Spring Topiary Cupcakes

With Easter right around the corner and spring knocking on almost everyone’s door, I have the perfect little cupcakes today.

These were inspired by the shamrock cupcakes that I made last month for St. Patrick’s Day. As soon as I saw them, I instantly thought of topiaries and knew I had to make them for Easter. They’re very simple, but look beautiful and take very little time to make, considering how festive they are. You can make any flavor cookie and cupcakes you like, or even use boxed mixes for more ease. Not to mention that there’s nothing stopping you from making these using dairy free/vegan or gluten free recipes.

I made my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe (linked below), but punched it up for spring with a bit of lemon zest and a dash of lemon extract. Normally, I like a thick sugar cookie, and this is no exception, but because they’ll be cookie pops, as well as cupcake picks, I don’t want them to be too heavy, so I rolled them at about three-eighths of an inch (rather than my favorite half-inch thickness). Once all of the cookies are rolled and cut, I like to chill them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes before adding the sticks. Otherwise they tend to be too soft and they lose some of their shape as I add the stick. Once the cookies are chilled, gently slide the stick into the base of the cookie. Don’t just stick it to the back of the cookie, or you run the risk of the cookie falling right off the stick (especially once the decorations are added).

For the cupcakes, I made my yummy Chai cupcakes, but you can make any cupcake you like. The hubster requested these especially, otherwise, I’d probably have done lemon cupcakes to match the cookies. Ideally, I would have liked to top these with “grass,” but my grass tip (Wilton #233) was somehow lost in our latest move. I need to get a replacement, but I don’t use it often, so I forget. Anyway, I just tinted my frosting green and swirled some on top of the cupcakes, then sprinkled a few spring flower quins on each cupcake. Imagine how cute these would be if they were grassy mounds.

As for the “topiaries,” Once the cookie pops are cooled, I used a writing tip to outline each cookie in frosting, then filled it in. Next, while the frosting is still wet, I dip them into green sanding sugar to coat them and give them the shrubbery look. Finally, I dotted each topiary with tiny bits of frosting and placed a little flower quin on each dot.

Now all that’s left to do is to plant the topiaries in their “pots.”

These are so much fun, and they’re an incredibly easy way to make a treat for spring without slaving away. Even making everything from scratch, these only took me a couple of hours from start to finish…and they would have taken less time if I didn’t have to wait for everything to cool!

Plus, you can do lots of shapes. I used mini cookie cutters to keep the topiaries from being too top heavy, and I stuck with sweet, familiar shapes for spring. I was very tempted to do a squirrel shaped one though!

I love how adorable they look all liked up like they’re in a garden. These would be excellent for a garden party, or a garden themed party. Imagine how sweet they’d look on the party table surrounded by other garden themed sweets. I also love that you get two treats in one! Who doesn’t love to get a free cookie with their cupckae?! I’ll tell you one thing for sure, these made a lot of people smile around here. Proof:

Somebody stole one. I kid you not, a cupcake was stolen while my back was turned. I can’t be sure who took it, because both the hubster and our boy had green frosting in their teeth, but at least they shared, right? Enjoy!

Spring Topiary Cupcakes
Makes 2 dozen
Ingredients

1/2 recipe Rolled Sugar Cookies (for lemon flavor, add 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract)

1 recipe your favorite cupcake recipe (needs to make 2 dozen)

1 recipe frosting

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting work well with the cookies

Design by Darla

Tagged as: Cookie Pops, Cookies, Cupcake Picks, Cupcakes, Frosting, Spring, Topiary Cupcakes