Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until light brown, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating pan once. Set aside to cool.
Lightly frost cupcakes with 1 cup chocolate buttercream; set aside. Tint 2 tablespoons reserved buttercream pale yellow; place in a pastry bag fitted with a #349 Ateco leaf tip; set aside. Tint remaining buttercream light blue; place in a pastry bag fitted with a #11 Ateco plain round tip, and pipe three bluebird heads, 3/4 inch in diameter, onto each cupcake. Using leaf tip, pipe yellow beaks. With a toothpick, add melted-chocolate eyes. Form each nest with 2 tablespoons toasted coconut.
So here's how mine turned out. I thought they turned out pretty cute, but obviously not the same. I knew I didn't have frosting bags and tips, so I decided to try a different route.
I followed the instructions to toast the coconut. It seemed to toast pretty easily, so I pulled it out before the directed time. I thought the different mixture of colors/tones are cute anyway! Since I didn't have all of the frosting bags/tips, I found a bag of milk chocolate eggs and dipped them in dyed almond bark (similar to white chocolate). The cupcakes were too small to do 3 birds on each, so I just did one. I did have trouble with their little beaks! For some reason, the frosting I used, wouldn't stay standing up, so I decided to do more of a "triangle" beak. For the eyes, I melted a few chocolate chips and used the tip of a toothpick to paint them on. I would definitely make these little dudes again!
xo
omg, who doesn't like chinese donuts??!!!
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