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This is one of my favorite (and easy) desserts to serve for special occasions, birthdays, tea parties, and holidays. Take this to your next party, or the office, or even as a gift for someone’s birthday! The first one I made I just was experimenting around and didn’t really know what I was doing- and it worked! It was beautiful and was a stunning centerpiece. Fast forward a couple of years- I still make it the same way. You need a half dome, either floral foam or styrofoam . I cover mine with Saran Wrap. You will also need some toothpicks, bamboo skewers, a glue gun, and some ribbon.
First- bake your cupcakes. You will need approximately 20 cupcakes for the bouquet that I have pictured. Cool completely.
Next- make the buttercream frosting.
Frost the cupcakes. I used a large floral nib and pastry bag. I did not want solid red or pink cupcakes, so I dropped some gel food color into the white frosting and mixed it slightly, leaving streaks and marbling of color. Put the streaky frosting in the pastry bag and pipe as many flowers on top of the cupcake to cover. (I have also just used a normal star tip to “swirl” the frosting on top of the cupcake- and it still looks like a flower when assembled)
To assemble:
I used heavy tape to tape the dome to the serving plate so it wouldn’t slide around. Place a toothpick halfway into the dome starting on top. Stick a decorated cupcake on the toothpick. Fill in the next row, leaving just a small bit of space between each cupcake. (Don’t worry if you see the green of the foam in between, you will fill in the spaces with the decorations). As you reach the bottom row- place a supporting toothpick underneath a cupcake to keep it from falling off! Once all the cupcakes are attached, tie your desired ribbon around the bottom of the dome and tie a bow. Depending on the occasion, find floral picks with pearls, or leaves that you can insert in the spaces. (Wash all decorations before placing them next to your cupcakes). My go to decoration is tulle. Find a roll of the desired color of tulle and make bows or squish into a “poof” and hot glue this on to the end of a bamboo skewer. I usually make about 10 of these and insert them wherever there is a hole or bare spot. For this centerpiece, I found some nice hearts on a stick and some really nice felt heart stickers that I glued on a thicker toothpick. This is the fun part- just stick things in between the cupcakes until it looks full, beautiful and like a bouquet of flowers!
Good luck ! Have fun ! Let me know how you do!