cupcakes, desserts, diy desserts, diy projects

DIY: Eye Wink Cupcakes

DIY Wink Eye Cupcake

I loved the DIY Eye Ornaments that A Beautiful Mess posted so much that I decided to make some cupcakes with similar eye and winking pieces that the awesome ABM ladies had painted onto their ornaments. These guys kind of remind me of monsters but still look cool, especially when topped on some brightly colored cupcakes…at least eye think so! (oh my gosh, get it?!) Get the directions with step-by-step photos after the jump!Wink Eye CupcakesREAD MORE

Materials Needed:

  • 1 batch unfrosted cupcakes
  • Vanilla buttercream
  • Spatula
  • Sanding sugar (the more colorful, the better!)
  • Modeling chocolate or fondant
  • Gel food coloring
  • Plastic rolling pin
  • Knife
  • Small circular cookie cutters
  • Wax paper or a silicone mat

Directions:

Sanding Sugar Cupcakes

Step #1: First pour some sanding sugar onto a plate (1 color per plate). You can choose to use one color of sanding sugar or a variety of colors, totally up to you. As you can see, I went with 3 colors – a turquoise, a pink, and a blue. Lightly frost each cupcake with vanilla buttercream using your spatula and then gently roll the top of the cupcake into the sanding sugar to cover the frosting. Set in the fridge to allow the sanding sugar to set into the frosting before you continue.

Frosting Cupcakes

Step #2: Break your modeling chocolate or fondant into 4 or more balls. Using just 1 small drop of gel coloring, dye all but one of the balls a separate color (you’ll need a white ball for the eye). Knead the color into each ball and work the modeling chocolate until the color is completely blended. If you want a black pupil or wink, make sure to dye one of the balls black. Same goes for any specific colors you want to use for the iris. Just to note, I didn’t want to include how much fondant to use, because that all depends on how many cupcakes you’ll be decorating. For 8 cupcakes, I started with less than a small fist of modeling chocolate/fondant total. Sidenote: Using a fist to describe a quantity is so amateur hour, but it’s all I could think of! ha

Step #3: Below you’ll find what’s needed to mold and cut from the modeling chocolate/fondant for each of the eye and wink pieces. For all of this molding and cutting, make sure to work on wax paper or a silicone mat. If your fondant or chocolate gets too sticky, work in some confectioner’s sugar.

DIY Wink Cupcakes Step 2

  1. Eye: Using your plastic rolling pin, roll out a small ball of white into a rectangular shape. Use your knife to cut the oval / evil eye shape. You can print a template to use from your computer, but I just winged mine. Using a template will also ensure all your eyes are the same size, in case you’re looking for perfection.
  2. Pupil: Using a small (about 1/4-inch) cookie cutter or anything you can use as a cookie cutter, like a piping bag tip! If you can’t find anything, you can also just shape by hand!
  3. Iris: I chose to make 3 different colors for my iris eye pieces. Whether you use a variety colors or just one, roll out the dyed fondant and then use a small round (3/4 to 1-inch) cookie cutter. Again, feel free to shape by hand if you don’t have a cookie cutter.
  4. Wink: For the wink, roll out your black fondant. Using a knife cut out 4 lashes and one thin, semi-circular strip.

 

DIY Eye Wink Cupcakes Step 3

Step #4: For the eyes, use a tiny dab of leftover buttercream in between each piece and assemble them by placing the eye shape atop the cupcake (making sure to add a little buttercream to the bottom of the piece prior to adding), followed by the iris, and then the pupil. For the wink, I added the semi-circular strip first and then added each lash, again using buttercream as a “glue” to adhere them to each cupcake.

DIY Eye Wink CupcakesWink Eye Cupcakes

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