Here we go! I've been bowling a lot recently (must brag about my 226...oh yeah! Pure luck at its finest.), so I absolutely loved this idea that I got from a book called "Hello, Cupcake!" that mom got me last Christmas. Yes, last Christmas, like..... over a year ago! And I'm only now taking advantage of it.
The cupcakes I used to make this were all basic vanilla with vanilla frosting. I haven't yet started experimenting with many different flavors, I'm just proud of myself to move on from boxes to baking from scratch at this point! But the vanilla flavor is useful here just because of the color of the cupcake.
Ingredients needed:
- 11 vanilla cupcakes in white liner
- 10 mini vanilla cupcakes, no liner specification
- 10 donut holes
- A LOT of vanilla frosting
- Black frosting, or black decorating sugar, or black food coloring
- Red fruit leather, I used fruit by the foot
- Razor blade, for cutting those annoying pin bands
- (optional) Wooden cutting board and stock paper
Step 1-To start, you're gonna wanna make the cupcakes. I mean bake. Both the big guys and the little guys. These guys plus the donut holes will make the pins. While they are baking whip up some frosting. After making vanilla frosting and realizing how easy it is, I don't think I can ever go back to the can. All it is is some powdered sugar, a tiny bit of vanilla, and some milk, all blended up! Amazing.
Step 3- When you feel that your life has gotten easier, take out your structures. Put a whole bunch of frosting in a larger cup (you will be dipping these guys.... so you want it to be able to fit) and microwave in short intervals, stirring in between, until it is a thinner consistency, good for dipping.
Step 4- Pray! Dip them pins. Put it in the frosting up to the liner so that it covers the whole cupcake. Then let dry. I did dip a couple of them a second time to see what would happen... but I did find that generally it's not a good idea. Mine were either way not smooth, or they just died and came apart completely. Keep in mind that the frosting you are dipping in is warm, and will start to break down what you solidified in the fridge if you keep it in too long. Some of my pins in the picture are pretty bad..... I'm wishing that I was more of a perfectionist and redid some of them now.
Step 5- Cut strips of fruit by the foot. This is highly annoying, and they will always stick to your hand. Eww. Flour up for good times. When finished, dot the pins where you want the bands to go with frosting, and wrap them around. After the two bands, cut a baby triangle and stick that on there somewhere too.
Step 6- Have patience. Although it seems impossible, I am living proof that it is possible to have your attention span survive through all 10 pins.
Step 7- Arrange the pins. If you have a wooden cutting board, it is way cute to be served on. I used free paint color sheets from Wal-Mart as my "stock paper" to cut out the arrows for the alley.
Step 8- I included nothing about the bowling ball. I improvised this guy.... Used a cupcake I made earlier with extra batter that was just huge and frosted it with black stuff. The book suggests frosting it with your vanilla frosting and dipping it into black decorating sugar. They also put in large chocolate chips face-down to look like the holes in the ball. I did not have chocolate chips at the time, and frankly I wasn't quite impressed with their ball anyway. Good luck with this. Maybe you can be more creative!
This did take me a couple hours.... but then again it was my first scratch-made batter and I was pretty clueless the whole way along. You never know what to expect until you actually do it!
And uh..... is this what people put in cupcake blogs? Haha. More adventures coming soon!
Your 226 wasn't luck, I've seen you bowl, it's talent. You have finesse when you bowl, can't even hear the ball hit the floor. Cute bowling c'cakes. I hope your fellow bowlers got to eat them!
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