Gerber Daisy Cupcakes

Lea was having a reception back here in Utah after her destination wedding in Hawaii. In order to tie in the Hawaiian theme, she wanted some bright and fun cupcakes. We decided to do bright orange, yellow, green, and pink gerber daisies made out of marshmallow fondant to top most of the cupcakes and then a few cupcakes with just bright colored frosting. This was the end product! I have to give a quick shout out to Dennis Jones Construction for his AWESOME carpentry skills in making this beautiful cupcake stand. It was hand-crafted and mailed to me from Carmel, CA, and I was so completely pleased. Every time I saw it, it made me smile. This cupcake stand exceeded even my own expectations of his abilities and I just can't say enough about it. Thank you so much! I will definitely be using DL Jones construction in the future :)

Now to the cupcakes. Lea wanted Tuxedo flavored cupcakes and so there was quite a lot behind getting these babies to be just right. First, I baked chocolate & vanilla cupcakes (I scooped half chocolate batter into the cupcakes and then scooped vanilla on top of that). You can see in the first picture how the chocolate is peaking through on some of the cupcakes. Second, I dipped the cooled cupcakes into rich, chocolate ganache (picture 2). When the ganache had cooled, I piped sweet buttercream on the tops of the cupcakes (picture 3). Finally, I added colorful marshmallow fondant flowers to the tops of the white buttercream and piped bright colored buttercream on the tops of some of the other cupcakes (picture 4).

My mom, who lives in California, was visiting that week and happened to help me make all 100 or so gerber daisies that were cut by hand, shaped, and topped with a ball of marshmallow fondant that had been rolled in tiny candy balls. This just gave them a little extra color, pop, and flavor. Thank you, mom!!

Lastly, here is the cake topper that Lea and her now-husband cut into. The flavor was Ruby Red Velvet (red velvet cake layered with cream cheese frosting) and the cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. All-in-all, I loved how this cake order came together. I was so pleased to have the help of Mr. Jones (who made the stand), my mom (who cut out so many little flowers), and Rosie & Drew (who helped deliver all of the cupcakes and set it up in site). Thank you all for your help in making this beautiful display!