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Life is short. Eat more cake!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Pot O' Gold Cupcakes



Oh, boy have I been looking forward to these little cupcakes! I'd been wracking my brain with what kind of cupcakes to bring in for my Son's class for St. Patrick's Day - clovers? Nah. Green batter cupcakes? Nah. When I was at Target one day and noticed sour gummy rainbow strips in the dollar section I thought, "Lightbulb!" to quote one of our favorite movies :) But how to make the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? (Cause you had to have those obviously). So I gathered up my courage and tried something new - modeling chocolate! I even made it myself - big girl moment there! And boy was it some tasty, fun stuff to work with - I'll definitely be making more in the future. I decided to keep it simple for the cupcakes themselves - no dye or artificial stuff since there was enough action on top of the cupcake! Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting, sour gummy rainbows, modeling chocolate pots filled with gold sprinkles - voila! My kind of gold at the end of the rainbow - chocolate! For anyone who'd like the recipe I used for modeling chocolate, I've included the directions below :)

Melt 6 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate over a double boiler (I used Ghirardelli) . Mix until no lumps remain. Let the chocolate cool for just a few minutes before adding 1/3 cup light corn syrup. Mix thoroughly until combined. The chocolate will start to form a hard ball that is difficult to stir. I put my chocolate in a resealable freezer bag and I left it on the counter over night to harden up. Dust your work surfaces with cocoa powder to prevent sticking and work your modeling chocolate until it's a desired consistency/softness. To make my "Pots O' Gold" I simply rolled round balls of approximately the same size and placed on parchment paper (to avoid sticking to anything) then rolled a thin strip of chocolate for the rim of the pot - no glue of any kind required - I just laid it in the position desired on top and pressed down lightly to help it adhere. Then I used some Wilton gold sprinkles for the "gold" in the pots - sprinkled in the middle and a gentle press of the finger to help them stick :)

Hope this was helpful!

2 comments:

  1. You are fantastic! Thank you for this great idea and the recipe for the modeling chocolate. Just what I've been looking for to make for St. Patrick's Day! Kind regards, Kathleen

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    1. You're so welcome! The modeling chocolate is super tasty too :)

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