One of nature's cutest little helpers, the ladybug, gets a sweet spot atop a cupcake garden with this fun recipe! They're sure to be a hit at any springtime birthday party, tea party, or other event.
What you'll need
- melting chocolate in red and brown or black
- melting chocolate in white
- jumbo cupcakes made from your favorite recipe or mix
- your favorite icing (homemade or store-bought)
- sandwich cookies
- shredded coconut (optional)
- green food coloring
- pastry bag
How to make it
Melt the red chocolate in a bowl or pan, according to the package directions.
Dip the cookies in the melted red chocolate and coat them completely on both sides. Use a teaspoon or small pair of kitchen tongs to turn the cookie in the chocolate.
Lay the dipped sandwich cookies on wax paper to cool and harden.
Melt a small amount of brown or black chocolate and spoon it into a pastry bag. Make a small hole in the tip of the bag.
Use the pastry bag to pipe chocolate onto the red dipped cookies to form the ladybug's head, wings and spots. First squeeze a circle of chocolate about the size of the tip of your little finger at one edge of the cookie for the ladybug's head. Then, pipe a line of chocolate from the head across to the other side to form the seperation between the ladybug's wings. Lastly, use the tip of the pastry bag to make small dots for the ladybug's spots.
Melt a bit of white chocolate to make the ladybug's eyes; apply a small dot of the chocolate to the ladybug's head with a toothpick.
Mix some of your favorite icing with green food coloring. Spread the green icing on the top of the cupcakes to form the grassy base for the ladybug.
To add texture to your grass, color shredded coconut green by adding a small amount of green food color to it and stirring it together in a bowl until the coconut turns green. Then, sprinkle the coconut onto the top of each cupcake. You can skip the coconut if your children don't like it, and just place the ladybug right on the green icing.
Place your chocolate covered cookie lady bug on top of the cupcake with a small spot of icing underneath to hold it in place.
