Lei Time
Pineapple Cupcakes2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained and pureed*
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained and pureed*
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tray with 24 paper liners.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer for several minutes. Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the sides of the bowl with each addition. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in three additions with the milk in two additions (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour) Mix until combined with each addition
- Add the pineapple and mix until combined.
- Fill cups about 2/3 full and bake for about 15 minutes.
* I pureed the pineapple in a food processor. I’m not a big fan of fruit chunks. Flavor yes. Chunks. Not so much.
Mango Frosting
1-2 Mangoes
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 lb box of confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 lb box of confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
- Cut mangoes. Instructions here.
- Place mango pieces in food processor and puree enough so you have about 1/3 cup.
- Beat butter and vanilla until creamy.
- Add confectioner’s sugar in several additions. beating until well combined with each addition.
- Add 1/2 cup of mango puree and beat until completely combined.
- Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.
So that’s the cupcakes. But what about the fun stuff. Who’s ready to play?
Okay, fondant first.
You’ll need some to make these lovely little leis.
You’ll need:
Fondant
Icing colors
Toothpicks
Powdered sugar
Wooden skewers
String or twine
Icing colors
Toothpicks
Powdered sugar
Wooden skewers
String or twine
Oh… and a Flower Plunger.
Break off a small amount of fondant. Dip your toothpick into the icing color of your choice and wipe it on your fondant. Begin kneading it to incorporate the color… but not all the way. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on your work surface and rolling pin.
Then roll out the fondant evenly and pretty thin. By not kneading the color completely into the fondant, you’ll get these marbled looking streaks.
Then use the flower plunger. Cut the shapes along the color variations to make flowers that appear to vary in shade.
Repeat with a few other colors if you like.
White works, too.
The flower plunger cuts the shape and also creates an indention in the center of the flower when you press down.
Then you can use wooden skewers to pierce through the center easily. Slide flowers on the skewers and let dry. Make these the day before so the fondant has time to dry out a little. I let them rest on a baking sheet overnight. Just make sure they aren’t pressed together tightly on the skewer or they will dry attached to each other and be difficult to separate without breaking the little flowers.
When they are dry, slide about 50 flowers (depending on the thickness) on a string about 12 inches long and tie a knot.
That’s it.
You’ll also need:
Wooden cookie sticks
X-acto Knife
Scissors
X-acto Knife
Scissors
Cut the cookie sticks down in size. Mine were about 12 inches long so I cut them down to pieces about 4 inches.
Print out the tags on heavyweight paper and cut them out individually. Then use an x-acto blade to cut two slits along the diagonal on each side of the tag.
Slip the sticks through the paper and then insert the sticks straight down into the center of the cupcake.