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MEET YOUR NEW FAVOURITE SWEET TREAT: DIY SUCCULENT & CACTUS CUPCAKES!
You guys are in for a real treat today, metaphorically of course, I can’t physically give you these sweet treats but the good news is that you can easily whip yourself up a batch because Jenni from Two Little Cats Bakery is here to tell you how! These cactus and succulent cupcakes would make the perfect wedding favour, or maybe you could serve them up at a bridal shower?! Either way, I can tell you first hand that they’re absolutely delicious and they’re just about the prettiest darn cupcakes I’ve ever seen!
YOU WILL NEED:
12 cupcakes (we used vanilla but you can use your favourite flavour!) // Buttercream icing // Fondant icing // Green food colouring // Crushed up biscuits (go for a digestive or ginger nut if you want a lighter ‘sand’ or Oreo if you want something that looks more like soil) // Piping bags and nozzles // Cocktail sticks // White sprinkles // Flower cutters //
FOR THE CACTUS CUPCAKES….
1. Bake 12 cupcakes in any flavour you like and leave to cool completely
2. Crumble up 3 of the cupcakes with your hands into a bowl and set aside
3. Take the 9 remaining cupcakes, and spread or pipe some buttercream on top (you don’t need too much)
4. Dip the iced cupcakes into the biscuit crumbs to make them look like they are covered in sand. Make sure you give them a good roll around in those crumbs to get all the edges.
5. In your bowl of cake crumbs, add a small amount of buttercream (about a teaspoon) and mix them together – use those hands, just make sure they’re clean! If you can easily roll the mixture into a ball in your hand and it keeps it shape then you’ve got enough buttercream. If your mix is still too dry, and a little more buttercream and repeat. Don’t be tempted to add loads at once – you need less than you might think.
6. Start rolling your mix into the rough shape you want your cactus to be. Most cacti will start off either as a ball, a flattened ball, or a stumpy sausage. Don’t make them too big – if you’re not sure then hold it against your cupcakes to check you’re happy with the size. When you’ve used up your mix put them on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof and put them in the fridge to harden.
7. Once they’ve firmed up take them out of the fridge and gently insert a cocktail stick into the bottom of each one. Then push the other end of the cocktail stick into a cupcake.
8. Fill up a piping bag with green buttercream icing. Play around with different nozzles to achieve different looks, or just snip the end of the bag and go for it!
9. On the tall cacti we used either a leaf nozzle or no nozzle and worked from the bottom up to the top all the way around. If you end up with too much icing on the very top, carefully use a knife to swipe off the excess.
10. For the others we used small closed star nozzles and piped little ‘bursts’ all over the cacti
11. To finish them off we used white sprinkles to create the ‘spikes’ and cut small flowers out of fondant to place on the cacti.
FOR THE SUCCULENT CUPCAKES…
1. Ice and dip the cupcakes in biscuit sand
2. Using green fondant and flower cutters cut out shapes in various sizes
3. Using your fingers, pinch the ends of each petal to make them pointed
4. Dab a little bit of water in to the centre of the largest and stick the next size down on top
5. Repeat until you have built up your succulent
6. Leave to harden a little in a cupcake case to keep its shape
7. Use a little blob of buttercream on the bottom of the succulent to attach it to your cupcake
8. To make the mini succulents, just cut out one small flower shape. Cut a slit from one petal into the centre and then roll the petals around each other.
You may have also spotted a cute terrarium in the photos! If you want to make one of these too here’s how…
FOR THE TERRARIUM…
Use your edible cacti and succulents to make an edible terrarium! Just take a shallow, clear dish and layer up anything you fancy. We found these work really well:
– Chocolate cake
– Chocolate buttercream
– Crumbled biscuits
– Crumbled oreos
– Chocolate ganache
– Caramel
Just make sure you finish on a biscuit layer to give it that sand/soil look! Add your edible cacti and you’re done!
HOW GODDAM CUTE ARE THEY ALL?! Don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with Two Little Cats Bakery then you can follow them on instagram here, twitter here or like them on Facebook here! They make the most amazing unicorn cupcakes too, believe me you’re gonna wanna see them! Happy Friday guys! xxx
