Aces and hearts

It was my mother-in-law's birthday on the weekend and I decided to make cupcakes. But I wanted them to match my kitchen! No, the truth is I wanted them to be her favourite colour- red.

Her name also starts with A- that's why I decided on the aces. I made 12 aces- orange poppy seed cake with fondant tops (I used chocolate fondant in the spades and clubs- to cut down the bitterness from black icing). I also made 12 red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and cachous (thanks Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook!).

My wilton stand only holds 23 cupcakes- what a shame we had to eat one!

Cure for swine flu!

These cupcakes have no medicinal value, but one daily will at least make you smile!

So many people have got swine flu here in Sydney that I thought I would make some cupcakes to represent the flu! Of course, the pigs on the cupcakes aren't really swine...more like little piggies.

I was inspired after watching this youtube video. I made vanilla cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook and used fondant for the tops. I used pink writing icing for the eyes and mouths.