Golf Themed Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes - June 2012

I made these golf themed cheesecake brownie cupcakes for my brother-in-law, Josh, for his birthday.  This was made for the same party that I made my sister's high heel cupcakes for (see this post).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These brownie cupcakes were from the same batch that I used for Carissa's teacher's triathlon themed cupcakes a couple days earlier (see this post).  My mom mixed the cheesecake topping up for me and added some green food coloring to tint it.  It was just an instant cheesecake mix.  I put the cheesecake mixture in a piping bag and used a grass tip to pipe the grass on top of the brownie cupcakes.

I made some golf themed accessories out of fondant to go on the cupcakes.  The golf balls were just a small ball of fondant that I dotted with gray food coloring, I think I used a toothpick with a little of the tip broken off (takes longer than you think it would :) ).  I applied a little pressure when dotting the food coloring on to make slight dimples in the ball.  To make the flags I rolled out some yellow, red, and white fondant and cut out the rectangles.  Then I attached the fondant flags to a toothpick.  I let the flags dry upright so the flag would drape down some and look a little more natural.  The golf clubs were made by painting a toothpick with gray food coloring, attaching some brown fondant at the top for the grip, and then attaching some gray fondant at the bottom shaped like a club head.

I grouped cupcakes together to resemble a golf course.  Then I arranged the flags, golf balls, and clubs on the cupcakes.  I was going to make some holes in a few of the cupcakes, but as I started to try it I realized that it wasn't looking intentional and was going to be more of a headache than it was worth.

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Triathlon Themed Brownie Cupcakes - May 2012

I made these triathlon themed brownie cupcakes for my daughter, Carissa's, 1st grade teacher.  She participates in triathlons and had taken part in an Ironman Triathlon recently (wow), so we thought that she would enjoy this set of cupcakes.  She mentioned on a 'favorites' sheet that she liked brownies, so we made brownie cupcakes for her instead of regular cupcakes.

 

To make these cupcakes I started by baking brownies in cupcake liners.  When the brownie cupcakes were baked and completely cooled I used a large star tip to pipe chocolate buttercream icing on the tops of the brownies.  Then I put the hand painted fondant pictures I had made in the icing to top the brownie cupcakes.

 

To make the fondant toppers I rolled out some fondant and lightly painted the basic lines of the pictures I would be drawing with peach food coloring.  Then I went back and painted in all the details with the different colors of food coloring.  For some of the thinner or smaller black details I used a food coloring marker.  Then I used a small paring knife to cut around the pictures.

 

As I mentioned in the previous post, Star Wars Themed Teacher Appreciation Cupcakes, if I were doing these again, I would attach a lollipop stick or toothpicks to the backs of the toppers to make them more stable (and less 'fragile') on the top of the cupcake.

 

Carissa was very excited about giving the brownie cupcakes to her teacher, and her teacher really liked them!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Away in a Manger... - December 2011

We made these 'Happy Birthday, Jesus' brownies to share at Christmas with our family.  My kids told me that they wanted to make something like a cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  It was brought up kind of at the last minute so I knew we wouldn't have time to do anything 'major', but they were really excited about it so I wanted to let them do something.  We decided to make brownies and let them pipe the drawings on with white icing.  This would be quick, but still lots of fun and something yummy they could share at our family dinner.

We bought a box of fudge-y brownie mix, and made them according to the directions on the box.  The kids all decided what they wanted to put on the brownies, and after the brownies cooled completely they took turns piping on their ideas.  Cara started with the star, Caleb drew the angel (the one to the left of the star - for the picture further down that shows two angels), I piped the outline of the stable for them, and Carissa drew Baby Jesus in the manger.  Everyone added one more thing to the brownies; Cara drew Mary, Caleb drew Joseph, and Carissa drew the camel sticking its head in from outside.  :)  I wrote 'Happy Birthday, Jesus' on the front side of the brownies.

Ronnie came home while we were finishing up, and the kids wanted him to contribute to the creation also.  So, he drew the angel to the right of the star [I thought I got some close-up pictures of the brownies after Ronnie drew the angel, but they are nowhere to be found.  So there is just a not-so-great-quality-picture-that-was-taken-from-far-away below.  :( ]

The kids (and Ronnie and me) really enjoyed getting to make these brownies, and I loved watching them and their creativity while they worked on them.  :)  Oh, and they were yummy, too!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)