Marshmallow Fondant Pirate Party Cupcakes

A friend of ours had her annual pirate party a couple weeks ago. This was the first year Hubby and I could make it and we were excited to go. I offered to bring some cupcakes because, well, that’s what I do.

Now we’ve all been to costume parties where only 1/2 of the people play along and wear a costume. Not this party. Everyone was in some sort of a pirate costume. Hubby and I decided to mix it up a bit and go as hidden treasure maps.

We had a blast making our costumes. First I dyed the shirts with some tea. I did all of the drawings except for the dotted lines and Hubby burned the edges with my kitchen torch. I think he had more fun than I did.

Anyways, back to the cupcakes. I was struggling to figure out how to make pirate themed cupcakes without using fondant. I’ve never used fondant before and I’ve never enjoyed the flavor, but I decided what the heck. I made my own fondant and decorated the cupcakes by using the spray on coloring that you can find at Michaels.

I used my KitchenAid mixer to do all the kneading so making the fondant wasn’t too difficult. And it actually tasted good! I just rolled it out and used one of my circle cookie cutters to cut out a circle to cover the top of the cupcake. I used a cutter that was larger than the top of the cupcake so I could completely cover it.

Then I whipped up some quick buttercream and frosting the cupcakes so the fondant would have something to stick to. Once the fondant was in place, I used a stencil and sprayed the skull and cross bones onto the fondant. Overall it was a simple process that I really enjoyed. I am definitely going to have to try some other fondant decorations!

 

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Marshmallow Fondant

I changed the directions below to reflect what I did to use my Kitchen Aid mixer

Ingredients:

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
1-2 tsp clear extract for flavoring (optional) - I used almond extract

Directions:

Grease a large microwave safe bowl. Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in the bowl by microwaving about 2 minutes or until melted. Be sure to remove and stir every 30 seconds. Stir in your flavoring at this time.

Thoroughly grease your mixer bowl, dough hook, and a spatula. Pour 3/4 of the powdered sugar and a pinch of salt into your mixer bowl. Add the melted marshmallow on top of the sugar and turn your mixer on low.

Allow mixer to knead until it sounds like it's having a difficult time. All the sugar should be incorporated at this time. If the fondant is sticky, add more sugar a little bit at a time and continue until it is no longer sticky.

Roll fondant into a ball with your hands and cost with some Crisco. Wrap in plastic wrap and place it in a Ziploc bag. Allow the fondant to rest at room temperature about 3 hours. Once it has rested, it will be ready to use.

Recipe from Fondant 101

As a reminder, don’t forget to enter in my autographed Alton Brown cookbook giveaway by Midnight (EST) TONIGHT!

And don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge going on all month.

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18 Responses to “Shipping Cupcakes in a Jar”

  1. #
    1
    CB — November 9, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    I love it! Where did you get the jars? Now I totally wanna do this for xmas gifts!
    /Clara

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    2
    Jen — November 9, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    I looked everywhere and just couldn’t find them. I ended up ordering them from Amazon. They weren’t very cheap so that was a bummer…

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    3
    CB — November 9, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    Ah bummer. What size are the jars? I wonder if Ikea would have them? Whats the amazon link?
    /Clara

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    4
    Jen — November 9, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    I ordered them from here. You want the wide mouth jars so the cupcakes fit and the 1/2 pint size is perfect.

    The yellow cupcakes didn’t rise much so I added more frosting to fill the jar and the chocolate ones rose quite a bit so they had less frosting. My sister said that the chocolate one had the perfect amount of frosting or could use a smidge more, so you want a cupcake that has at least a small dome.

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    5
    ttfn300 — November 9, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    haha, i’ve never seen that before 🙂 love it!

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    Katie — November 10, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    OH FUN! I’ve seriously always thought about doing this and never did. I’m starring this post to remind myself at Christmas. Too cute!!

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    7
    Janna — November 11, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    I have been dying to try this ever since I saw it last year on someone else’s blog. They actually baked the cake in the jar and then iced it like a cupcake. I am going to have to order some of those iddy jars! Too cute!

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    8
    Beth — November 16, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    Hmmm…might have to do this for Christmas instead of those “ingredients in a jar” thing we were thinking of.

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    9
    Renée — March 12, 2009 at 3:24 pm

    I really want to try this, but I keep reading online that you shouldn’t put frosting in the jar because it will get moldy by the time it reaches its destination. I’m sure you would have heard if it was moldy when it got to your friend right? I would just be so embarrassed if that happened. Any help?

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    10
    Jen — March 12, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    Renee – I’ve done this twice and both times haven’t heard of any mold. I froze the cupcakes/frosting in the jars prior to shipping them. I also shipped in the winter. My one sister even didn’t go get her package from the office until a week after it arrived and it was still good. I would guess she ate her cupcakes about 10 days after I sent them. I’m not sure if shipping in warm weather will have an impact on potential mold…

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    11
    Renée — March 12, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    Alright I’ll definitely give it a try then. It will make for a very good Easter present for my faraway friends =)

  12. #
    12
    Jen — March 12, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    Oh that’s a good idea!! I might have to order some more jars and do the same myself…

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    13
    Hillary — June 5, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    What a clever idea! I would love to get a cupcake in the mail! 🙂 Maybe I’ll send out Valentine’s Day Cupcakesnext year!

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    14
    CuteCupcakesAllTheTime — May 6, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    CuteCupcakesAllTheTime — May 6, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    Love these!! We have featured you on our blog. http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com

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    Pat — February 16, 2013 at 11:19 am

    Did you freeze them before shipping? The jars looked frosted…

    • beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:21 am

      I did freeze them. They defrosted as they were shipped. I’ve done it with and without the freezing depending on the weather and whatnot.

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    PinkSuga — October 27, 2014 at 7:38 pm

    What shipping method did you use? Overnight or Express???

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