Cherry Blossoms Cupcakes

A month or so ago, I decided to take my cupcakes to another level and entered into the National Cake Show at the end of March. My first task, deciding what kind of cupcakes I would make. I thought about a spring or Easter theme, but my mom suggested cherry blossoms. The idea was perfect. The Cherry Blossom Festival would be starting soon and cherry blossom cupcakes were original. The judging was based on appearance, not on taste, and I knew my usual frosting wasn't going to cut it. So my next task was teaching myself how to use fondant and gum paste, both foreign to me. After weeks of practice, I finally put together 13 cherry blossom cupcakes on a funky cupcake tree. I wound cherry blossoms from the craft store around the tree to add to the effect.


I started with chocolate cupcakes. I wanted the cupcakes to fill the cupcake tree, so I over filled the batter a bit so they would be very full. I then used green fondant and a circle cookie cutter to make the green fondant background.

Next came the gum paste flowers. I used a little bit of red icing color to dye the white gum paste. I think molded the flowers from a fondant/gum paste mold. I molded 1 large flower and 2 small flowers for each cupcake.

Next, I dusted each flower with pink fondant dust and added it to the fondant covered cupcake. 

Last but not least, the stems. I used chocolate frosting to pipe on the stems of the cherry blossoms. 

And the finished product on the cupcakes on the cupcake tree. So how did I do in the cupcake contest?

3rd Place!!

I was very happy to win and now love using fondant and gum paste. The possibilities for future cupcakes are endless!