Sallee's Cupcake Bouquets

Standard size cupcakes are decorated as flowers in these cupcake bouquets.
The hydrangeas were formed with a 2D decorator tip and the roses were formed with a 1M decorator tip.

Cupcake bouquet pictures have been catching my attention for a couple of years now. 
I have saved pictures of cupcake bouquets and read blog posts about cupcake bouquets. 

After watching several tutorial videos that show how to assemble a cupcake bouquet, I found that there are different ways to make a cupcake bouquet. 

Of course, I picked the easiest one!  

After volunteering to make four dozen cupcakes for a benefit dessert auction, I felt it was time to tackle this project.

The cupcakes are made from boxed cake mixes. Easy peasy, right?

I made devil's food chocolate cupcakes following the package directions.

Then, I used a little bit of cake mix magic with a white cake mix and made white lemon cupcakes. 

Want to know how to make white lemon cupcakes? The directions are underneath the next picture. 

To make a white lemon cake: Add 1/2 tsp. chopped lemon zest, and the juice of two large lemons, about 1/4 cup to a white cake mix. Also, use whole eggs. The light, fresh taste is perfect for summer!

Fresh strawberry butter cream is delish! About 6 large strawberries equals a half cup of strawberry puree. 

How To Make a Cupcake Bouquet Form
1. Staple seven, 5 ounce cups together (as seen in the above picture)
2. Cut a 14" to 16" square of tissue paper using zig zag scissors, paper edgers, or pinking shears.
3. Set the stapled cups in the center of the tissue paper square
4. Fasten the tissue paper in between the cups using packing tape, or hot glue. My cups are waxed paper and I used a hot glue gun. 
5. Repeat to make the number of bouquet forms you need. 
6. Place each form into a container of your choice. I used round, 8"aluminum pans.

However you are free to place the bouquet into any container the form will fit into. Baskets, small pails, or a flower bowl are some of the options you can use. 

Cooled cupcakes ready to be filled with fresh strawberry butter cream. I use an apple corer to remove the center from cupcakes. 

To fill a cupcake

1. Put frosting in a pastry bag, snip the pastry bag tip, and squeeze the frosting into the center of each prepared cupcake. 

2. Start filling at the bottom and lift the bag as the frosting level rises. 

3. Place the filled cupcakes into a cupcake bouquet form.

You are ready to decorate!

Devil's food chocolate cupcakes with fresh strawberry butter cream hydrangea blossoms in place. 

Each hydrangea blossom received a dot of lemon yellow frosting with a #3 piping tip. 

The leaves were placed randomly using a #67 leaf tip. 

To make the roses, use a 1M tip. Start in the center of the cupcake and spiral outward. 

Fresh Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting 

 I filled 4 dozen standard cupcakes and frosted 2 dozen as hydrangeas with 1 batch of  this frosting. It makes a lot! 

Ingredients

• 2 pound bag of powdered sugar
• 1 stick of salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup of regular vegetable shortening  Do not use pre-creamed shortening, it is too soft.
• 1/2 cup of strawberry puree - about 6 large strawberries
• 2-3 Tablespoons of cold water

Directions

• Puree 6 large strawberries using a mini-food chopper, blender, or food processor
• Pour the pureed strawberries into a measuring cup. You should have 1/2 cup of puree. If you have a little more or a little less, don't worry. It doesn't have to be exact. 
• Place butter and vegetable shortening into a large mixing bowl
• Beat the butter and shortening until they are blended and creamy, about 2-3 minutes
• Add half of the powdered sugar, and 1 Tbsp of cold water
• Beat at low speed until most of the sugar is blended with the butter/shortening mixture.
• Add remaining sugar and the strawberry puree to the frosting.
• Beat at low speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl once or twice. 
• If you feel the frosting is too thick, you can add a Tablespoons of cold water and beat on low for a minute or two.  

Remember the frosting/filling will soften up a little from being at room temperature. You want it to hold its shape when you are piping flowers. 

For the roses I made a small batch of my butter cream frosting using the recipe below.

This is my favorite butter cream frosting!

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp of salted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening Do not use pre-creamed shortening.
• 1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. raspberry extract
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 lb. of confectioners sugar

Directions

• Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl.
• Beat on low speed for 2-3 minutes
• Add half of the powdered sugar and both extracts.
• Beat on low speed until the sugar almost blended with the butter-shortening mixture
• Add the remaining powdered sugar and the water.
• Beat at low speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl once or twice. 

You will need to divide and tint your frosting the colors you want.