Friday, May 11, 2012

banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and fruit leather flower pom poms


By the time I got to the sign-up sheet for the Teacher Appreciation Week luncheon at my son's preschool, there was nothing left to sign up for.  Literally nothing - all the slots were full.  But I wanted to make something to bring anyway, and since we had an abundance of overripe bananas at home, I decided to make banana cupcakes.


At first I was just going to top the cupcakes with a simple cream cheese frosting, but then a few days before the luncheon I saw this post at Best Friends for Frosting, which linked to this tutorial at Wedding Chicks - edible DIY flower pom poms made out of fruit leather!  Genius!


Making the pom poms was fairly simple.  The hardest part was getting the petals to stay put.  But the tutorial said to use toothpicks to help hold the petals in place while they dried, and that seemed to help.  But even though I let them dry overnight, they were still a bit soft and floppy the next morning.


The night before the luncheon, I made my banana cupcakes using my mom's banana bread recipe (stay tuned for a post on her banana bread later).  One batch of batter that would normally fill one 9-inch loaf pan ended up making 16 cupcakes.


I thought perhaps the cupcakes might come out more like muffins, since the recipe was meant for banana bread, but I sampled one after they were baked, and it was actually the perfect texture!


Next I whipped up a batch of cream cheese frosting and used a 1M tip to pipe large roses on top of the cupcakes.  And then I topped them with my pom poms.


I had only made 6 of the fruit leather pom poms (they were more time-consuming to make than I had anticipated!), so I topped the remaining cupcakes with sugar pearls and non-pareils.


I hope all the teachers enjoyed the cupcakes!  Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!



16 comments:

  1. Lovely! I remember seeing and loving that tutorial, too!

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    1. @XL @ 6 Bittersweets - thank you! the same day that i saw the tutorial, i went out and bought fruit leather! i think next time i'll try making my own fruit leather! :)

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  2. Amazing!! Such cute cupcakes :D

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  3. The pompoms look amazing even if you felt they weren't quite worth the effort and the colour contrast between them and the frost is lovely.

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    1. @Hester @ Alchemy in the Kitchen - thank you! i think they were definitely worth the effort, but i just ran out of time ;)

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  4. How have you been Michele?? OMG... you did it again. I'm so impressed by your baking talent and how detailed your cupcakes are... And edible pom poms? Genius!!! I want to be your son's teacher.... Hahaha.

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  5. So cute! What tip did you use?

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    1. @Sara Kim - thanks! i used a wilton 1M large star tip. good luck! let me know how yours turn out!

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  6. I LOVE this Michele! What a fantastic idea. I think we might need to get together. I need cake decorating lessons!

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    1. @odetogoodness.com - thanks rachel! yes we should get together and collaborate, that sounds like fun! :) i'm no cake pro though, still learning as i go!

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  7. Erin Gardner, Wild Orchid Baking Co.March 4, 2013 at 5:27 PM

    This is so cool to see!! I created that tutorial for wedding chicks. And you know what, you are right about the fruit leather needing a few days to dry out. I initially used the cheapy brightly colored fruit roll ups and those dry out pretty quickly. The much better for you all natural ones need a little more drying time. They look beautiful :)

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    1. @Erin Gardner, Wild Orchid Baking Co. - thank you! and i'm so glad you found my blog/post! thanks so much for that awesome tutorial! :) i love love love all of your cakes!!!

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  8. Erin Gardner, Wild Orchid Baking Co.March 4, 2013 at 6:48 PM

    Also, making the puffs on a piece of foam so that the tooth picks are being supported by the foam really helps.

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    1. @Erin Gardner, Wild Orchid Baking Co. - ahh, thanks for that tip! will definitely try that next time! :)

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