Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

These festive cupcakes were a blast to make, and even left us with lots of leftover candy, yum! I highly recommend making these cupcakes because they are so cute and very easy to make! If you can successfully dip a cupcake in sugar, you'll be a pro.

The christmas bulbs were rolled in different color sugars, and then decorated with licorice laces, mini M&Ms, Fruit by the Foot, and Airheads. Let your creative juices run wild! The tops are yellow Dots that are secured to the cupcake with pretzel sticks. The loops are black licorice. Cut a slit into the top of the Dot and the black licorice should slide right in.

The string of lights have a carved graham cracker base to give it the bulb shape. The graham cracker is then iced, and secured onto the lightly iced cupcake and rolled in different color sugars. These were the instructions, but because I know EVERYTHING (just kidding), I discarded the directions and dipped the iced graham crackers first and secured them to the cupcake with icing after.. well, surprisingly (haha) following the instructions would have given a better result. The sides of the graham cracker and the small piece of cupcake showing were not coated in sugar, and made it look a little sloppy. Next time I will follow the directions.

As for the graham crackers, I was surprised at how easy they were to cut; hardly any cookie crumbling! A serrated knife got the job done. The tops of the lights are green Dots secured  with pretzel sticks, and the light cords are green licorice laces (which were difficult to find, but I picked them up at a specialty candy store). I had no problem inserting the green laces into the tops once I had cut a small slit in the side of the Dot. The plug is a black licorice square and two Tic-Tacs.

I also recieved the "Hello, Cupcake" sequel, "What's New Cupcake" for Christmas! Thanks Mom and Dad :]. I'm VERY excited to try these new designs. The book is full of impractical cupcakes that are absolutely hilarious.
My wonderful sister Sam also gave me a "Hummingbird Bakery" baking book for my birthday! Its filled with delicious looking baked goods. SO, in addition to disguising my cupcakes with decorations, I am planning on experimenting with more elegant and sophisticated recipes. How exciting!

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas!