My book club is coming over tomorrow night to discuss Tim Downs' book, FIRST THE DEAD, a book featuring "the bug man," or a forensic entomologist. If you're not familiar with the term, it's a man who specializes in determining how long people have been dead by the bugs found, er, on and in the body.
Enough of that. Anyway, I always try to bake something that ties in with the book either directly or indirectly. And, because I spent part of the afternoon at the SPCA, I didn't have a lot of time to come up with something.
So I looked in one of my cupcake books (HELLO, CUPCAKE) and found a picture of some ants, And since to my way of thinking ants = bugs, that's what I decided to do. Easy and cute.
What I needed:
cake mix
chocolate covered almonds
vanilla frosting
food coloring
dark chocolate frosting
baking tools (piping bags and tips)
First thing: bake some cupcakes in green cupcake liners. Because time was of the essence, I used a mix.
Second, mix some green and yellow food coloring into canned vanilla frosting. I also bought a can of dark chocolate frosting for decoration.
When the cupcakes had cooled, I frosted them with the green color, then used the "grass tip" to put a little "grass" around the edges. The frosting wasn't stiff enough to really hold the points, but from a distance it looks okay.
Then I simply placed three chocolate-covered almonds on each cupcake, then I used the dark chocolate to pipe legs and eyes on each ant. The entire effect, I think, is cute, and it wasn't difficult at all.
You could, of course, line them up on your table if you wanted to cover it in a red and white checked table cloth, but our book didn't deal with a picnic theme . . . and rather than follow our book's theme exactly, I think I'll simply present the ants on a platter.
Enjoy your baking!
~~Angie
Enough of that. Anyway, I always try to bake something that ties in with the book either directly or indirectly. And, because I spent part of the afternoon at the SPCA, I didn't have a lot of time to come up with something.
So I looked in one of my cupcake books (HELLO, CUPCAKE) and found a picture of some ants, And since to my way of thinking ants = bugs, that's what I decided to do. Easy and cute.
 |
| Frost the cupcakes with green frosting |
cake mix
chocolate covered almonds
vanilla frosting
food coloring
dark chocolate frosting
baking tools (piping bags and tips)
First thing: bake some cupcakes in green cupcake liners. Because time was of the essence, I used a mix.
Second, mix some green and yellow food coloring into canned vanilla frosting. I also bought a can of dark chocolate frosting for decoration.
 |
| closeup of the "grass" tip |
Then I simply placed three chocolate-covered almonds on each cupcake, then I used the dark chocolate to pipe legs and eyes on each ant. The entire effect, I think, is cute, and it wasn't difficult at all.
You could, of course, line them up on your table if you wanted to cover it in a red and white checked table cloth, but our book didn't deal with a picnic theme . . . and rather than follow our book's theme exactly, I think I'll simply present the ants on a platter.
Enjoy your baking!
 |
| Three almonds on each |
 |
| Pipe a little grass around the edges |
 |
| Pipe on the legs with chocolate frosting. Don't forget the little eyes. Done! |
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