Pretty in Pink Cupcake Decorating at CW Cakes

It has been another scorcher in Melbourne today - even though I am a Queensland girl, I am feeling the heat.  Of course, I chose today to book into a cupcake decorating class!!  Luckily, the classroom was airconditioned, so the class offered a short reprieve from the relentless heat that we have been experiencing.

Once again, the class was at CW Cakes in Malvern, and the teacher was once again the cheerful Ella.  I did not learn any new techniques in this class, but it was a good way to consolidate my existing knowledge and make some cute cupcakes.The base cupcakes were pink and white swirl butter cakes, and the flat fondant iced cakes were prepped with a coating of buttercream.

First up was a buttercream swirl topped by a fondant butterfly made using stamper cutters, dried in a folded position over a styrofoam block so that it "flies": 

 
Next, there is a lovely bow made using a silicone mould (tips - use half as much fondant as you think you'll need to press into the mould, roll a sauasage to fill the top of the bow and work it with your fingers to fill the rest, and don't allow any fondant to overhang the edge of the mould shape), sitting prettily atop a fondant disc patterned using an impression mat: 

 

Here is a bird made using a silicone mould, sitting in a stencilled (using royal icing) and be-glittered cage:

The next cupcake is a garden of roses and green cachous nestled in a buttercream swirl:

We made another stencilled cupcake, this time feauturing a cupcake:

And finally, there is my favourite, the pink gerbera on a black background with balck cachous for the centre glued on with sugar glue:

It was a lot of fun doing this class, although I think that to keep learning, I will have to move on from the cupcake classes.

Hope you are having a great weekend!