Go Diego! Go! Cupcake Collage

by Theresa Peters

(Thompson, Manitoba, Canada)

I used regular Duncan Hines Mix for the cake since that is what everyone likes!

Then I crumb coated all the cupcakes (3 dozen plus a few extras just in case)and froze them so I could work on just a few at a time and then refreeze them.

The Zebra print and footprints I did all at once – iced each one with white buttercream and used black buttercream using the outline and fill method.

The Diego word cupcakes I did freehand by slightly watering down cookie dough and piping it. Be sure that the dough is very bright colours – and do not overbake! The cupcakes I just iced and stuck the cookie on top.

The Spectacled Bear was my own creation – I made a pattern on paper for the light coloured fringes around the eyes and for the ears. I put wax paper over top and piped coloured chocolte in the design – first the outline then when it set, I filled it with chocolate. Make sure you make extra! Some will always break! Set these aside and put them together at the last minute! I used butterscotch chips for the light brown chocolate.

The Dora and Diego cupcakes use the same method using the chocolate – I found the template for the hair on Nick Jr. website. The eyes are small MnM’s. The mouths are fruit roll up cut in the right shape, outliend with dark icing.

I found baby jaguar’s idea off the Nick Jr site as well using jube jubes for the ears, small MnM’s for eyes, a small jube for the nose and fruit roll up for the mouth. The “hair” is buttercream piped through the star tip. They make it look easy on the website – its not!

The baby bird is all done with buttercream and icing tips. Ice the cupcake yellow. Make the fuzzy dark yellow parts with a star tip. The mouth is an orange diamond filled with chocolate. The eyes are tricky – I froze the cupcakes again before doing the eyes so that I could lift off errors and try again!

The Parrot wings are just buttercream as well! I used a leaf tip. Ice the background with buttercream. (Freeze or chill if you are concerned about mistakes – then they’ll lift off) Start at the green side and work toward the red.

The flowers with butterflies…. First I made the butterflies. Using a paper template with waxed paper over top I piped the hot dark chocolate outlines and chilled. Then melted one colour at a time an filled. When its well chilled I peel the waxed paper off. Ice the background of the cupcake in white buttercream, then pipe teh flower – any kind will do – even a big swirl works…. Pipe some hot chocolate for the butterfly body and press in 2 wings (smooth wax paper side up and the rough side that you piped down). Hold them until they set.

My best secret is the freezer! Cake / cupcakes will last very fresh in the freezer after being crumb coated and wrapped. Even thawed and refrozen they still taste great (this may not be true with scratch cakes – the box kinds stay fresh better!)

For Buttercream I use the Almost Professional Buttercream found at the All Recipes web site.