Spring time is on the way and I couldn’t be happier! You already know how much I adore this season, and with so many great occasions around the corner I came up with an amazing Spring inspired dessert that is perfect for gifting! Isn’t it gorgeous? This creation features moist Devil’s Food Cake cupcakes with a delicious homemade strawberry buttercream frosting made to look like a real flower bouquet! This is perfect for giving to someone special – fill the bottom with a pair of cute garden gloves and a seed packet or personalize it to fit your needs. Check out the recipe below!
Cupcake Bouquet With Homemade Strawberry Buttercream
This recipe focuses on the buttercream frosting, so go ahead and whip up your favorite chocolate or Devil’s Food Cake cupcakes before you move forward. *Helpful hint: try not to fill your baking cups more than halfway – you want them on the flat side for this recipe! When they’re done set them aside to cool and move on to your buttercream! Here is what you will need:
- 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
- 3 cups powdered sugar (add more to taste)
- 1/2 cup fresh strawberries
- stand mixer with a whisk attachment (you can do it by hand, but a mixer will give you a nice smooth whip)
- icing bag
- 1M piping tip
First combine your butter, shortening and 1 cup of the powdered sugar and mix on a medium speed for one minute. Next, slowly add in the rest of your powdered sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy. You will need to scrape the sides as you go. While that is mixing go ahead and finely chop your strawberries.
The strawberries are truly the star of this dish – they add the perfect fruity sweetness to your icing and give it a beautiful pink color too! I love using fresh strawberries, but you can also use frozen if you want. Once you have them chopped up add them to your mixing bowl and continue on a medium speed until they are thoroughly blended in.
Just look at this beautiful frosting – perfectly pink and full of strawberry goodness!
When you icing is finished scoop it into an icing bag with a large piping tip and get ready to start frosting your cupcakes!
To make your flower, hold the piping bag in a vertical direction and squeeze out a generous amount of frosting in a clockwise spiral starting from the center and end when your surface is fully covered. Super easy. Don’t worry about getting them perfect, they will still look amazing no matter how you pipe them! They look sooo beautiful, and check out those yummy strawberry chunks!
If you want to serve these without making a bouquet then you are all finished at this point, but now lets move on to constructing our arrangement! Here is what you will need:
- flower pot
- 6 inch foam ball
- green felt
- toothpicks
- scissors
- small garden themed gift of your choice
First put your gift of choice into the pot, cut your foam ball in half and wedge it *very* snugly in. This step will vary a little depending on what ball you use and the size of your pot, but whatever you go with make sure that your ball will fit snugly without slipping.
Cut your felt into 10-15 leaf shapes. These don’t have to be any specific shape, but I would suggest going with something simple – I did a basic 3.5×2 inch leaf drawn by hand. They won’t be entirely visible, but you need enough for a single layer on top of your ball.
Now spread them on top of your foam ball in a single layer. Don’t worry about securing them, they won’t slip. Stick in your toothpicks in an evenly spaced pattern and press them far enough in so they won’t stick out the top of your cupcakes. You will likely have a little trial an error for this step, but the best way I found is to make a diagram of sorts with uniced cupcakes and stick them through the tops like this:
When you have all your toothpicks placed, stick an iced cupcake on each one.
And ta-da, you just made the most AMAZING edible gift EVER!
I can’t get over how amazing it looks! *Be sure to store this in a cool place – the buttercream is firm, but it will still lose shape if it sits in a warm place for too long* This is perfect for Mother’s Day, Easter, your best friend, as a shower gift and SO much more! There are tons of different personalization options to fit your needs:
- fill it with pampering goodies like a manicure set or a coffee kit for the non gardener
- paint it in a favorite color and add your recipient’s name
- give it to the graduate in your life with a sweet note tucked inside
- use it as a centerpiece for your next party
- Don’t like strawberries? Substitute them for blueberry, raspberry, peach, pineapple, or any other fruit you can think of!
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