Ah don’t you love the pre-Christmas festivities, drinking mulled wine until you lose feeling in your toes and can’t tell if it’s from the cold or the alcohol; and of course the local school / village fair, buying more Christmas decorations than you’ll ever need, trying to dodge excitable small children, and purchasing your weight in home-made produce from the food stalls.
I personally love local school fairs as it gives me an excuse to make some ridiculously over the top and fully festive wares – last year it was my Red Velvet Rudolph Cupcakes; this year I went all out to Let it Snow!
The cupcake base was a moist sponge crammed full of white chocolate chips. Snow on the outside, white squishy chocolate on the inside.
The snowflakes themselves were certainly a challenge. I was using some free cutters that came free with a magazine, whilst they looked so delicate and intricate, well, they were! A lot of patience was used up prising each prong out with a cocktail stick. And repeating times about twenty. I added a little tylo powder to the white fondant before rolling it, so the snowflakes would harden quickly and not go mushy on their buttercream base.
Once all my snowflakes were ready I mixed up the buttercream – a simple 1/3 butter to 2/3 icing sugar, coloured brightly and festively with red and green gels. Using a star nozzle I piped different patterns onto all the cupcakes…
… before topping with a fondant snowflake, and matching snowflake sugar sprinkles (these ones are from Morrisons).
And of course, no snowflake would be perfect without that magical sparkle, in the form of some holographic edible glitter.
The finished batch of cupcakes – oh how I wanted to try one before giving them away, but it may have been a bit obvious…
They went down an absolute (snow) storm at the Christmas fair, with kids and adults alike. Happy holidays indeed!
So pretty! 🙂
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Thank you! And Merry Christmas 🙂
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So you used gels to get that vibrant red colour? I’ve never managed to get red, only dark shades of pink. what brand are you using. I NEED some!
Also, on another note, I use Trex on my worksurface- just a little, when I roll out sugarpaste. Then when you cut out intricate shapes the shape sticks to the work surface rather than the cutter. (a light dusting of the cutter also helps) I then leave it for a minute or two to harden up enough to be able to pick it up with a thin palette knife and leave it to get firm on some kitchen roll. It took me ages to work out but boy does it same time and sanity!
Em x
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Yes indeed they are gel colours! I have a mix of brands in my kitchen, from whatever shop is closest when I need them! However the red and green are definitely a brand called Home2Bake which they sell in Asda, and they’re normally on 2 for £3. I have been through several pots of each, highly recommended!
Thank you so much for the trex tip, next year (if I dare get the snowflake cutters out again) I will definitely be using it! x
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