PRETTY LITTLE THINGS

What can be cuter than a pack of fluffy little puppies? Why, cupcake puppies, of course! This was the image that got me into buying the "Hello Cupcake!" book some weeks ago, with the luring subtitle "...playful creations anyone can make".

Living in Italy I could be not further away from canned frosting, rainbow food colors and marshmallow fluff requested for the "easy creations" even if I lived on the moon. The standard italian grocery shop doesn't carry any of the above and my secret stash of food colors brought way back from Germany features the 3 basics of red, blue and yellow.

And so, waiting for my newly ordered baking supplies to arrive, I did try what seemed a more simple and affordable project - a bunch of sunflowers. The recipe used is a vanilla cupcake from the book with a basic butter-cream frosting I found on the internet. While I didn't care much for the frosting - too sweet, I really liked the cupcake where I've added some chopped kiwi for a bit of zing. Following the decoration instructions was easy and fun and I cannot wait to try something else from the book. I've got my eye on the white puppies already -- gonna make them look like my dogs :)