The Luau Cupcakes {Chocolate Ganache, Hummingbird, & Chocolate Samoa)

These were the cupcakes I made for my daughter’s luau themed birthday party a few weeks ago.

Since it was a luau, I tried to stick with Hawaiian flavors and ingredients, hence the coconut, macadamias, and pineapple.

From left to right,

  1. Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting and Fondant Flower;
  2. Hummingbird Cupcake with Cream Cheese Icing and Pineapple Flower (adapted from Martha Stewart); and
  3. Chocolate Samoa Cupcake with Coconut Pecan Frosting and Fondant Flower (adapted from this recipe)

Here they were just before we sang happy birthday. Cupcake stand is from Target. Ruffled Baking Cups are from Wilton.

Samoas Inspired Cupcakes {Coconut, Caramel, & Chocolatey Goodness}

I found the recipe for this cupcake and knew I had to try it–Samoas Girl Scout Cookies are my favorite. The brown sugar cupcake recipe is excellent, as is the caramel filling (I made my own salted caramel sauce) and chocolate ganache. The coconut topping got a little too firm (I think I added too much toasted coconut–next time I’ll try a little less to keep it more runny).

I decorated some of the cupcakes with piped ganache (while it was still a little warm and liquid). The others were topped with a red fondant flower.

Notice the flour and sugar canisters in the background. I bought them from Williams Sonoma (wide mouth glass canisters) and added Stampin’ UP! Decor Elements to the front (retired Hostess set of 4–flour, sugar, coffee, and tea).

As you can see from the picture above, I formed the coconut topping into a patty and topped the cupcake. Below, I made the patty a little bigger, which was overkill in my opinion–and I really love coconut! If the topping was runnier, it would have definitely been easier to eat.

This was a test run. Now I know what I’d like to change next time I make them. My daughter’s 4th birthday party is a luau theme and this is one of the cupcakes I planned on making.

Yes, that’s right, I said ONE Of the cupcakes. Coconut is one of those ingredients people either love or hate. I’ll have a safe choice too–it will definitely involve chocolate!

I {Heart} Cupcakes Birthday Card

I made this card for my friend’s birthday–can you tell it’s supposed to be a cupcake? Technically, this is not the card I sent her, but an exact replica. The reason I had to make another card is because in my excitement, I made the card, put it in an envelope and dropped it at the post office BEFORE I took a picture! Where was my head??

The base is Chocolate chip card stock, layered with Shades of Spring DSP in a large pink dotted pattern.

The cupcake was made with chocolate chip card stock (I cut the shape of the base with scissors), then passed it through the Crimper. All of the hearts are from I {Heart} Hearts stamped in Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa ink. Then I punched them out with the Heart to Heart Punch. They are attached to the Whisper White base using Mini Glue Dots and Stampin Dimensionals.

Across the front of the cupcake, I added a sentiment. I stamped “happy birthday” from Goody Goody Gumdrops in Regal Rose Marker on Whisper White and punched that out with the Word Window Punch. Then, I layered that onto a Regal Rose Modern Label Punch attached with Stampin Dimensionals.

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