Giant Flower Cupcake

My little girl turned 1 and I wanted to go all out!  Since her party was a Butterfly and Flower theme, I decided to make both Butterfly cupcakes AND a giant Flower cupcake.  I found this picture online and knew that I had to make this.  Since it was just a picture, I didn't have much to go on, but I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

 For those of you who are curious, here is how I made the Giant Flower cupcake :)

1. Bake 24 cupcakes (any flavor)
2. Once cooled, place cupcakes in groups of 7, then shape them into 3 separate flower petals, use 2 cupcakes for the leaves (1 cupcake will be left over - aka the one you get to eat right now)
3. Frost all the cupcakes with one layer of white frosting (I used a basic Cream Cheese Frosting).  Place the cupcakes in a cool place (or refrigerator) to let the frosting set/harden a bit.
4. While frosting is setting, take additional frosting and start mixing your colors.  You'll need 4 colors, I used Green, Brown, Light Pink and Dark Pink, but feel free to use any color combination you wish!
5. Using an offset spatula or fondant spreader, carefully spread out the frosting on the OUTER 6 cupcakes - make sure to leave the middle cupcake alone!!  Evenly distribute the frosting along all the cupcakes, so that it looks like 1 cupcake instead of six. Repeat with the other 2 flowers.
6. Once the frosting has hardened a bit, outline the flowers with another color frosting and add little dots near the center (I used white frosting for that part).
7. Frost the middle of each flower with your brown/chocolate frosting.
8. Frost the remaining 2 cupcakes with the green frosting.
9. For the petals I used fondant that I colored green and then cut out into the shape of a leaf.  However, if you don't have fondant on hand you could use: green fruit roll up, apple Airheads rolled out flat, or any sort of gummy candy that can be rolled out flat and cut out with scissors or a knife.
10. Use left over frosting to spread down between the leaves - acting as the flower stem.
11. Sit back and enjoy your beautiful work of art!

ENJOY!!!! 

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