I threw my own Hello Cupcake! party and did two new and two old designs from the book.
First new one, the Penguin cupcake. The technique for this is similar to the Shark Attack cupcake. I definitely wanted to give this technique a try again after having so much trouble with the icing consistency and dipping the shark before. Worked out much better this time.
Penguin notes:
- I stuck a toothpick between the donut hole (head) and cupcake just to make it extra secure before I dipped.
- I froze the assembled cupcake for about 30 minutes till it was firm.
- 1 cup measuring cup is the perfect size for dipping. Narrow and deep.
- For the frosting, I followed the directions in the book for timing and it worked out perfectly. It was runny but thick enough that if you wave the spoon back in forth, it makes ribbons.
- When dipping, let as much of the frosting drip back into the bowl so that when you flip it over, the black does not ooze past the top of the cupcake liner. It would look like the penguin is melting.
I couldn’t find the fish candies so I used leftover Starbursts and cut out my own fish to put on the side. And of course in the book, they perfected the cute penguin eyes. Mine looked scary so I added a bow to make her more cute 
Definitely my favorite cupcake.
Monarch Butterfly was the other new design we tried. It was a bit difficult to swirl the two melted chocolates together. I was working on parchment that was on a granite counter top so it cooled too fast. Make sure to work really fast. Other than that it worked pretty well.
M&Ms help keep the wings propped up.
My sleepover cupcake
My favorite thing about this one is you can give it a bit of your own personality.
Hoping to get through more from the book soon because there is a sequel coming out in April called What’s New, Cupcake? The cover has an adorable rubber duckie.
Deliciously Noted is a food blog documenting my life in San Francisco, eating, baking, meeting artisans and chefs and when in need of an escape from the fog, sharing about my getaways to New York or Paris.
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how do you keep these creations from melting?? ive heard a couple of reviews and they say that this book is bad cuz cupcakes like….the penguin, or shark, melt!, can you prevent this just by putting it in the fridge? please answer!
The trick is to put the cupcake in the freezer. I’d say for about half an hour. Also if you follow the instructions in the book for melting the frosting, when you take it out and stir, it should be warm but not too hot. I did have a disaster my first time with the shark because of a combination of both not having the shark frozen enough and the frosting was too hot. I would just stir the frosting around so it cools down a bit. I hope that helps!