Super easy flower cupcakes using Starburst and Jelly Belly candy for decorations.
My daughter was turning 9 and wanted to participate in the making of her cupcakes. She chose funfetti cake mix (a favorite) but wanted homemade frosting. As we walked down the aisle we picked up the cake mix, a box of domino confectioner sugar for the icing, and a bag of jelly belly jellybeans. While waiting in the checkout line, I picked up a roll of starburst candies as well, just to give us more options.
We baked and cooled the cupcakes according to package directions, and followed the butter cream recipe on the domino box. The frosting was very sweet, so we took an orange and zested that into the bowl and squeezed the juice from a couple orange segments into it as well, and with just the slightest hint of citrus, it was perfect.
Using neon pink food color we tinted the frosting a light shade of pink and began melting the Starburst (one at a time) in the microwave. I used 7 seconds, then another 7 seconds, and then 5 seconds on each piece of candy (one at a time on a paper plate lined with wax paper otherwise they harden before you can work with them). Be careful the candy can be incredibly hot and it sticks to you (never good), so using the wax paper to keep fingers safe, carefully flatten the Starburst candy out after it comes out of the microwave. Using a sharp pair of scissors or mini candy/cookie cutter cut out flower petal shapes – I was able to get 6 petals for each square of candy.
We assembled the 6 petals on each cupcake and used a contrasting jelly belly jellybean as the flower center.
Rave reviews at the birthday party, most girls asked to have a second one and couldn’t wait to tell their mom’s how they were made when they were picked up. That evening I tried a leftover cupcake, the best part was the hint of citrus in the frosting played incredibly well with the citrus of the candy – they were delicious!
Coming up with new ideas each year can be tough, but coming up with a quick and easy option your child can help with was the icing on the cake!
Your comment has been sent successfully.