Simplicity, chaos, but so much love!

My sons 8th grade team was playing their final middle school football game and some of the moms wanted to do something special for the boys and they asked me to make some cupcakes for after the game.
So, I made my favorite chocolate cake recipe (posted previously with Scorpion cupcakes) and then my absolute favorite chocolate buttercream recipe:
2 cups unsalted butter
9 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups cocoa
1teaspoon vanilla
1+ cup milk
Dash of salt
Mix and add milk by tablespoon until desired consistency is achieved.
So I frosted with the Wilton large star 1M again.
Then I made some chocolate marshmallow Fondant as follows...
In a microwave safe container, graze with vegetable shortening and add 1 package 10 oz large marshmallow and 2.5 Tablespoons of water. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each until marshmallows are completely melted. Add 1 teaspoon if almond extract and stir. Add 1 cup of cocoa powder and stir. I take a bag of powdered sugar and stir half of it in the mix. Then I grease counter with crisco, and pour the rest of the bag into a mound on the counter. In the center well of the mound, I pour he mixture from the bowl. Then I knead until I have incorporated most of the sugar. There will be about 1/2-3/4 cup on the counter that I discard. I then wrap the fondant twice to keep air from drying it out and work with a little at a time.
To make the footballs, I rolled into balls and then pulled he ends to shape. I made decorator frosting with:
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/3 cup powder sugar
1 Tablespoon plus 1teaspoon milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
This I piped with the smallest round tip I had (sorry, can't read the number in it) to make the football stitches.
I colored some of the decorator frosting purple (as this is our school color) and piped a G on one side of the footballs and then '17 on the other as this is their class year.
I was happy with the finished product. Would be cute for Super Bowl!

So...my best friends daughter was turning 9 and she wanted me to make cupcakes for her party. When asked what kind she wanted, she knew exactly what she wanted. Chocolate cupcakes with tan buttercream and scorpions on top! WHAT? Scorpions...really? My friend wasn't going to let her have them, but...it was what the birthday girl wanted. So, I started my quest to find a scorpion mold or cutter of some fashion. But alas, there are none...so let the creative juices flow.
I opted to make them using cocoa candy melts, plain m&&m's, pb m&ms and candy coated sunflower seeds. It was a process, but they turned out well. I used a wonderfully moist chocolate cake recipe as follows:
In mixer bowl, stir:
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons each baking soda and baking powder
and 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
add 2 eggs beating well after each
then stir in :
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Beat for a few minutes to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated.
Then stir in 1 cup of boiling water. Mixture will be runny, but I promise that they are sooooo moist! ;)
Poor into cupcake tins (I always use liners). Bake at 350 for 2-18-20 minutes or until cupcake springs back when touched...or if you prefer, use the toothpick method!
Then, as always,, I used the Wilton Buttercream (with a few minor changes) as follows:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (mine is from Mexico and is not clear)
3 Tablespoons of milk
Dash of salt
To this I tinted the frosting with brown gel food coloring. Used very little to achieve tan.
I used the Wilton 1M star tip to frost the cooled cupcakes.
To make the scorpions, I laid wax paper on my counter, melted the candy melts in the microwave as per package directions. From there, I free handed the shape of a scorpion and placed the m&m's and candy coated sunflower seeds appropriately to the shape of the scorpion (as seen on the picture). After the candy melts hardened, I simply removed from the wax paper and placed atop the cupcakes...and done. A happy 9 year old with an odd birthday request! :)