Spring Is In The Air

This weekend was prom, and needless to say, it was amazing* (:
We had dinner at a pretty restaurant on the river and I finally got to see my boyfriend in a tux (;

But anyways, enough about my weekend and onto the baking goodies (:

This post is going to be a little different from past posts because it's going to be about cupcakes! I bet you thought that I only did cakes huh? Nope, I do cupcakes too, and cake pops too. I've even done cookies once (But I forgot to take a picture =/ darn it).

Anywhooo, I pulled some cupcakes out of the freezer and got ready to have some fun-sized** cake fun (:

Now my theme is spring, because all the flowers blooming and birds singing outside have gotten me in a spring-y mood. Soooo, spring cupcakes!!!

I had my incredibly reliable best friend, Sana, help me come up with ideas, and bugs won.

...

Yes, bugs.

But they're cute bugs, don't worry. Like bumblebees*** and ladybugs (:

I have 12 cupcakes, so we're going for 6 of each. First, I rolled out a long piece of black and a long piece of yellow and I cut out 6 round circles from each one. This makes sure that the cupcakes will be completely covered with fondant so we can decorate. Oh, and here's a big surprise for you! No gumpaste required (; Gumpaste is just for when you need the fondant to harden quickly.

Now that we have 6 yellow circles and 6 black circles, we can just stick them on the cupcakes.

Now for the ladybugs we're also going to have to make 6 red circles as well. I forgot to take step by step pictures for these guys so bear with me.

The 6 red circles are going to be elytra (which is really just a really fancy term for ladybug wings. I wish I was that smart, but yes, I googled it). So with a pizza cutter (mini version), I came and cut out a little triangle from the red circle, so when it goes on the ladybug it looks like opened elytra and you can see the abdomen of the ladybug. The elytra then get placed on the abdomen. Then I cut out little mini black circles of different sizes to put on top of the elytra (I've decided that I like that word ;D). I also needed a circle (Actually 6) thicker than the ones that go on the elytra to be the face. Then with tiny pieces of white I made cute little smiley faces for my ladybugs (: Their official scientific names are coccinellidae, might as well let you know since I'm googling (;

Aren't my coccinellidae adorable? =D

I agree that the iris-less eyeballs are kinda creepy, but that's why I put even smaller black dots on them. Pictures of that later.

Now, for the Andrena (Hesperandrena) limnanthis.**** Again, I failed at taking step-by-step pictures =/ So i will try my best to paint the picture for you with my words.

I rolled out another slab of black fondant and came with the ribbon cutter to cut the fondant into long strips. But I didn't disconnect the strips yet, instead I went over them with the same round cutter I used for my initial circles. Now I could peel the strips back and fit them perfectly on the yellow circles. Then I made their faces the same way I made the ladybugs' faces. I arranged all these lovely yummy chocolate buggy cupcakes on my cupcake stand and here they are (:

These little pesky critters got eaten up in seconds by the little 1st grade pesks... er, I mean kids*****, that I teach at Sunday School. It was our very last class together for the school year. I doubt that their parents had fun putting them to bed after all the pizza, ice cream, soda, cake, cupcakes, candy, etc we stuffed in them. Oh well, it's not like I give them cupcakes EVERY week... Oh wait, yes I do... Hmm. At least they only see me once a week =)

*It also contributed to why the posts have been so few and far in between. I was busy prepping nails, hair, etc, then finding restaurants, then sleeping the night off the next day.

**Will someone please explain to me what exactly is fun about less candy or less cake??? It's quite mind-boggling to me and I've searched all over for the answer, and all I can come up with is the fact that it prevents my waist from getting huge.

***They stop being cute once they sting you...

****That's a bumblebee, just in case you didn't already know. But of course you did, cause it's very common knowledge that bees are Andreas. That must why my friend Andrea is always busy... Hmm. Interesting.

*****I'm totally kidding. I love those kids. They're the best class =) First graders are so cute and adorable. Sigh... I miss those days.

Just cause I couldn't help myself from posting another prom picture (: