I love to go to the book store. It is good free entertainment. I tend to gravitate to the cooking and crafting books. A few years ago, the cupcake craze began. You may be familiar with the adorable cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake…Click Here.

Well, I was so intrigued, I bought the first book. I spent days, weeks even, perusing the creative edibles. Then, as I tend to do, found a special place for my new treasure on the cookbook shelf and only pulled it out to look at the pretty pictures.

After several years, (Yes, I know, it’s pitiful.) I finally decided to try one of the festive creations.

Ta Da! Butterfly Cupcakes!

I just loved the way they turned out!

They were easy, too, for the most part.

1. Make cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes. I used orange papers because they went with the butterflies and didn’t have Christmas trees on them!

2. Frost cupcakes. I used Ready to Spread Frosting. I did add a little yellow food coloring just to make the backdrop not so stark.

3. Make the butterflies. Okay, this is the “tricky” part. The Hello, Cupcake book comes with a butterfly template. You could easily draw your own. The wings are separated on the template. If you do your own, keep that in mind. I used melted chocolate chips for the outline of the wings and orange candy melts for the inside. This part is tricky because you must work fast! Have all your supplies ready to go before you start!

Place your template on a cookie sheet. Then put a piece of waxed paper on top of the template. I could see through the waxed paper just fine. Outline the wing with melted chocolate then QUICKLY fill with melted candy melts. Drag a toothpick through the chocolate into the orange to give it the appearance of a real butterfly. YOU MUST WORK FAST!!!

I was home alone, so there are no pictures of me in action with the toothpick. I was going crazy as it was! I didn’t dare risk getting chocolate on the camera. It seemed to be everywhere else though!

4. The book calls for white sprinkles on the tips of the wings. (Do this before they dry, duh.) I couldn’t find white sprinkles at the store, believe it or not. What I did have was a bottle of Christmas sprinkles–red, green, and white. This is the part where I scarred my children for life. I had them separate the white sprinkles from the red and green! I guess that makes me a mean mama. It did, however, provide me with a new means of torture for future references! They actually survived unscathed. The white sprinkles really added a lot to the wings. Say “yes”!

You will want to stick the completed wings in the refrigerator to harden. This is why you put it on the cookie sheet to begin with.

5. I opted out of the antennae. They kept melting when I handled them.

6. Use two M&Ms to prop up the wings.

7. Add the wings at an angle. They should not be touching in the middle.

8. Pipe some chocolate frosting down the middle for the body. My frosting was store-bought.

9. This would be the time to add antennae if you like.

10. Serve!

Critics’ Corner

Chip: Wing-ed Perfection!

Megan: The cupcakes were as delicious as they looked. All the time spent tediously separating sprinkles paid off!

Katie: The butterfly cupcakes were dee-lish! The sprinkle sorting was worth it!