Duckie cupcakes

When my pregnant co-worker found out last week that she is going to have a boy, another co-worker suggested that we bake treats in celebration. (Baking for work is one of my most common activities. A few of us probably bring treats about once a week.)

I wanted to do something cute, and I knew I had some time this weekend so I could try something new. Thus, the duckie cupcake festered in my mind, and I knew I was hooked.

Not too long ago, a friend posted adorable photos on her blog, the Red Kitchen Project, about a rubber duckie cake she had made. It was so marvelous! While I didn't have total faith in my abilities, I figured I could probably make something that vaguely resembles a duck.

In the end, I wimped out and made the actual cupcakes from a box mix. I felt really ridiculous doing that after spending so much time on the homemade decorations. But I also thought I would need to conserve my energy for the decorations, so it kind of made sense.

I started by assembling my ducks. I used this very tasty marshmallow fondant recipe from my friend's blog. (Note: I had never worked with any fondant before.) It worked pretty well. The one problem I had is that it was very hot and humid. While my apartment temperature was fine for me sitting around, it was a little warm for the ducks. The shapes I formed would slightly melt/squish down after they sat for a bit. I ended up using some extra powdered sugar and refrigeration in between to make things work. And the once-round heads were still a bit flat by the time I finished the ducks and later transported them to the office in a warm car.

For eyes, I used little pearl decorations and colored an eyeball with a food coloring marker.

The next day, I baked the cupcakes, then started with my friend's better-than-buttercream frosting. It was really easy to make and tasted DELICIOUS. Seriously. I had leftover frosting and had to force myself to throw some eat so I wouldn't just eat it by the spoonful. I experimented with a few different pastry bag tips and finally settled on one that wasn't miniscule and that I could use to make something that looked similar to water. I added some sugar pearls on top as decoration (bubbles, though I'm not sure if that notion came across).

When it all came together, I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I did a few of the ducks diving (another idea that came from the Red Kitchen Project).

The lessons:

• I wasn't sure how many batches of fondant or frosting would be needed, so I over-bought at the store. Way overbought. I have four jars of marshmallow cream and 6 pounds of powdered sugar left over. Plus a small can of Crisco. I guess this means I'll be making more fondant treats in the future.
• When I was making the ducks, I was seriously disappointed in how they looked. But they grew on me, and now I kind of like them. And my co-workers were pretty darn impressed. (Our investigative editor, who is diabetic so can't eat them, said he wanted to disassemble one of the ducks to see how it came together. I told him it really wasn't that interesting, but he kept walking past and commenting on them all day.)
• I needed a larger frosting tip to do what I really wanted to, which was make a big, thick swirl on each cupcake that looked like water. I guess I need to buy one of those.
• My co-workers appreciate pretty treats but are scared to eat them. Yes, a few cupcakes remained at the end of the day. Many people walked by and commented on them, but then said they couldn't eat it because it looked too nice. And this is in a newsroom where food tends to disappear. (To be fair, in addition to my cupcakes, my co-workers could choose cheesecake pops or cookies as other treats today.)

Note: Be sure to visit the Red Kitchen Project! Grace is awesome, and she answered my whole string of questions about how best to do this project, including one I sent while I was in the middle of it and freaking out about the fondant meltdown.