Cupcake Bouquet

For Valentine's Day I wanted to surprise my sweetheart with something edible, cute, and totally different from other Valentine's day treats I have made for him in the past (brownie chocolate box or conversation heart cake).  I came across The Cindy's Confections Blog that gave a little tutorial on how to make a cupcake flower bouquet.  I was intrigued and wanted to give it a go, especially after making this cupcake topiary for part of my daughters' birthday party in October.  

First step:  bake about 35 mini cupcakes.  That gave me enough to cover my flower pot with a couple leftover.  I chose 4 different flower designs for this arrangement--you can do more or less depending on your preference.  I used tip 81 for the green mums, tip 1M for the pink roses, tips 104 and 233 for the yellow sunflowers, and tip 2D for the pink/yellow hydrangeas.  Looking back I should have taken the extra step to color some icing brown for the sunflower centers, but I was rushed for time and couldn't bring myself to dirty another icing bag, so green it was--still cute but maybe not quite as real looking.

I snagged that pot leftover from my cupcake topiary, filled it with rocks to weigh it down, then took 8 styrofoam bowls, which I used for the top.  Sit one bowl right side up, put the other 7 upside down on top of the first bowl, and tape them together.  Then cover it all with green tissue paper, and put it on top of the pot. I used a piece of clear tape to go around the pot and anchor the bowls to the base.

Then comes the fun part--arranging the flowers. I used 2 toothpicks per cupcake to attach them to the bouquet.  Stick the toothpicks in the bowls first, then carefully poke the cupcake onto the toothpicks.

I started at the base and worked my way up to the top, trying to get them as close as possible to each other.

There still were some little gaps here and there, so I took the advise of that tutorial I mentioned above and got some fake floral leaves to help fill it in and make it look even more real (real flower bouquets usually have greenery, right?)

And that is it.  I was so excited for Chris to get home from work that day and see his bouquet of flowers sitting on the table.  He thought they were beautiful...but more importantly he thought they were delicious.

After all, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right?!