Ladybird Cupcakes

I can't believe I've been blogging for almost 2 years now and have never made Ladybird Cupcakes before now! Well today's post addresses this most despicable oversight in Diary of a Ladybird's archives, and hopefully this mini-tutorial will guide you through how you can make them too.

The inspiration for these comes from the Planet Cake decorating book by Paris Cutler.

Bake your cupcakes

Bake your cupcake of choice. I chose my favourite chocolate cupcake/cake recipe, but you could also go for a classic vanilla cupcake.



Ganache the cupcakes

Using your ganache of choice, roughly ganache the tops of the cooled cupcakes. Allow to set for at least half an hour, then smooth over with a palette knife dipped in hot water to create a perfectly smooth and even cupcake surface. Allow to set for at least an hour, and once dry to touch they are ready for decorating.

Cover with black fondant
To cover and decorate the fondant you will need black and red fondant, as well as a very small amount of white fondant. Roll out your black fondant to a 3mm thickness, and cut out circles with a circle cutter to fit the top of your cupcakes. Lay and smooth the fondant on top of the cupcake.

Decorate with fondant
Now the fun part of decorating begins! Thinly roll out your red fondant and using the same circle cutter you used for the black fondant, cut out the same number of red circles. Then using the cutter, cut a small piece out of the circle, then split the larger portion in half with a sharp knife. The picture below should hopefully explain what I mean here...

Using the two larger pieces, dab/brush a small amount of water on the reverse of each and lay them on top of the cupcakes with the red pieces (wings) splayed apart slightly. Discard the remaining piece of red fondant.



Using a small circle cutter, cut out the ladybird spots from some rolled black fondant and attach them to the wings with a tiny amount of water dabbed beneath each spot.

Make the final touches

To make the ladybirds' eyes, roll tiny balls of white fondant and attach them to the cupcake (with a tiny touch of water if necessary). For the pupil in each, use a very fine paintbrush and a little black food dye.

Finally, press part of the end of a plastic straw (or a clean plastic pen cap) to create the smile indent in each ladybird's face.

So there you have it - simple and beautiful ladybird cupcakes. I don't know about you, but I find their little faces so cute that I can't help but smile back at them! :)

Till next time, dear readers...
 
Ladybird x

PS- Remember my salted caramel, peanut and chocolate tarts? I've entered my recipe into the Lurpak Callenge and I'd really appreciate your support in the final days of voting.  To vote for my original recipe, please click here!

The Institute of Cute, Byron Bay (and a giveaway!)

I often get asked about the reasoning behind the name of my blog. People as: Why Diary of a Ladybird? My response is always pretty straightforward - I just love ladybirds.. I always have!

And so given my 'mild obsession', as I call it, it was only common sense that whilst in Byron Bay that I visited The Institute of Cute, often referred to as 'the ladybird shop' by those who have visited it previously. I had heard about this concept store and gallery from a friend last year and was very much looking forward to visiting during my recent trip.

The store and gallery opened in 2007 is the creation of Jane Davenport, a multi-award winning photographic artist and designer with a passion for ladybirds! As Chief Artomologist, Jane's mission is to "create cute and FUNctional design and artwork to make you dream". If you ask me, she is most certainly succeeding in her mission - I was simply blown away by the store!

The front of the store is filled with all sorts of ladybird and bug paraphenalia - clothing, jewellery, placemat sets, pens, toothbrush guards, you name it, it's there - and all designed by Jane herself. Without doubt, I was in ladybird heaven! I hope you can get an idea of what is what like by these pictures...

And towards the back of the store, a beautiful gallery feauturing Jane's latests works, prints and books, as well as art supplies.

So if you're ever in Byron Bay, do stop by and check out The Instiute of Cute - it's worth a visit! Until then, why not check out the website.

And without further delay, it's GIVEAWAY time!

Thanks to Jane Davenport and The Institute of Cute in Byron Bay, one lucky Diary of a Ladybird reader has the chance to win this lovely gift set from the store, including a fold away ladybird bag, ladybird monitor cleaner and signed copy of Jane's book Ladybird Ladybird.

To enter, all you had to do is leave a comment telling me why you love ladybirds (and I'm premusing you do of course!). Then, email me a copy of your comment along with your full name and postal address to: diaryofaladybird[at]gmail[dot]com.

Entries close on Sunday, July 10. This competition is restricted to Australian residents only (sorry!).

This competition has now closed. Congratulations to The InTolerant Chef!

Good luck!

Ladybird x

The Institute of Cute
58 Jonson St, Byron Bay
(02) 6880 8550
http://instituteofcute.com.au/

Cupcake Decorating Class

A couple of months ago I started looking for somewhere to learn more about cupcake decorating, and with that I set about my cyberspace hunt for cupake decorating classes in Sydney.... and then I came across a blog called Wee Love Baking. I was immediately impressed by Sharon's talent and skill in cake decoarting, especially with cupcakes. Then I started reading some of her earlier posts and saw that she held private cupcake decorating classes!

The search was over, and so I contacted Sharon to ask her about my friend and I doing a class with her. She said yes, and Jacqui and I arranged to have a private class with her. We were delighted, and started counting down the days till our class :)

So yesterday that day finally arrived, and Jacqui and I headed for Sharon's place in the city, ready to start the class at 11am. We started by talking about the theme for our cupcakes, and we thought that a Spring theme would be nice. Little animals, pastel colours, flowers, etc.

Of course, one of my favourite parts of the class was learning how to make ladybirds... All the materials (incl. actual cupcakes) were provided as part of the course fee. We decorated a set of 12 cupcakes each, and we were so happy with how they turned out!

I learnt so much about working with fondant - it is not as difficult as I imagined it might be, and it was really fun! On top of being just lovely, Sharon is a great teacher with lots of useful tips, and seeing some of her work was truly inspiring. I can't wait to go and get some materials for myself so that I can start getting creative at home.

Sharon is a full-time marketer by day, and cake decorating extraordinaire by every other waking moment! She recently started her own business doing custom designed cakes, cupcakes and cookies. To check out Sharon Wee Creations, go to: http://www.sharonwee.com.au/

Love,

Ladbird xxx

Ps - Thank you to Sharon for sending these pics through!