Spring (fever) is in the Air

Day 61.

I have spring fever. I want the yucky days to go away and the sun to shine and the birds to sing and the flowers to bloom.

I'll eat my words in a couple of months when I'm choking down allergy pills and sweating all day long.

But for now, I crave springtime. So I made these lovely little cupcakes:

Don't mind the blue blotch on the side. My frosting was melting in my humid kitchen. The kids didn't mind. :)

You can make these lovelies, too!

All you need is:

• a batch of your favorite cupcakes
• buttercream frosting (chocolate and vanilla)
• food coloring for roses and grass
• red licorice strings
• decorating tips and bags, and a flower nail

I found the instructions for this edible craft at Family Fun. They used coconut for the grass, but I opted to use green frosting instead. My kids don't like coconut.

Making the basket weave for the bottom of the baskets is time-consuming. You can skip this step and just add a border at the top of the cupcake base if you prefer. And if you don't want to make buttercream roses, you can buy the sugar variety in your baking aisle or craft supply store.

Happy (almost) Spring!

Flower Basket Cupcakes instructions:

1. Remove cupcake liners.
2. Create the basket by doing a basket weave design using chocolate buttercream icing.
3. Make buttercream roses (small ones), using 3 to 4 roses per cupcake.
4. Fill in the gaps with green icing grass.
5. Braid 3 strands of red licorice. Form the basket handle with the licorice braid.