can also mix the colors with each other to obtain other colors. You can also buy white fondant or marzipan and then color it yourself with edible coloring. You can safely store fondant in closed packaging or in an airtight box for several months. Always knead well before use, this works easier. For spring you can buy cheerful and fresh colors: green, yellow, white, pink, purple, red, orange. You can use black for the accents and for the finish.
Cookie cutters
What is always handy to work with are cutters. You have them in all sizes and types, but to decorate cupcakes, it is best to buy the smallest cutters. For spring we think of this: letters, birds, butterflies, flowers, lambs, ducks, sun and clouds, trees, etc. You do not need to have a cutting shape for everything, you can also cut some figures yourself.
Other supplies
A sharp knife, a rolling pin, a small piping bag, a garlic press, a plastic coaster, a jar with water, a brush, edible glitter, colored balls, chocolate curls, edible writing pens, etc. Just look around in your kitchen, you will find anything you can use to further decorate your cupcakes. If you are organizing a workshop or a children’s party, you provide enough tools for each of the guests present. Also pay attention to hygiene: a clean tablecloth or tabletop, no pets around, etc.
Decorating cupcakes with the theme “spring”
You can choose what to do with your cupcakes: or you leave the paper mold around (choose one that matches the theme or with a solid color), or you can take off the paper molds. You also have plastic molds in fresh colors. You can also leave it on or take it off. Furthermore, it is best to always start by covering the top of your cupcake. To do this, knead a ball of fondant that you then roll out with a rolling pin. Now place the fondant on top of the cupcake and cut the edges. Or you can make spaghetti with a garlic press. With green fondant you just have a turf. A covered cupcake always looks better than just the cake. Choose a ground color that matches the theme. Green or light blue always do well. Then you start working on the figures. You can make them flat or in 3D.
Flat decorations
- butterflies: you can either stick out several small butterflies and stick them on a cupcake. Or you can stick out a larger butterfly and stick it in the center of your cupcake. To make the butterflies look more realistic, you can lift the wings a little. It then looks like the butterfly is going to fly. You can also sprinkle your butterfly with edible glitter. Butterflies can be a theme of your cupcakes. To do this, make different butterflies in different colors.
- daisy: make some white petals. Arrange them on your cupcake. Now make the center of the flower with a yellow ball that you push flat. You can also choose one large daisy or several small daisies.
- tulip: cut out the typical tulip shape with a knife. You can also choose a large tulip or several smaller ones. With or without stem. In a bouquet or in a vase. You can make a bow for the bouquet by tying a small sausage into a bow. For the vase you cut out a vase with a knife.
- buttercups: cut yellow leaves from fondant / marzipan. Arrange them on the cupcake. Make a heart with, for example, an anise pearl or another white or light yellow ball. Make one or several buttercups on your cupcake.
- violets: make purple petals and arrange them on your cupcake. Make the heart with three small pink balls. You can also make the violets in light pink. Again, you can stick one or more flowers on your cupcake.
- all kinds of flowers: you can also cut out all kinds of flowers in different colors and place them over your cupcake. Make hearts in contrasting colors. You can also buy these flowers ready-to-eat in sugar.
- a spring tree: cut a trunk from brown fondant / marzipan. Cut out a light green circle. Attach circle on the trunk. now cut out dark green leaves. Stick them on the light green circle. Or make small pink blossoms and attach them to the circle.
- bird: cut out a bird. Now make the wings and glue them in front and behind the bird. It now looks like he is flying. Also add a red or orange beak. If you want a standing or hopping bird, add legs.
- rainbow, sun, clouds: in the spring the weather can be erratic. You can also stick a number of weather phenomena on your cupcakes. For example, you can make a radiant sun from a yellow circle with yellow and orange sun rays, a white cloud with a sun that peeps out, a rainbow (with or without a pot of gold underneath), etc.
- messages with letters: you can make messages with small letters (yourself cut out or bought). Think, for example, of “spring!”, “Yay, spring!”, “There is spring”, “enjoy spring”, etc. If the letters are too big for a whole message, make puzzles. Stick one or more letters on each cupcake. It is up to the sweets to put the message back together again. You can also use the cupcakes with groceries to find birthday gifts, for example. Write as a message where you have hidden the presents. Use a cryptic description or let the birthday girl do a puzzle.
- combination: of course you can combine all these ideas. This way you can stick flowers on your cupcake with a butterfly above. Or with a mild spring sun. Or with the message “spring”. You can also combine flat figures with 3D figures. A flat flower with a 3D ladybug, for example. Or a snail.
3D figures
You can of course also sculpt figures, just as you would with clay or plasticine. Young animals are perfect for spring. Don’t make them too thick and too big, because then it won’t taste good anymore. And not healthy for the line either!
- a ladybug: knead a red ball and flatten the bottom. Draw a line with a black edible marker to obtain the two red wings. Cover the front with a layer of black. You put two eyes on this. Also put black dots on the wings.
- a snail: Make a sausage in gray and roll it up into a snail shell. Make a brown sausage and glue the house on it. Draw the feelers with an edible marker.
- a hedgehog: Make a ball with brown. Make the front a bit more pointed and the bottom flat. Draw a number of “spines” with a sharp knife. You put two eyes on the front.
- a lamb: Make a ball with white. Use a sharp knife to draw half circles in an overlapping manner, so that it looks like the lamb has curls. Or you can make white spaghetti with your garlic press and sprinkle it over the bun. Make another, smaller ball for the head. Make a snout and two eyes on this with black. Attach two ears on the head. Make four legs with black hooves. Place them in front and behind the body. You can put the front legs crossed if necessary. It looks like the lamb “lies” on the cupcake.
- a duckling: Make a yellow circle for the body. Make the drawing of the wings on both sides. Make another ball for the head. Attach a beak here with orange and two black eyes.
- a caterpillar: make small balls of different colors and place them behind each other. On the front bulb two antennae and two eyes.
- a bee: make a yellow ball. make it a somewhat oval shape. Place a few black sausages over the yellow mold. Make two black eyes.
- a nest with eggs: Make a nest by weaving brown sausages together. In the middle place thin strands of lighter brown, like straw. Place bought chocolate or sugar eggs on top or model the eggs yourself in cheerful colors.
- a nest with bird heads: Make a nest by weaving brown sausages together. In the middle place thin strands of lighter brown, like straw. Now model small circles. Attach a splayed beak to it, sculpted from orange fondant / marzipan.
Have fun and enjoy!