Need opinion on cupcake design idea (1 Viewer)

[kjobird]

So, i am entering a cupcake competition at my church on thursday and i am concerned my design plan may not work, not in sense of style, but in sense of structure so I am hoping to get an opinion so i can decide whether to go with my original design idea or if i should go with a plan B.

The vision of my design is to make my cupcakes look like hot air balloons. The way I would do this is I would have chocolate cupcakes with yellow liners to look like baskets ( would have preffered tan or brown but didnt have that) then would make icing in a weave shape so it would represent a basket.

For the balloon part my plan is to put a giant marshmallow ( have to dye them) on a cake pop stick and stick it in the middle of the cupcake to represent the big balloon. My concern is the marshmallow. When i say giant marshmallow i am referring to the extra large ones, not the typical ones like you see on smores. So now my concern is that it may not balance. I'm concerned that once the stick and marshmallow is added it will topple over instead of staying balanced. Can someone tell me if this design is likely to work or if my suspicion is right and that it would be too off balanced please?

 

[Angie]

Hi @kjobird

Welcome to the site.

So from your description, here are my thoughts and what I understand from your description.

I like the chocolate cupcakes, and I'm assuming the basket weave icing would sit on the top of the cupcake as a round topper. If you had the brown cupcake cases, this would tie in with the overall basket theme and look like a full basket at the base. But the yellow liners sound nice, and the basket weave on the top would get your point across about the basket.

With regards to your extra large marshmallows, I'm assuming they are about the size of your hand. With this lies possibly two problems, will it look out of proportion/top heavy with the cupcake base, or will it tip over?

As marshmallows are very light, you may be okay, especially if you are just dyeing them. However, if you were adding additional toppings to decorate them, this would add more weight to the marshmallow and possibly knock them over. However, to counterbalance them, you could try using two lollipop sticks (at a slight angle) per marshmallow to possibly help distribute the weight better. The only way you are going to know for sure is to pre-bake a few cupcakes and see how they look.

You could use regular marshmallows to keep in proportion. Similar to these lollipop ones I made.

Sweet Lollipop Cupcakes

These sweet lollipop cupcakes are perfect for children to make or as a brilliant alternative to a big party cake. You don't even have to be great at piping as the sweets and sprinkles hide any imperfections! All you have to do is make a batch of cupcakes, cover in buttercream either using a...

www.helpmebake.com

I get that you want the marshmallow to look bigger so as to represent the balloon, but there are also other things you could do to make a balloon.

I made these flower toppers using icing, so if you wanted another option, you could make circular ones and use them as your balloons.

How to make easy Smiling Flower Cupcake Toppers

So to add to the other Easy Cupcake Toppers I have made, here are some easy flower toppers for you to have a go at. I thought due to the colours, they would be perfect for a baby shower, summer theme or one you could make for your nearest and dearest. As you can see, the design is...

www.helpmebake.com

I hope this helps with your issue, and good luck with the competition.

If you need anything further, then just let me know.

Good luck!