Mexican Magic

I was asked to make cupcakes for a friend of mine whose son was having a Mexican Themed 21st birthday last night.  Such an awesome theme and when I delivered the cupcakes the venue was decorated with mexican colours and it had such a great party atmosphere even before the party started.  I did my usual googling for ideas for the cupcakes and came up with making sombreros, scarves, tacos, chilies, tequila bottles and lemons for the cupcakes.                                                                                                                                                                            

Mexican Chili Cupcakes

I made chilies from red fondant shaped into different size chilies.  I cut out a small daisy for the green leaf at the top of the chili and finished off the look with a green stalk rolled from green sugar paste.  The chilies looked really striking on the chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing. 

Mexican Sombreros and Scarves

The Mexican sombreros I shaped using straw coloured sugar paste.  I cut out a circle for the base and then added the cone shaped hat detail and the ribbon to finish off the look.  The scarves I made by cutting out rectangular pieces of sugar paste and shaping them before they dried.  Once dry I painted using rolkem edible colouring in bright Mexican colours.  

Mexican Taco Cupcakes

How delicious do these tacos look?  My daughter said to me they looks so real you expect them to crunch in your mouth when you eat them.  For the tacos I cut out circles from light brown  coloured sugar paste and then folded them over a straw to let them dry.  I then filled them with a half green circle shaped for the lettuce or guacamole and small pieces of red sugar paste for the tomato or chili sauce.  Again they looked really effective on the vanilla iced cupcakes.

Mexican Tequila Bottles and Lemons

To complete the Mexican theme I made some tequila bottles using a chocolate mould.  The bottles were a little long so I cut off a bit from the bottom and the top of each bottle and tried to square them off to make them look like an Olmeca tequila bottle.  I added the blue label and wrote on the label with edible colouring.  The lemons I made again using 2 circle cutters – One large one from yellow sugarpaste and a smaller one from white sugarpaste.  I cut the white one into 6 wedges and then placed them on the yellow circle as lemon segments.  I then cut the completed lemon circle in half and placed on the iced cupcake.  What is a party without the tequila and lemon after all?