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This week I entered a cupcake contest. I did not win. Mostly because my entry didn’t even make it to the voting round. But that’s okay, because the other entries were pretty rad. Still, I thought you might like to see what I’ve been up to lately…
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As far as crafts go, this is about as easy as it gets. But you should know that the tiny ballerina cupcake toppers are just that – tiny. They are only a couple of inches tall from head to toe. So if you don’t like finicky, elf-sized projects, walk away.
You will need:
We will be using these super difficult to understand terms in this tutorial:
Key to this project is finding the right artificial flowers for the job. I took my little ballerina with me to the craft store so I could find flowers that had petals that were an appropriate length and width for tutu decorating. I managed to find some very small flowers, and then chose my paints and glitter to match.
Begin by painting the bodice and tutu of your ballerina in your chosen autumn colour. I used a rusty colour. This may require more than one coat of paint. Please refer to the photo above if you are unable to locate the bodice and tutu. Don’t forget to paint the underside of the tutu – most dancers don’t parade around in crotchless costumes.
Paint the tiara and pointe shoes gold. Her shoes might be hard to define – just glob some paint on there. (Oh, and you could use another colour if you like.)
Snip the petals off the flowers and apply around the tutu. This takes some patience – you have to find just the right petal to fit each section of the tutu. Let the petals hang slightly over the outer edge of the tutu. You will have to hold each petal in place until the glue sets slightly – which makes this a great activity to do whilst watching romantic comedies on a Saturday night. You could place the petals close together or have them overlapping. It’s up to you!
Finally, apply glue to the bodice, and then sprinkle on the glitter. After the glue has dried, brush off any excess glitter with a small paint brush. You don’t want glitter falling into your cupcakes. (Bleck.)
That’s it! You can use your toppers on top of cupcakes or cakes, or act out scenes from your favourite ballet with them. (Actually, don’t do that – it’s way creepy.)
Note: when you buy ballerina cupcake toppers, you will notice that they come with loads of imperfections – the paint will be absent in places, gooped on in others. I’m not sure what happens in the manufacturing process; I believe kittens are involved. If there are annoying paint smears in places, you can gently scrape them off with something sharp – I used an unfolded paperclip. Bear in mind that this means other stuff can be scraped off your ballerinas as well – including anything YOU put on ‘em. Handle them with care.
Disclaimer
I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that these cupcake toppers aren’t edible. DON’T EAT THESE CUPCAKE TOPPERS, DOOFUS. Also, they aren’t suitable for small children. Because they will eat them.
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Welcome back to the Ballerina Bakeshop! Today’s special? Cinderella-inspired pumpkin cupcakes topped with a brown sugar cream cheese frosting. Get it? Because the Fairy Godmother turns a pumpkin into Cinderella’s carriage? That kind of tie-in is art, people. And just in case you’re confused, that little ballerina on top of the cupcake is the Autumn Fairy. Now, I’m pretty sure you’ve all heard the story of Cinderella, but you might not be as familiar with the Autumn Fairy. That’s because in the ballet version of any story, we like to throw in extra (random) characters. Mostly fairies – we really like to throw those in. So, in Cinderella, you’ll find the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter fairies. Frankly, in many versions of the ballet, the Autumn Fairy has a crap-ass costume. So, she’s pretty forgettable.
I’m not going to tell you the story of Cinderella. I’ll leave that sort of storytelling for ballets you might not be as familiar with – the ones with weird names and stuff. But I will tell you that the step-sisters in this ballet are usually played by dudes (en travestie, or in parody). When you’re casting your own version of the ballet, you might want to cast girls in the roles – and then tell them that you chose them because they “look enough like men to pull it off.”
I think you’re going to like these cupcakes. We’re talkin’ brown butter, friends. These fairy cakes are moist and gently spiced, and the brown butter adds some depth and nuttiness to the mix. (If you’re not sure how to brown butter, click here or here or watch this video - it’s easier than cramming your foot into a glass slipper.) The cream cheese frosting isn’t overly sweet – and the brown sugar plays well with the pumpkin in the cupcake. Both recipes are super easy to throw together – you could bake ‘em, hook up with Prince Charming at a ball, and still make it home before midnight.
FYI, in some versions of Cinderella, it is the Autumn Fairy who turns the pumpkin into a gorgeous carriage for Cinderella. See how I did that again? Autumn Fairy? Fall colours? Pumpkin? PUMPKIN CUPCAKES? This stuff freakin’ writes itself.
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Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes {Autumn Fairy Cupcakes} – adapted in the barest of ways from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes - print and bake
Yields about 16 cupcakes.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line standard sized tins with cupcake liners.
Begin by browning the butter. Skim foam from the top and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind. Set aside and let cool.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs and the browned butter. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake wells, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean. After about five minutes, remove cupcakes from tins and allow to cool completely on wire racks.
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Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting {Autumn Fairy Frosting} – from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes - print and make
With an electric/stand mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 3 days in an airtight container before using. (If using post refrigeration, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)
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As far as crafts go, this is about as easy as it gets. But you should know that the wee ballerina cupcake toppers are just that – wee. So if you don’t like finicky, elf-sized projects, or if you have gargantuan fingers, walk away. You’ve been warned.
Black Swan Cupcake Toppers
You will need:
We will be using these super difficult to understand terms in this tutorial:
First, paint the bodices and tutus of your ballerinas black. This may require more than one coat of paint. Please refer to the photo above if you are unable to locate the bodice and tutu. Don’t forget to do the underside – most dancers don’t parade around in crotchless tutus. If you can’t find the underside of the tutu, I have shown you an example in the photo below. (On the right.)
You might want to paint her tiara as well. Actually, do it. Don’t be weird.
Now, you could stop right there, and your black swan would look top drawer. Or, you could use a small paint brush to apply glue to the bodice and tiara, and then sprinkle on some black glitter. I didn’t do the tutu, but you could.
After the glue has dried, brush off any excess glitter with a small paint brush. You don’t want glitter falling into your cupcakes. (Bleck.) You could also feather her tutu – as I did for the white swans (see tutorial below) – but I wanted my black swans to be sleeker than the white. I’m sure you are relatively mature, and can make this decision for yourself. If you require help with this decision, please request assistance in the comment section.
White Swan Cupcake Toppers
You will need :
Begin as you did for the black swans – paint the tutus and bodices white, including the underside of the tutu. If you cannot find the tutu, bodice and/or underside of the tutu, please refer to the black swan tutorial up above. This step will likely require multiple coats of paint, depending on the paint’s coverage and the original colour of the ballerina. Don’t paint the tiara – leave it silver.
Paint on the headpiece – it’s an essential part of the white swan costume. Paint a band of feathers extending from the front of her head back to her bun. See below if you are confused.
Use a small paint brush to apply glue to the bodice, and then sprinkle on some glitter. After the glue has dried, brush off any excess glitter with a small paint brush. Again, you don’t want glitter falling into your cupcakes.
It is time to feather the tutu. Do not feather the tutu unless you want teeny-tiny feather bits all over your house. They will be on your clothes, the floor, your cats, the walls… Do not email me to inform me that you got teeny-tiny feather bits all over your house. Deal with it yourself.
Use scissors to cut very short, teeny-tiny floofy bits of feather. Bits of feather will fly everywhere. Collect the feather bits in a container. Do not do this by an open window. Trust me.
Apply glue to the tutu and then sprinkle and gently press the feather bits all over it. It will be very floofy. See the hairy swan below.
After the glue has dried, use a small pair of scissors to trim the excess feathers off the tutu. Then use a wee paint brush to brush the excess feather bits off. You could do this outdoors. I wouldn’t do it if there are birds around.
Place finished toppers on top of a cake, cupcakes, or use to act out deleted scenes from Swan Lake:
Note
When you buy ballerina cupcake toppers, you will notice that they come with loads of imperfections – the paint will be absent in places, gooped on in others. I’m not sure what happens in the manufacturing process; I believe monkeys are involved. Let’s call the imperfections charming. If there are annoying paint smears in places, you can gently scrape them off with something sharp – I use an unfolded paperclip. Bear in mind that this means other stuff can be scraped off your ballerinas as well – including anything YOU put on ‘em. Handle them with care.
Disclaimer
I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that these cupcake toppers aren’t edible. DON’T EAT THESE CUPCAKE TOPPERS, DOOFUS. Also, they aren’t suitable for small children. Because they will eat them.
Speaking of eating, here are the links for the Black Swan Cupcakes and White Swan Cupcakes
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Have you been wondering what happens next in Swan Lake? (You know about google, right?) Well, sit yerself down and I’ll tell you. Oh, and if you can’t remember the first part of the story (at least, the way I tell it), you can click right here to get caught up.
When we last talked, there was a Royal Ball, and Prince Siegfried was supposed to be findin’ himself a wife. We’re hoping he’ll pledge eternal love to Odette so she won’t have to thrash around anymore. However, von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, has given his daughter, Odile, a major makeover, so she looks just like Odette. His plan is to trick Siegfried into hookin’ up with the wrong gal. Remember?
So, Odette (the white swan) is watching the Royal Ball from a window; watching Prince Siegfried gettin’ his jive on with Odile (the black swan), and probably thinking: what a dunce. She tries to warn Siegfried with flapping and such – hoping he’ll remain faithful to her – but then Siegfried is all: I love you, to Odile. Sigh. Because the doofus thinks she’s Odette. So, Odette basically throws her wings up in the air and heads back to the lake. After some time – and a bunch of dancing – Siegfried is all: wait… what? And von Rothbart is all: oh, yah, you just told Odile there that you’ll love her forever, so now you gots to marry her, and Odette is going to be a swan forever! And Siegfried is all: oh crap.
Back at the lake, Odette and the other swans are all sad and stuff, because the the spell cast upon them can’t be broken now that doofus has pledged his eternal love to the wrong girl. Prince Siegfried finds the swans on the shore consoling one another. He’s all: Odette! Von Rothbart tricked me! And she’s all: okay, honest mistake. Because everyone in this ballet has the attention span of a fruit fly, and really wants to get married/not be a bird anymore. But then Odette tells Siegfried that she’ll be a swan forever – because of his huge-ass mistake.
Von Rothbart and Odile show up, and von Rothbart tells Siegfried that he must marry Odile – because he stamped it red hot, black magic, no erasies and stuff. And, as all too often is the case, a fight breaks out. A ballet fight! Which is basically a lot of kicking, fake jabbing and the occasional pirouette.
Post-fight, Prince Siegfried tells von Rothbart that he would rather drop dead than marry Odile. And then Odette laments that death is the only way for her to be free from the spell, and truth be told, she’d rather croak than live without Siegfried. So, à la Thelma and Louise, Siegfried and Odette jump into the lake and die. Their sacrifice destroys von Rothbart’s powers, and frees the other girl-swans from the spell. And then? Those gals basically lose it, and drive von Rothbart and Odile into the water where they, too, drown. Oh, and then the spirits of Prince Siegfried and Odette ascend into the heavens above Swan Lake.
The end.
Good story, huh? Are you wondering why von Rothbart cast the spell on Odette and the other swans in the first place? Join the club. No one seems to know. Dude be trippin’. Also, there are a lot of alternate endings – different people die, or don’t die, in each version. The ending I told you is just the ending I like.
If you’re feeling a little depressed about the death and stuff, you might want to shove a cupcake in your face. These here White Swan Cupcakes are of the orange-infused sort, and they are topped with a cream cheese frosting. A bitter-sweet combination – like the story of the white swan. She finds her prince, but they… you know… die. The cupcakes have a gentle orange flavour, and are very moist. The cream cheese frosting pairs perfectly with the citrus, and doesn’t need any fancy piping tools – just smear it on. These are my favourite cupcakes right now – seriously good. But this is just a concept. You see, you could make any sort of cupcake you like, and then top it with your favourite frosting. I’d go with something white(ish), but that’s just me.
Making the toppers is mega easy. As in: you could just take a look at the photos and figure it out. But I’ll be back soon with a tutorial on the easiest craft ever.
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Orange Cupcakes {White Swan Cupcakes} – adapted from Mary Margaret McBride’s Encyclopedia of Cooking 1958, Volume 3 - print and bake
Yields about 18 cupcakes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin wells with muffin liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
In the large bowl of your stand mixer, on medium speed, beat the butter and orange rind together until light (about 3 minutes). Add the sugar gradually and continue to beat until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Mix the orange juice and evaporated milk together (I like to use a large measuring cup). Set aside.
Add the 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix to combine. Add 1/2 of the orange juice mixture, mixing to combine. Add another third of the flour mixture, mixing to combine. Add the remainder of the orange juice mixture, again mixing to combine. Finally, add the last of the flour mixture, mixing until fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with each addition of ingredients.
Fill muffin wells 2/3 full and bake for about 13 – 16 minutes – until golden and a cake tester inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.
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Cream Cheese Frosting {White Swan Frosting} - print and frost
Place the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer, and mix at medium speed for about 3 minutes. The mixture should be very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add about 2 cups of the icing sugar and the vanilla extract. Mix on low speed (to avoid icing sugar clouds in your kitchen) and then increase the speed to medium, mixing until the frosting has a smooth consistency. Add more icing sugar – just a little at at time – until you get your desired consistency – this will also change the sweetness of the frosting.
Spread over top of cupcakes or a cake.
