...more specifically homemade chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream with edible gnomes....i think gnomes are the new zombies...!
...so we've all been sick...sick, sick, sick.....which sucks....so i made cupcakes for the kids...and i guess me too.....you know you forget how bad it is to have broken sleep day after day.....we're going on a week or more with coughing, puking, nebulizer treatments....and just grumpy kids and mom/dads all around....fun!
...so saturday i had a little energy spurt so i made martha's one bowl chocolate cupcakes and tried swiss meringue buttercream for the first time too....
....the gnomes i made a couple weeks ago...they are made out of these....
....when i found the chocorooms in a dollar store...i knew they were going
on some cupcakes!....and every time i see bugles...they remind me of gnome hats so figured i'd give it a go....dunk them in some melted red candy waters/melts....(tap off the excess)....and let dry on some wax paper ....
.....the heads and bodies are made from hershey bells (found on sale post christmas--so score!).....dip the bottom of the bell in blue (or whatever gnome color outfit you prefer)....and the top in skin toned candy melt (i just added a little orange to white until i got an ok color)....
...then attach the hat with some candy melt...and add beards (white candy melt)....nose, arms (skin toned candy melt)...and eyes are made with an edible food writer....and you get youself a little gnome army!....
....also a note about swiss meringue buttercream aka SMB (which is basically a meringue with lots of butter added in)....lots of sites say this stuff is the bomb...totally different than regular buttercream and once you go SMB you'll never you back....so had to try it (finally!)....most recipes say you can't really mess it up---even if it looks like you are.....
....the recipe i used i cut in half....and it came out great....!.....first time making it and all....it's light and silky as everyone says....not super sweet....i was icing the cupcakes the next day so i stored it in the fridge.....most recipes say you can do that and to just let it come to room temp and re-whip it.....i did this and it looked like lumpy wet soup!...wish i had the pics, and i was about to toss it and call it a learning experience when i did a last google search to see if i could find any info....one site said to take 1/4 of the icing and nuke it for 10-15 seconds....then add it back to the bowl and whip it up....i was kinda skeptical...but it totally worked!....go figure...because it really looked like a loss cause.....
...and you get some really cute and totally edible gnomes with some mushroom friends sitting ontop some luscious swiss meringue buttercream grass....
...oh and since valentine's day is coming up...figured my gnomies needed a lady friend to hang out with....!
...thanks for stopping by and have an awesome and healthy week!
p.s. for those of you with kiddos....this frosting was not a hit with my kids....it's not very sweet like regular buttercream and the silky texture threw them off a bit.....so we'll be sticking with good old buttercream around here for most of the treats....that said the 40+ year old really liked it....said it reminded him of whipped cream.....and maybe i'm a kid too because i think i prefer regular buttercream....don't get me wrong.....these cupcakes with SMB were really good....but i think for cupcakes i like it a little sweeter....i do think this would be great on cakes though...just my 2 cents!
oh and if you like them, vote for them over at Celebrations...the voting is open Jan 30th-Feb 13th! Thanks!!!
please stop by these fun bloghops too!
oh and if you like them, vote for them over at Celebrations...the voting is open Jan 30th-Feb 13th! Thanks!!!
please stop by these fun bloghops too!
