Turtle Cupcakes with Royal Icing Turtle Toppers

It was at the end of this last school year, that  I applied for a new job.  With just three weeks left, I switched to a new position, at a new school. I knew when I saw these adorable turtle cupcakes and their royal icing toppers from Sweetopia, I had to give them a try. They would be perfect for the first day back to work, at my new school, Turtle Bay!

Mine didn’t turn out as nice as Marian’s turtles,  but they were a big hit in my world.

And that’s what counts!

So I had a little trouble with the Royal Icing Turtles,  but other then that, these turtle cupcakes were easy, fun, and delicious.

Easy? The cupcakes are easy to make and can stand on their own without the turtle toppers.

Fun? There is a piece of Turtle candy tucked into every cupcake. Plus those darn little Royal turtles made everyone smile.

Delicious? Chocolate, caramel, and a few pecans here people! Plus that frosting is awesome.

I Pinky Swear!

My problems started immediately, with my Royal Icing. The directions said to mix everything together and beat it for 10 minutes. Then to thin it to the desired consistency by adding  water, a little at a time.

OK, check! I did that.

But my icing was WAY too thick and I added a 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time, afraid to add to much.

And I kept adding,

and adding,

and adding.

I must of added about 30, if not more additions of water, beating all the while. I must of beat that pour icing for another 20 minutes as I was trying to thin it out.  And it STILL ended up  to thick. Just look at those poor dots on his back. They are not suppose to be that way. They are so to smooth.

Lucky for me, no one knew that, and I wasn’t telling.

So…

I believe the integrity of my icing was compromised.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

And I learned the old story, sometimes less is more.  Most of my turtles were too big. So I had some brittle turtles that were so fragile, they broke trying to pick them up.

It was a graveyard of turtles pieces.

Not a pretty site.

But I picked up my disappointed self and dusted off the meringue powder,  and I started making cupcakes. After baking them to within minutes of being done, you push in a Turtle candy. I did a few cupcakes with a whole piece of candy, then decided to cut each candy in half. Put them back into the oven for just a few minutes to melt the candy.

Time to mix up this awesome frosting and pipe it on the cupcake. I have yet to perfect this technique.

It didn’t help that I  chilled my frosting, as I wasn’t ready for for it yet, before it was really thick enough in the first place. So as my cupcakes came to room temperature, my frosting got a little loosey goosey.

Then you drizzle a little caramel over the frosting, and top with a turtle!

Now isn’t that enough to put a smile on your face?

And since I didn’t have enough whole turtles after the massacre, I decided to use turtle pieces, with frosting as the shell.

You would think at this point, I would have a nice picture of the cupcakes in their pretty green cupcake liners, but no.  I didn’t get any good food stylish pictures.  But they did look real cute all dressed up and the liners really were lovely.! You can find these and other fun liners at Bake it Pretty

Since I had a ton of Royal icing leftover, I decided to practice my flooding technique  on some graham crackers.

I think I’m ready to try  decorating some fun sugar cookies.

I also had some leftover Awesome Frosting. That’s my new name for it. Because it’s awesome!

So I frosted some brownies and decorated them all silly. I gave them to a friend, because she’s awesome too. She broke her ankle, so she was deserving of some chocolate!

I know the brownies helped!

If you want to see some awesome cookies and cupcakes,  or if you want this recipe, including the tutorial for making your own turtles, head on over to Sweetopia.  You can find all the info here,

This post is linked to Melt In Your Mouth Mondays

Tagged as: baked, cake, candy, chocolate, cupcakes, fun, gifts, sweet, Tea Party, turtle