Ease of preparation: Complex

Yield: 1 large bouquet

 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

2/3 cup (160 ml) butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups (360 ml) sugar

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 cups (480 ml) flour

2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder

¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt

1 cup (240 ml) yogurt

½ cup (120 ml) milk

 

Buttercream icing

1 ½ cups (360 ml) butter, room temperature

5 cups (1.2 l) icing sugar

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

3 tablespoons (45 ml) heavy cream

Pink gel food colouring

Purple gel food colouring

Yellow gel food colouring

Green gel food colouring

Blue gel food colouring

 

Special Equipment

2 piping bags fitted with star tips

Piping bag with a petal tip

Piping bag with leaf tip

Wide-mouth vase, bowl, or trifle bowl

Tissue paper

Medium styrofoam ball

Wooden skewers

 

Method:

Let’s get baking!

 

To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).

 

Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla and mix in. Add eggs one at a time and mix in.

 

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing to combine. Mix in yogurt and milk.

 

Add cupcake liners to a muffin pan. Pour batter into liners ¾ full. Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

 

Let cool.

 

To make the buttercream icing, beat butter with icing sugar. Add vanilla. Add cream a bit at a time, mixing until consistency is thick and smooth. Divide into 5 bowls.

 

Leave 1 bowl white. Using food colouring, mix the 2nd bowl pink. Mix the 3rd bowl purple. Mix the 4th bowl yellow. Mix the 5th bowl green.

 

To make the pink roses, add the pink icing to a piping bag with a star tip. Use the star tip and pipe a spiral from inside out to cover the top of the cupcake.

 

Repeat using the yellow icing to make the yellow roses.

 

To make the daisies, add the white icing to a piping bag with a petal tip. Use the petal tip to pipe small petals around the outside and moving into the centre, covering the top of the cupcake. Use the yellow icing in the piping bag with the star tip to pipe a centre.

 

To make the hydrangeas, line a piping bag fitted with a star tip with blue food colouring. Fill it with purple icing. Use the start tip to pipe little stars next to each other all over the top of the cupcake.

 

To finish, line a vase, bowl, or trifle bowl with tissue paper. Place the styrofoam ball inside. Fit skewers into the styrofoam – each skewer will hold a cupcake. Place each cupcake carefully onto a skewer. Fill a piping bag fitted with the leaf tip with green icing. Fill gaps between cupcakes by piping leaves.