Baby Boy cupcakes

In my world, when a new baby enters the world, one of the many gifts it must be showered with is cupcakes. Cakes are the food of celebrations and a new baby is definitely something to celebrate.

Of course, the new born won’t actually be involved in the consumption of their gift, but the well deserving parents will be, and to be honest the cakes are really just for them.

I’m no stranger to making New Baby Cupcakes as I had made some very similar to these last year for my Nephew, however as the well-known saying suggests “practice makes perfect” and as I get more confident in my cake decorating I’m really happy with how these turned out. I didn’t want them to be exactly the same so added a few new techniques into the mix to give them some difference.

In my previous Baby Boy Cupcakes post, I shared my top tips and advice on working with fondant icing. In this post I will be giving a detailed step-by-step guide in how to create the design.

So let’s get going…

Makes 12 cupcake decorations

Decorating time: 1 hour

200g white royal icing

Icing sugar for dusting

Sugarflair paste colours;

Navy A111

Paprika A118

Decorating Tools

Rolling pin

8cm cookie cutter

Embossing roller

Plastic straw

Preparation, steady hands and patience are my three big musts when working with fondant icing, so with this always in mind I will prepare each piece of decoration in advance before I begin to assemble. I find this helps eliminate any mistakes and I feel completely in control of the task ahead.

For the skin: to make a pale nude colour you literally need no more than a pin head of the Paprika dye. Use too much and you will be making baby Umpa Lumpas, so don’t dive in with the colour, use tiny bits at a time and build it up. Cut roughly half of your white fondant (leave a little white) and knead the colour in so it is evenly mixed then dust your surface with a little icing sugar and roll it out so it 1-2mm thick. For the noses use any excess icing to shape 12 small pieces into balls.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles leave place them to one side on an icing sugar dusted surface and out of direct sunlight.

For the hat: Take the other half of white fondant and add little touch of navy dye. Knead the colour in, adding more if required until you have a baby blue colour.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out 6 circles as you did with the skin, then cut each of those in half. Trim 1cm off the bottom of the circle to make the rim of the hat. Using a knife make little indent lines across to give it some detail.

With your excess icing, shape 12 small pieces into balls for your hat bobbles, then another 12 slightly large balls for your dummies.

For the dummies: Flatten the shaped balls into discs. Take a small amount of your blue icing and add a touch more Navy dye to make it a darker blue. Knead the colour in then shape into smaller balls to make the dummy handles.

To assemble: Begin my icing each of your cupcakes with a thin layer of buttercream. Try to avoid the sides as you do not want any buttercream spilling over when you lay on your fondant. Next lay your nude circles on top of the cupcakes and smooth them round to the edges of the cupcake cases.

Using a small brush (or your finger) dab some water to the top of your circles to stick on your hats, then dab some more onto the hat to stick on the hat rims and bobbles.

To make your eyes, gently push a small straw into the icing to make indents then push a small piece of white fondant in to each hole. Add colour by dabbing some navy dye onto the white fondant with the end of a paint brush (or a toothpick). Take your small nude balls and stick them just under the eyes for the nose, then your blue discs to stick just underneath for the dummy. The darker blue dummy handle balls can then be stuck on top to give more detail.

For the final touch, give each little baby rosy cheeks by dipping your little finger into the paprika dye. Remove as much excess as you can by dabbing it onto some left over icing or kitchen roll, then when there is barely anything left on your finger gently rub the dye onto cakes and make them blush.

Quilting: Roll out all the excess blue fondant to 1-2mm thickness then cut out into circles. Using your embossing roller, lightly indent the circle with 3 lines horizontally and then again vertically. Lay the fondant onto the cupcake and smooth round, then using an indenting tool, lightly indent the cake where each of the lines meet.

Bunting: Use scraps of the nude and blue fondant and cut out into triangles. Place the triangles in a ‘U’ formation so they resemble hanging bunting.

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Embossing Roller Tool – In the Wilton Icing tool set from Lakeland

Cookie Cutter – Lakeland

Navy and Paprika Dye – Sugarflair Spectral Dye

My sister is generally very good at giving gifts. From ultimate Soap and Glory gift sets (luckily for her my birthday falls in the Christmas sales) to special Links of London jewellery charms, I’m pleased to say the girl does good. Up until 9 months ago I didn’t think anything would be able to top the Girls Aloud concert tickets I received in Christmas 2010, but then she gave birth last June and presented me with my nephew; the most gorgeous little man who unquestionably outshined them all.

Since that day, in our tiny corner of the digital world, the Instagram and Facebook feeds of friends and family have never been the same. Image posts increased by at least 50%, with likes and shares surpassing all previous records, comments turned into contests of who could post the most heart emoticons in one go, and at not even a week old the boy acquired his very own hashtag #Harleysnoosh. In an ordinary family this would be seen as excessive, but with 3 Aunties, 3 Uncles, EIGHT grandparents, 4 great-grandparents, an array of cousins and of course the very creators themselves, it was always something to be expected.

Photo credit http://www.rlwhitephotography.co.uk/

Photo credit: http://www.rlwhitephotography.co.uk/

Photo credit: http://www.rlwhitephotography.co.uk/

From the day they announced it was a blue one I knew immediately I would be making baby boy cupcakes. In-fact I think I decided to make this design on that very same day in January, so the 6 month wait to June felt like a lifetime. I had so much fun making them though that I’m now eagerly waiting for the next one to arrive so I can do it all over again.

The cupcakes themselves were mocha and vanilla, then to make the decoration I bought plain white fondant icing and dyed it myself with Sugarflair paste gel.

A111 – Navy
A118 – Paprika/Flesh

A tiny amount of Paprika/Flesh on the tip of a toothpick created the perfect nude skin tone, and 2-3 tooth pick dabs of Navy made the blue hat and dummy. For the cheeks I used the Paprika/Flesh again and dabbed my little finger into the paste, then removed excess onto a kitchen paper towel before applying to the cakes.

I created the eyes, by gently pushing through the icing with the end of a straw, not too much though as I didn’t want to cut a hole out completely.

To apply the icing I spread a layer of buttercream onto the cakes first then placed the nude circles onto it. To layer up the fondant icing you simply need to dab water where you want it to stick and then position gently into place.

This was my first time working with fondant icing and I learnt so much in the process. See my top tips and advice below;

Be shy with the colour; but not too shy

It’s tough to know just how much colour paste to add but I found that the more I worked with the fondant icing the more it began to dry out. I was really shy with the navy paste at first as I wanted it to be a pale shade but I went back around 6 times in the end and each time had to knead the colour in. Paste colours are intense so many recommend adding colour a little at a time. I would recommend getting a good pinch of colour on your toothpick to start and dab it all over the ball of icing, then knead it in and wait 10 minutes. The colour develops more after 10 minutes you’ll know if you need to add a little more.

Work quickly

As mentioned the icing does dry out if overused so work quickly to avoid it becoming cracked and hard to use. Whenever you’re not using any of the icing put it into a plastic bag to preserve the moisture.

Store cakes out of direct light

This is especially important for lighter coloured icing as sunlight or fluorescent light will cause them to fade. To avoid this store them in a cool room out of direct or bright lights.

Keep your hands cold

Hot hands or a warm surface will make the icing sticky and difficult to work with. Keep your hands cool and dry by holding them under cold water and once dried dusting them with corn flour.

And finally take your time and enjoy it

Unless you’re a professional, colouring icing and then decorating a cake is no small task. Ensure you give yourself plenty of time to work at a comfortable pace as getting flustered or stressed will only result in mistakes or hot hands (see above). I gave myself the whole afternoon to make these and had so much fun in the process so I hope these inspire you to try some of your own.

I would love to see them if you do so please let me know how you get on.