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Dozen Flours

Sincere Acts of Sweetness

November 16, 2008

A Ladybug Lullaby


About a month or so ago, an colleague of mine "put in her order" for two dozen cupcakes and one mom-to-be cake for a baby shower she was hosting. She gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted, with the exception that they had to have pink and brown ladybugs. I have been so excited to make them I think I got a little carried away...

Sixteen of the cupcakes had a ladybug and eight didn't. I did this to help break up the monotony and give me the opportunity to do add a few alternative designs. Every cupcake was a little bit different, with no two exactly the same. Assembly of each cupcake averaged about half and hour.
I made the ladybugs and flowers out of gum paste and the branches, mushrooms, and everything else out of fondant. Since the mom-to-be was a huge chocoholic, a used a dark chocolate brownie cupcake recipe from Guittard (it was on the back of the box of wafers!).

I was a bit fearful that the cupcakes were a bit over baked, so I topped them all with a generous dollop of dark chocolate ganache to add a bit of moisture and keep them from drying out. On top of that I piped a small amount of light pink vanilla buttercream and topped that with a thin disk of fluted-edged fondant on which I built the ladybug-scape. I like building the scene on the fondant because it's easy to just lift off the cupcake if the recipient doesn't want to eat the decorations on top.

I made all the ladybugs first since I knew they would take a while to fully dry. Their little antanne were made from non-edible flower stamens. I really didn't want to use something inedible but I just couldn't find an alternative. After that made about 75 flowers of different shapes, colors, and sizes. Once they had dried fully, I trimmed them all to get rid of any straggly edges and hand painted several of them to give them some personality.

As I sit here looking at the photos, I am a bit amazed that I made them. While they did take over my kitchen for the better part of a week, I am beyond thrilled with how they came out. I'm actually at a loss for words...

27 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. These are really amazing and adorable. Great work!

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  3. oh my gosh!! those are adorable! what a lucky, lucky girl to get those cupcakes (and the freakin cute cake)!!!! I LOVE them!! You have to open a shop. Or go on that cake competition show on Food Network. This is just beautiful!

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  4. I'm at a loss for words! I think those are the most enchanting cupcakes ever. My three-year-old just walked in while I was looking at the pictures and said, "Wow! Can we make those?" Um, that's a no!

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  5. You are a VERY talented lady.

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  6. Awe, I am in awe! I have noticed a lot of pink/brown....aqua/brown color schemes must be the "in" thing.

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  7. Julia, PLEASE tell me you charged for labor on this one!!! Your best work yet I think.

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  8. Ampersand - Thank you!

    Heather - oh thank you! I am mightly proud of these guys but I think I have a lot more learning to do before I enter any contests. :-)

    Lulu - your comment is so sweet and funny too. You have me a chuckle! Thank you!

    Daniel - thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving me such a great comment. I hope all is well with you.

    keanalee - you're right! I'm doing another baby shower next month that's an aqua and tan theme. I can hardly wait to dive in! Thanks for leaving me a comment!

    Amandalin - I think these might be my best work yet too, thank you for saying that. And I did get paid for my supplies :-)

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  9. I love these!! These are amazing, great attention to detail!

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  10. Oh MY!!! That's it...I'm so getting pregnant and moving to your neighborhood! :)

    Seriously...the cake and cupcakes are so precious! The detail on those cupcakes is amazing...it looks like a fairyland in that cupcake box!

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  11. I am TOTALLY impressed! So glad that you're sharing you baking ventures with all of us!

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  12. Julia, that is incredible!! I can't believe how darlin' those little ladies are and the flowers, too!!! I really am awe struck. Your photos came out so well. Good job.

    Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope that your customer realizes that she got the biggest bargain of her life because I know you couldn't have charged enough. You are way too kind which means good thing will always come your way.
    ~ingrid

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  13. Those are just wonderful! I have even more respect for you after I had my first try with gumpaste this weekend, golly its trickier than it looks.

    I'm also looking out for people to bake for to get more experience and I'll definitely be charging at cost too.

    How do you package your cakes? It seems like the boxes are pricey. If you have any ideas about that I'd love to hear them...

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  14. OOOHHHHH MY GOODNESS!!!! These are so cute!!!! I love them. You did such a marvelous job putting them together. Way to go Julia!!!

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  15. They are so beautiful that i dn't want to eat them but keep wwatching them.
    You really really need to enter these in cupcake contest or cake contest..i am sure u will win!!!
    Also i believe it's a time for you to open a cake shop!!!

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  16. Inspiring! They are MARVELOUS! I love them so much.

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  17. These are the cutest cupcakes I ever saw!

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  18. Thanks so much for your sweet comment on my blog! I am actually thinking about making some sort of DVD, so we will see if it happens. Anyways, that cake and cupcakes you did were adorable!!! Great job!

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  19. OMG! That is just stunning!

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  20. I bake and decorate wedding cakes, and do all things fondant and fun. But I can honestly say those are THE cutest, best, most incredible cupcakes I have ever seen! You, my dear, have a gift!

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  21. Those ladybugs are beyond cute. You have some serious skillz lady.

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  22. Julia,

    All I can say is WOW...WOW...WOW! I am constantly amazed at your talent!!!!
    Thanks for sharing!!!

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  23. Those are just ridiculously cute. Ridiculously. Not to mention beautiful. I'm highly jealous. :)

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  24. I jumped over from No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner to see your wonderful work. Very, very cool!! I love the tip about practicing with Play Doh!!!! Awesome!

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  25. So cute - you are very creative!

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  26. I was the lucky Mom to be and these were so cute. They were the center point of the shower. Everyone took pictures. Thank you for making these we all knew you must have put a lot of work into them.

    Dawn

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  27. So cute! I'm new to your website and the amount of time and skill in each of your creations astounds me, but this one definitely tops it!

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