Magpie's Musings: Love Bug Cupcakes

Valentine Love Bugs!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Step 1: The Idea

My sister decided to host a Valentine's Day party for my nieces and nephew this year. Of course, I was asked to come up with a creative cupcake idea. Luckily for me, there are some adorable ideas circulating on the Internet! With a quick Google search, I found perfect little LOVE BUG cupcakes on the Wilton baking website. I did not have heart shaped tins at that time, so I knew I might have to do some modifying, but that was easy.

Step 2: Shopping

After coming up with an idea, I made my usual trip to Walmart to collect supplies. I found beautifully patterned paper wrappers and a variety of gels and premixed frosting tubes in shades of pink and red to save me some time. I also found conversation hearts, little heart gum drops, twizzlers, and a Valentine mixture of sprinkles. Sometimes it is best to buy a variety of supplies in case something doesn't go as planned. Finally, I picked up the ingredients for the homemade strawberry cupcakes and cream cheese frosting and made my way home.

Step 3: Baking and Decorating

Things did not go so smoothly this time. I thought it would be a cute idea to make strawberry cupcakes from scratch. After a couple of HOURS in the kitchen, two dozen flat, spongy messes were tipped into my trusty garbage can. Apparently making strawberry cupcakes without using some artificial gelatin is just crazy. I decided to go with the delicious spice cake mix that I use as the base for my low-fat spice muffins. This time I just followed the directions on the box and they came out perfectly. With only a couple of hours until the party, it was a good thing they did.

Once they cooled, I frosted them with a pink cream cheese frosting. I used the tubes of red and light pink frosting to pipe large heads on the front of the cupcakes. The corresponding colored gels (red heads got red dividers etc.) were used to draw lines down the backs of the bugs to create divided wings. To create the spots on their backs, I picked out mini m&ms and pressed them into the frosting. I stuck with red, orange, and brown to match the pink and red color palette. The faces were made by piping white gel dots onto the heads and then black gel dots within them. The nose was made out of a tiny heart sprinkle. I resorted to using tweezers to get them on straight. The mouth was piped with the opposite color gel of the head (red faces had pink lips and pink faces had red lips). For the antennas, I cut up twizzlers into pieces around 1 inch long. These were then cut into fourths lengthwise. The spiced gum drop hearts were sliced into thirds and stuck to the strips of twizzlers. They were then slipped into the heads to create 3-D antennas.

Step 4: Presentation

My sister decorated the table and room with a red and pink Valentine theme. There were pink, white and red Valentine balloons all over the ceiling and shimmery red heart banners strung across the room. She even had little red heart lights twinkling around the doorways. The food, including little heart sandwiches, was set out in little dishes around the table, along with coordinating plates and napkins. It was really beautiful.

I layered pink tissue paper over her heart covered tablecloth to keep the cupcakes together. I even brought over a bouquet of three pink roses for the kids. They all love flowers; I think my mom inspired that love in them. The vase took center stage, while I arranged the little love bugs underneath. Then I filled in around them with handfuls of conversation hearts.

Step 5: Share!

The love bugs were a big hit. The kids and adults alike devoured my little creations. It was fun to hear them rave about the taste as well as the decorations. I didn't know if kids would enjoy spice cake as much as I do!