Royal Jubilee "Street Party" Cupcakes (how-to)...

As you may well know it has been Royal Jubilee weekend in the UK,and people from all around the Commonwealth and the world have been celebrating 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.  I myself hold dual New Zealand and British citizenship (my dad is a Brit), and so I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to celebrate.  And for me, celebrating usually means making something.  Something edible.

My lovely English friend Emma, hosted a great little afternoon tea in honor of Her Majesty (it was supposed to be a picnic, but we experienced a little bit of an "English Summer" here in Zurich).

I made a cake and cupcakes (photos of the cake to follow).  I thought I would first share these cupcakes and how I made them because I really can't emphasize how incredibly easy and simple they are.

Painting on fondant seems like a step too far for many people, but I think the simple shapes and designs of these cupcakes puts them within the reach of everyone, no matter whether you are a beginner or not.  You can change the colours out to match the theme of any party too.

So, to make your festive "street party" bunting cupcakes, you will need:

(Makes 18 cupcakes)

* 18 cupcakes (try my fantastic simple vanilla cupcake recipe, here)

* White fondant (around 250gr)

* 1 cup buttercream icing

* Red gel food colouring

* Blue gel food colouring

* Vodka (or rejuvenating spirit if you have some)

* A fine paint brush

* Black edible pen

Bake your cupcakes and set aside to cool.

Roll out your fondant to about 3mm thick.  Find a round cutter or a round object like a cup or small bowl, that is close to the size of the top of your cupcakes.

Cut out 18 circles from your fondant and place them on some parchment paper so they don't stick to your work surface. Save a few pieces of the rolled out fondant so you can try out your paint colours on them.

With your black edible pen, draw a curved line from one side of the circle to the other, as shown.  The trick is to not press too hard or the pen sinks into the soft fondant and "cuts" it.

Add some triangles for the bunting flags.  Don't be too perfect about it - I like it when they look "painterly".

Yes, I'm a very messy worker...

Now mix a tiny bit of paste colouring with a few drops of vodka.  Mix well.  Test on your scraps of fondant until you are happy with the colours.

Practice painting a few stripes and dots on your scraps of fondant, then paint your flags as desired.  If you don't feel confident to do patterns, just fill the bunting flags in with whole colours.

Leave the paint to dry for 20 minutes or so.

Level off your cooled cupcakes and pop a dollop of buttercream on top.  Flatten the buttercream off with a knife and pop your painted fondant tops on, transferring them with an off-set spatula or knife.

All done!