Flamingo Cupcakes – SugarHero

The fondant decorations would require at least 24-48 oz to dry, so that you just’ll must make these first. Knead the pink fondant until it is clear and supple. Break off a walnut-sized ball of fondant, and roll it between your palms until it is a prolonged snake about 4 inches prolonged. Roll one end between your fingers to skinny it out like a beak.

Type the fondant snake proper right into a flamingo neck kind—think about a question mark, with the underside of the question mark curving away from the highest, or an elongated “S” kind. Gently insert a toothpick into the underside of the flamingo neck, going up about an inch and leaving the rest of the toothpick protruding.

Cowl a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper, and grime it flippantly with powdered sugar. Change the flamingo head to the baking sheet to dry. Repeat with the remaining fondant until you could have 24 flamingo heads (take into consideration making a few extras in case of breakage). Let the fondant dry absolutely, flipping the heads over after about 12 hours to let the underside aspect dry as successfully.

When the flamingo heads are dry, soften the white and darkish candy coating in separate bowls. You’ll want the coating to sort a thin layer on the flamingo beaks, so if it seems thick and clumpy when melted,

add a teaspoon of oil or shortening to skinny it out. Use a spoon to pour white coating over a flamingo beak, masking all the beak, then insert it proper right into a Styrofoam block to dry upright. Repeat with all the flamingo heads, and permit them to harden absolutely.

Dip a flamingo beak halfway into the darkish chocolate, letting a couple of of the white chocolate peak by above. Set the highest upright to dry as soon as extra, and repeat with all of them.

Lastly, add eyes to each flamingo head by dipping the flat bottom of a skewer or toothpick into the white coating, and dotting it on the flamingo head, then inserting the tip of a toothpick into the darkish coating and dotting it into the middle of the white eye. Repeat on all sides of each head, and let dry absolutely sooner than using.

The flamingo heads could be made prematurely and saved in an airtight container at room temperature for a variety of weeks, until ready to utilize.

Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake papers and preheat the oven to 350 F. In a small bowl, sift collectively the flour, baking powder, and salt, and put apart for a second. In a separate small bowl, combine the milk and strawberry puree.

In an enormous mixing bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Work the zest into the sugar collectively along with your palms, rubbing them collectively until the lemon releases its oils and the sugar is damp and fragrant. Add the room temperature butter to the lemon sugar, and beat them collectively on medium tempo until gentle and fluffy, for 3-5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one after the opposite, beating successfully after each addition, then add the lemon extract and mix it in.

Add a third of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix it in until just a few streaks of flour keep. Add half of the strawberry-milk mixture, and when it’s included, proceed to alternate together with the dry and moist parts until each factor is added.

Scrape down the underside and sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula. If desired, add a few drops of pink meals coloring to offer the cupcakes a brighter pink hue.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 3/4 full. Bake at 350° F for 20-22 minutes. Let cool absolutely sooner than adorning.

Combine the whites, powdered sugar, and salt throughout the bowl of an enormous stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix each factor collectively on low tempo, until the sugar is moistened and no dry patches keep. Flip off the mixer, scrape down the perimeters and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, then flip the mixer to medium tempo. Beat on medium for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, flip the mixer to medium-low and start together with the softened room temperature butter, 1-2 tablespoons at a time. As quickly as all the butter is included, add the lemon extract and mix it in. Stop the mixer and scrape down the underside and sides as quickly as additional. Flip the tempo to medium and beat the buttercream for 10 minutes. On the end, you’ll have a frosting with a wonderfully gentle and creamy texture.

Separate out 1 ½ cups of buttercream. Maintain ¾ cup white, and place it in a piping bag fitted with a #352 leaf tip. Tint the remaining ¾ cup a light-weight pink, and put it in a piping bag with a #352 tip as successfully.

Course of the freeze-dried strawberries in a meals processor until they are a constructive powder. Sift the powder over the remaining buttercream throughout the mixing bowl, sifting out the strawberry seeds and any huge clumps of berries that didn’t get pulverized. Mix the strawberry powder into the buttercream, then add additional pink meals coloring until you get a vivid flamingo pink that matches your flamingo fondant heads.

Place the sensible pink strawberry buttercream proper right into a piping bag fitted with a coupler.

Preserve the sensible pink frosting bag perpendicular to the very best of a cupcake, about 1 inch above the ground. Squeeze the bag until the frosting comes out and begins forming a spherical blob on excessive of the cupcake. Proceed to make use of even stress, making the blob develop larger, until it reaches the perimeters of the cupcake. Proceed to squeeze as you slide the piping bag once more in direction of one aspect of the cupcake, then stop squeezing and pull the bag away from the cupcake, forming barely tail on the once more. Repeat until all the cupcakes have flamingo our our bodies, then match the sensible pink frosting with tip #352.

Take the white buttercream, and squeeze eand pull 3 situations on both facet of a cupcake, to sort the once more feathers. Add a layer of sunshine pink feathers barely overlapping the white. Lastly, add 2-3 layers of darkish pink feathers overlapping the sunshine pink.

Finish the cupcakes by inserting a flamingo head into the doorway of each cupcake, between the wings, making certain that the toothpick is firmly embedded into the cupcake. For the simplest fashion and texture, serve these Flamingo Cupcakes at room temperature.