Ladybug ATTACK!

That's right!  Our home has been overrun with ladybugs!  Ladybug cupcakes, that is.  My daughter's first birthday is right around the corner and I have been testing out several recipes for her birthday cake.  Since we are inviting all of her pint-sized buddies over for a birthday party, I thought I would try out some miniature desserts. 

A girlfriend of mine made these cupcakes for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Kate.  She found the recipe on Parenting.com.  Those folks at Parenting.com are pretty clever when it comes to ULTRA CUTE cakes and cupcakes. 

Because the decoracting of these babies is rather labor intensive, the recipe calls for store bought cake mix, frosting and cookies.  I suppose if you wanted to go over the top, you could make the cake and frosting from scratch...however, I don't suggest it.  The novelty of these cupcakes is what makes them YUMMY!

Ladybug Cupcakes:
•1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
•Green food coloring
•12 unfrosted cupcakes baked in green paper liners*
•½ cup green decorating sugar
•12 green gumdrops
•3 Tbsp granulated white sugar
•Red food coloring
•½ cup red decorating sugar
•12 Mallomars
•½ can (1 cup) chocolate frosting
•24 brown M&M's Minis
•1 Tbsp chocolate sprinkles
*Green paper liners can be purchased at Confectioneryhouse.com.

What you'll need:
•A rolling pin or a heavy bottle
•Kitchen shears or scissors
•1 resealable sandwich-size plastic bag (Ziploc)

For the leaf cupcakes:
1.Tint 1 cup of the vanilla frosting green with the green food coloring.
2.Spread the green frosting evenly on top of the cupcakes.
3.Place the green decorating sugar into a small bowl. Roll the edge of each cupcake in the green sugar to coat.
4.Using a rolling pin or a clean, heavy bottle, roll out the green gumdrops in the granulated white sugar to flatten. Using kitchen shears or clean scissors, cut each flattened gumdropinto 2 leaves. Arrange the leaves on one edge of a cupcake. Repeat with the remaining gumdrops and cupcakes.

For the ladybugs:
1.Tint 1 cup of the vanilla frosting with the red food coloring.
2.Spoon the red sugar into a small bowl.
3.Cover each Mallomar with red frosting. Roll each frosted Mallomar in red sugar to coat completely.
4.Place one sugar-coated Mallomar on each leaf cupcake.

For the decoration:
1.Spoon the chocolate frosting into a resealable plastic bag and snip a small corner of the bag. Pipe a line of chocolate frosting down the center of the red cookie; pipe an oval onto the front of the red cookie for the ladybug's head.
2.Place 2 brown M&M's Minis on either side of the chocolate line; stick 2 chocolate sprinkles upright into the ladybug's frosting head.
3.Continue with the remaining cupcakes.

This recipe was so labor intensive that I omitted the rolling out of the gumdrops...SERIOUSLY!  I found some sour patch candies that cut them into the shape of leaves...that was insanely time consuming for 24 cupcakes.  I also used Oreo Cakesters instead of Mallomars.  I am not way too keen on Marshmallow unless it is on a s'more. :)  I 86'ed the sugary sprinkles too because I wanted to keep the expense to a minimum...I'm so cheap. 

I took the cupcakes to a Memorial Day BBQ and they were a HIT!  YEAH!!!!