A Cupcake Birthday Bouquet for Mom

The spring is a busy time in the Morgan household. We start off with Rodeo Houston weekend combined with my my father-in-law's birthday, then we are back for Easter a few weeks later and then back again for my mother-in-law, AND brother-in-law's birthday. This means lots a trips to Houston. And this year, it also means lots of baking.

Unfortunately, you can see my reflection as I try to take a picture. 

For my mother-in-law, I decided to make her a floral birthday bouquet out of cupcakes. My flower making skills with buttercream are a little rusty, so I thought this would be perfect to brush up on techniques. The final result was pretty, but boy, did I make a mess in the kitchen. And there were several cupcakes that went straight into my husband's stomach :o) Also, I realized I'm in dire need of practicing buttercream roses. I remembered I never quite got them down in the class I took. Oh well, I'll have to practice again on someone else.

The outside: Basic doctored buttercream recipe with food coloring to make a variety of real and invented flowers. I also used pearl dragees and chocolate sprinkles.

The inside: Oreo cupcakes...yumm. It was my first time ever to make these and I debated between placing a whole Oreo at the bottom or just have half with the cream side up. I went for half with the cream side up to make it smoother and not so crunchy on the bottom. I then poured the cake mixture over the top of each Oreo. The cake batter consisted of an Oreo a mixture of basic white cake with lots added lots of vanilla, sour cream, vanilla pudding and broken up Oreos. These are like lick-your-fingers delicious!

Oh and just for kicks, this time around driving back to Austin from Houston, we finally got out of the car to take pictures in the bluebonnets. It's my first time ever in the five years I have been living in Texas to do this. So pretty :o)