Wilton Icing and a Cupcake Bouquet

I never know what to do for Mother's Day! I wanted to do something special but I needed it to be reasonably priced. When I made the prom cupcakes a couple weeks back I got comments about them looking like flowers, so I thought I would try to make a cupcake bouquet. I needed a non-dairy frosting (since I wouldn't be able to refrigerate it) and it needed to be stiff enough so it wouldn't fall off the cupcake. I decided to try Wilton's Snow White Buttercream Frosting. The bouquet's turned out really cute, it was a great Mother's Day present... especially if you deliver it at your Mother's work with her adorable grand kids (bonus points are always given for feeding co-workers and showing off cute grand kids).

Frosting Ingredients
2/3 cup
1/4 cup Meringue Powder
12 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, (about 3 lbs.) divided
1 1/4 cups solid vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons light corn syrup (I omitted this)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon no-color almond extract
3/4 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon no-color butter flavor

Frosting Directions
In large bowl, combine 2/3 cup water and meringue powder; whip with electric mixer at high speed until peaks form. Add 4 cups sugar, one cup at a time, beating at low speed after each addition. Add remaining 8 cups sugar, shortening and corn syrup in 3 additions, blending well after each. Add salt and flavorings; beat at low speed until smooth. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

Bouquet Directions
First you will want to bake your cupcakes (make sure you use cupcake liners) I am obsessed with Pillsbury white cake mix, so I made white cupcakes but you could bake any kind of cupcake. I ended up using 24 cupcakes on each of my bouquet's. I got my planter pot and styrofoam ball from Hobby Lobby. I just set the ball on top of the pot. Starting on the bottom of the ball I stuck in 2 toothpicks and then pushed my cupcake onto the 2 toothpicks. I continued with the 2 toothpicks and cupcakes all the way along the bottom of the ball. Then I just worked my way up the ball putting the rest of the cupcakes in. I think it's cute even without the frosting. I used my Wilton 1M decorating tip to frost the cupcakes. I just start on the outside of the cupcake drawing a circle and working my way into the middle of the cupcake. Now, wouldn't it be great if I had pictures of me frosting the cupcakes? Well, I don't. Icing these cupcakes was... interesting. There was no time or patience for picture taking! I had to hold the planter high in the air so I could stand below and frost the bottom row. Once the bottom row was complete I just set the pot on the table and frosted the rest. The bottom row was the most challenging. I even messed up on a couple cupcakes and ended up pulling them off the toothpicks, scraping off the icing, and sticking them back on toothpicks to frost again. They really did turn out very well, and it actually looked like a bouquet of flowers! When I finished I was scared to death to transport them in the car to my Mother's work but I had each boy hold one of the pots and it worked great.