How to Make a Cupcake Wedding Dress

My mom is getting married tomorrow so I made this cupcake wedding dress for the rehearsal dinner. Here is how I made them:

Step 1: Bake 27 cupcakes in white liners. You can use any recipe or box mix. I used a white cake mix. Allow to cool completely.

Step 2. Make filling. In this case, I used a strawberry filling:

Recipe: Chunky Strawberry Filling


Ingredients:
1 pound frozen whole strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons corn starch

Directions:
Thaw frozen strawberries and keep liquid. Place strawberries with liquid in saucepan and, using kitchen scissors, cut into small chunks. Mix sugar and corn starch together and pour over strawberries. Heat until bubbling - stirring constantly. Biol about 2 minutes, continuing to stir. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Step 3: Use a cupcake corer to get them ready for filling.  There are multiple ways you can fill a cupcake, but I have found that using a decorating bag with the end clipped off is the easiest. Tip: to get the filling in the bag with minimal mess place the bag in a cup and turn the sides out.  

Step 4: Fill the cupcakes and place them on a cake board in the following pattern:

Step 5: Make icings: buttercream & fondant. For this cake, I used  Duff fondant (review will be coming up next month) rather than making it from scratch. You can color the fondant the wedding color for an extra special touch. (Check out my fondant tips if you are new to this kind of icing). Put the buttercream in a decorating bag with attachment 2D.

Step 6:  Beginning at the middle of each cupcake, squeeze icing out in a circular pattern over and over , swirling until you get a little over the edge of the cupcake. It is important to put on more than you would if it were a normal cupcake because you don't want any gaps. Overlapping is key!

Step 7: There will inevitably be some small gaps. Make a star with the same 2D tip in these gaps by simply squeezing then releasing the icing:

Step 8: Add some extra glam by using clear sprinkles. 

Step 9: Roll the colored fondant and cut out two straight parallel lines to make a ribbon belt for the dress. Make sure you have enough to drape down over the cupcake liners on the side.   You can always trim the ends so extra is always better. Place it over the line with two cupcakes.

Step 10: Using tip 2, make a straight line across the fondant. Using tip 4, make small circles to look like pearls by simply dotting the line you just made every centimeter or so. If the frosting is sticking up, simply put the cupcakes in the refrigerator and allow the frosting to thicken. You can then gently pat each of the pearls down it your finger. 

All done! I will be off line for the next couple of days so I can enjoy the wedding.