I need to make cupcakes decorated as tumbleweeds. Any ideas?

I know I am a newbie...but my husband and I like to bounce ideas off each other and we were talking about how hard this one would be to make...we have thought of cotton candy but that would melt if you had to airbrush it brown...but then he reminded me of funnel cakes!!! Just a thought but if you have a deep fryer take a regular vegetable can and take the top and bottom off and clean it thoroughly (of course) and submerge it in the oil to where only the funnel cake can cook in that small area. use a very small funnel and I think it would work!!!! just a suggestion! Never hurts to throw an idea out! Good luck and let me know what you come up with! We are very interested!

Kyrodeogal

spun sugar comes to mind. Make sure you have a broad area to work in but in the end you could really make it look like a tumbleweed in the end.

Good luck!

spun sugar is what i first thought of too. fast and easy.

I have the same problem, but have heard that spun sugar doesn't last long??

Not being an experienced spun sugar person (or someone who has ever used it!), I think I would use fondant mixed with tylose. I would make strings with my extractor, then form into round abstract forms. I would use a bit of brown, a drop of golden yellow and ivory to try to get that 'hayish' color. The fondant (with tylose) will dry hard enough to rememble the real thing...
Please post pics after - would LUV to see your cupcakes!

You could try melted chocolate swirled around on a small greased balloon..Put in fridge to harden, the pop the balloon then remove it...you are then left with the chocolate ball.

the first thing that came to my mind was shredded wheat cereal. you might be able to unshred them and rearrange the shreds, maybe using candy melts if they won't keep their shape, into the tumbleweed shape. you could ice the cupcakes, top them with "sand" so it looks like a desert, then place the tumbleweeds on top.

Pretzels covered in chocolate!