Merry Christmas everyone! Look what present I’m bringing you today:
For the holidays this year, my wonderful boyfriend treated me to a cupcake themed present. Which among a handful of great things (including a gift certificate for a cake decorating class!) was this:
I have been googly-eyed over this book for awhile, but it’s hard for me to spend money on a cookbook when there are so many great recipes and modes of inspiration for free online. That’s where boyfriends come in. He bought me the Pioneer Woman Cooks, and now this lovely cookbook to add to my collection. I wasn’t planning on making any cupcakes for the holidays, but once I flipped through this book, I just had to try one.
On the cover, the authors claim this book is full of “irresistibly playful creations anyone can make”. I was a bit skeptical, given the intricacies of some of the cupcakes, but I was shocked to find out just how easy this impressive looking wreath was to make. The chocolate leaves are just so cool!
Making these leaves only involves painting melted chocolate onto mint leaves, letting them dry, and then simply peeling them off. So cool! And they taste kind of minty too. The berries are red peanut M&M’s and the bow is unfortunately not edible but if you had the time/patience I’m sure a fondant bow would look great.
Okay, enough blogging — time to get back to cleaning the house and getting ready for dinner! Have a fun and safe holiday everyone, and go see Avatar at some point – it’s really, really good :)
Cupcake Wreath (Adapted from “Hello, Cupcake!”)
1 box yellow cake mix
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 bag white chocolate candy melts
1 bunch of mint leaves
1 bag Peanut M&M’s
– To make the leaves, clean and dry the mint leaves and melt the white chocolate according to the package’s directions
– Use a paintbrush to paint white chocolate onto the top of the mint leaves and lay them on a lined cookie sheet to set
– Refrigerate them for at least 10 minutes before using (you can make these in advance before making the cupcakes)
– Prepare cupcakes according to package’s instructions, and bake in silver liners
– Use up to 12 cupcakes to make your wreath (I used only 8 — our grocery store only had 1 package of mint leaves, so I made my wreath smaller than the cookbook recommended)
– Frost cupcakes and decorate edges with sparkling sugar if you wish
– Arrange leaves on wreath and use extra frosting to secure the M&M’s
I have this same book! Aren’t the cupcakes amazing?! Your wreath is super cute :)
your cupcake wreath looks so good! I feel the same way about buying cookbooks, but thankfully I got a few for Christmas as well :)
That’s beautiful! I’m bookmarking this for next year!!