Go Canada!

A few weeks ago, my sister Adrienne and my friend Jeff both encouraged me to create an Olympic themed blog post. Since CANADA is doing so well, I decided to celebrate the success of athletes who have won medals with these adorable cupcakes! Also, since Jeff is OLYMPIC OBSESSED and Rich and I, and our friends just happened to be invited over to his house to celebrate his birthday this morning, I made the cupcakes for him!

I have to admit...I combined ideas from two of my favourite blogs: Bakerella and Sweetopia. Bakerella, of course, ended up buying a printer to print edible images for her Vintage Valentine Cookies. And Marian (Sweetopia), created her own Olympic Mascot Cookies free hand using her Kopykake machine!

So here it is, a combination of the two.  Thanks to Baked with Joy who printed the edible images for me.  This way, I was able to make the cutest little cupcakes with edible images, without having to buy my own printer!

Go Canada! 

Canada is doing so well in the 2010 Olympics! Check out all of the medals online. For the most current updates, click here!

I decided to make chocolate cupcakes, a crowd favourite! They smelled delicious and were all the same size; however, each cupcake in this batch looked like a little mountain!  To make it easier for the image to rest, I decided to cut off the tops of each one.  This created a flatter surface for the fluffy vanilla frosting that would act as a glue for the images later on.  

I first found the images that I wanted to use online. Rich helped me create a jpeg file compatible with Joy's printer. She cut them out in circles to fit on top of the cupcakes. The circles didn't have to be perfect since I would be outlining each image with vanilla frosting.  

Seriously, how cute are these mascots! Check out this website to learn more about all of the characters.

The frosting sheets were stored in a Ziploc bag until used to prevent them from drying out.  To use the frosting sheets, separate the sheet from the backing and apply immediately to a frosted cupcake.  In order for the sheet not to dry out, each part of it needs to be touching the icing.   

Apply image to cupcake with clean hands. Push out from the center to avoid any air bubbles. 

Here is what they looked like after the first part was done!

This was the fun part! I used Martha Stewart's Recipe for fluffy vanilla frosting found on page 302 in her book, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. Since I only made 12 cupcakes, I halved the recipe. See below for recipe.

Using Wilton star tip #21, I piped around the border of each image.

How adorable!  Gotta love MUKMUK the marmot!

Sumi, Quatchi and Miga are even cuter!

The excitement on Jeff's face when I brought over the cupcakes and he noticed they had an Olympic theme made him so happy! He and his son Lucas blew out the candles together.

The best part was, that his shirt matched the cupcakes...Obsessed much?!

And so did his stuffed toy mascots! Happy Birthday Jeff!

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Makes about 4 cups

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2.  Reduce speed to medium.  Add the confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, them return to medium.  This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be pale and fluffy.

3.  Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth.  If color is desired add food colouring/gels.  (I added my sister's favourite color, turquoise!)  Frosting can be refrigerated for up to 10 days in an airtight container.  Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes. 

Enjoy!