so this wedding cupcake tree i was asked to make is already work and the wedding isn't until labor day. i posted this pic earlier to show the sort of look she wants on the cupcakes. most said it was fondant which i told her i would do them in but now she doesn't want that because fondant is not very tasty. is there any other options to achieve this flat smooth look on the cupcakes (color will be plain brown and pink with nothing on top of them) and have it taste good. i am not familiar with what options are out there. she asked if i could just do smooth buttercream but i am not sure how that would look really. any thoughts or ideas?
thanks,
heidi

Rolled buttercream?

what is rolled buttercream? i know nothing about it. do i make it, buy it? how easy is it to use? does it taste like regular buttercream? fill me in please.
i wish i knew what was on top of a hostess cupcake. that would be perfect and it tastes oh so good.
-heidi

There is a recipe for Rolled Butter Cream on this site. It is similar to fondant but much softer. It is a combination of corn syrup, shortening, powdered sugar and flavoring.

You can also used a poured fondant.........not sure if there is a recipe here for that or not.

Also, chocolate ganache will work, too. This would be similar to the chocoalate covering used on the Hostess cupcakes.

Those look like cupcakes baked shallow with poured icing on top. You can also gently heat a crusting icing, pour/glop in and smooth with a hot offset. Then when it sets up, it has a similair appearance to fondant.

what if you got liners that were taller fill them like a standard size and then you'll have a gap to fill in with icing that you can smooth even with the top of the liner, i've seen antonia79 do it in multiple pics of hers.

you can also dip cupcakes in poured fondant. if she doesn't like the word fondant then called it poured icing.

another option would be to dip them in thinned chocolate, you could use candy coloring to make some white chocolate the pink color you need.

not sure if this would work but I am thinking something along the lines of pping on a BC swirl and then pressing a piece of waxed paper on them while they cool in the fridge, hopefully once chilled you could peel it off and be left with smooth BC. (not sure of this would actually work)

If you go to the Cake Journal site perhaps her cupcakes would be what you are looking for. I think they are covered in royal icing. Also, have you ever tasted Choco-Pan fondant? It's pretty good and the white chocolate fondant is good. You could color it to your liking. I believe Linda would even custom color it for you.

hi, i'm a newbie, this is my 1st ever posting / reply.

you can try 'poured' buttercream.

how to make poured buttercream? it's simple.

make a batch of buttercream like you used to, then try to either :
1) microwave it on low, just until it starts to melt, careful not wait until it melts & produces oil, or
2) use bain marie method, just put a bowl of BC on top of simmering water, stir until it is almost melted, take it away from the heat, keep stirring.

then pour onto the cupcakes, careful not to let the BC overflow out of the cups.

the BC will set & turn into the usual unheated BC. the only difference is, the smooth texture, & also, minus the grainy powdered sugar taste.

Well, you have a lot of knowledge for a newbie. Does this only work with the shortening type of BC? Thanks

I have been thinking about this style of cupcake but haven't had a chance to try it out. But maybe someone else has. I was thinking of doing something with buttercream, making regular buttercream and frosting it on a piece of wax paper to the desired thickness. Then putting it into the freezer and let it get hard and cut out circles that are just a hair smaller then your cupcakes then putting back in the freezer to firm up and then place them onto the cupcakes like a frozen buttercream transfer. I'm not sure if this would work or not..It's something I've been meaning to try.

I guess I'm on a "Martha" kick this evening - just posted a recipe link in another forum. Below is a link to her Spring Cupcakes. They use a simple milk and powdered sugar glaze - this particular recipe uses lavender, but that step can be omitted.

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=0903e788eba71110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=spring%20cupcakes&rsc=header_3

ALSO - what about part filling as others have suggested, but using a poured chocolate ganache?

HTH - Pat

edited to correct the spelling of lavender (duh!)

satin ice fondant is very good. taste, texture and smell. (www.satinfinefoods.com for info and www.intotheoven.com for my favorite place to purchase it) .

however....

you can also do poured ganache. simple recipe:

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate

let me know if you need instructions on making it. you can pour it over a cooled cupcake and you get a finish like this: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1218442

i always bake my cupcakes so that they dont rise above the liner. this way there is about an 1/8 of an inch of space- to catch and hold the poured ganache, poured fondant, buttercream or rolled fondant.

i use swiss meringue buttercream and to get a smooth finish is really easy when there is room in the liner and you use an offset spatula on a chilled cupcake. the chilled cupcake firms the icing up quickly so it smooths well. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1222917

if you use a crusting bc, you can pipe a swirl or use a spatula to frost the cupcake and then use a dense foam paint roller (known around here as the melvira method) or a viva paper towel a few minutes later after it has crusted. although, you really could get the same result with an offset spatula as long as you baked the cupcake just below the liner.

My choc. fondant would be JUST THE TICKET for this look. I'm being perfectly honest here.... I've done iced cupcakes with a VERY THIN layer of the choc. fondant on them. When you bite into them, literally, you can hardly tell there is fondant on them. I'll bet if you made them a sample, they would love it! I put my choc. fondant thru my Kitchen Aid pasta roller to # 5 I think, then cut them with a round cutter and slap them onto a freshly iced cupcake. YUMMY!!!! And you get that modern look...

Jen

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://image.bizrate.com/resize%3Fsq%3D160%26uid%3D22503144%26mid%3D935&imgrefurl=http://www.bizrate.com/kitchensupplies_utensils/oid22503144.html&h=160&w=160&sz=2&hl=en&start=16&um=1&tbnid=O9ykIYGGHkwBNM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Doffset%2Bcake%2Bspatula%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Yes, That's the ticket, putting the fondant through the pasta machine. You can hardly taste it. If you use the better fondants it tastes pretty good. one thing you can do with the fondant is use some embossing tools to make the cupcakes even more interesting.