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In my closet is a stash of liqueurs I picked up from various corners of the globe. This Violet one is from Italy. Specifically, Assisi. It has been collecting dust, along with it’s rose flavored sister in more than a few living spaces.
While I was digging around in my storage closet I came upon this violet liqueur and found my cupcake flavor in this pretty bottle.
The liqueur itself is pale lavender and tastes delicate and floral. The violet flavor is subtle. Maybe I am not the best judge of that as one of my favorite treats are C. Howards Violet Mints. If you haven’t tasted them, let me tell you they are STRONG and I LOVE them and their violent violet flavor. I definitely would have used them in the cupcakes if I had gotten my hands on some. Didn’t happen so I went with the booze more ladylike option and paired violet liqueur buttercream with a white velvet cupcake.
I made fondant violets to decorate them, then completely fell off the tasteful decorating wagon and disco dusted them to overkill. Blaming that faux paus on Friday the 13th.
To be fair they look much better in real life than in the photos but they still suffer from UGO – Unfortunate Glitter Overload.
Violet White Velvet Cupcakes
For the White Velvet cupcakes:
For the cupcakes I used this recipe from cookbook maniac who adapted it from a recipe from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. The change I made was using 1+1/2 cups of AP flour instead of 2 cups of cake flour.
Makes 18 cupcakes
For the Violet Buttercream:
Ingredients:
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup violet liqueur
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- Purple food coloring (I use Wilton’s gel color in Violet)
Directions:
- Beat butter and one cup of the powdered sugar together until blended.
- Beat in half the liqueur.
- Add another cup of powdered sugar and the rest of the liqueur.
- Gradually pour in the rest of the sugar.
- When combined add coloring.
- Scrape frosting into a piping or Ziplock bag, snip off the corner and frost the cupcakes.
To make the Fondant Violets:
From what I can tell, violets are 5 petal flours. I made mutant 6 petal ones because 6 petals were easier to do using the tools I had on hand.
You will Need:
- Purple and Yellow Fondant (I made my own. Recipe follows)
- Flower cutter
- Small paintbrush
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon clear drinking alcohol (I used vodka)
- Disco dust
Directions:
- Roll out purple fondant and cut out flowers. You will need 6 finished flowers to cover each cupcake if you want to completely cover the cupcake in fondant violets.
- Roll tiny balls out of the yellow fondant. You will need about 3 per flower.
- Wet one fondant flower in the middle with the paintbrush.
- Place one flower on top of the other, making sure all petals show.
- Take the end of the paintbrush and make an indentation in the center of the flower.
- Brush the center with water and gently press in three yellow fondant balls and curl the edges of the top flower up with your fingers.
- Arrange violets on the cupcakes. To apply disco dust, dip paintbrush into alcohol and brush the fondant violets. then dip the same brush in the disco dust and spread over the area where the alcohol is.
For Homemade Fondant:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 bag (1/2 pound) marshmallows (minis melt faster but you can use regular sized ones as well.)
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 pound of powdered sugar
- Crisco or shortening
- plastic wrap or cling film
- Gel or paste food coloring
Directions:
- Cover the inside of a heat safe bowl and a wooden spoon with Crisco or shortening.
- Place marshmallows and water in the bowl.
- Microwave the marshmallows for 30 seconds at a time stirring the mixture in between with the wooden spoon.
- When the mixture is the consistency of Marshmallow Fluff, stir in 3/4 of the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
- Cover your work surface with powdered sugar and cover your hands with Crisco or shortening.
- Dump the fondant on the sugared surface and knead the rest of the sugar in.
- Separate the fondant into different parts and color as desired by adding a few drops of gel colors at a time and kneading it in until the color is evenly distributed and you get the color you want.
- Wrap each piece in plastic wrap until you use it.
- Wrap leftover fondant tightly in plastic cling film and store in a zip lock bag.
8 comments
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Oh the violence of violets! Love it. Very nice take on the flower requirement, I must say. Plus, you've reminded me of that bottle of orange blossom water I still have tucked away in my cupboard…
Gorgeous and ephemeral! I bet these were divine!
Violet liqueur…I'm so intrigued! I think I need to make a trip to Italy just so I can make these!
So pretty and I know time consuming to make the flowers but the results are wonderful. That un-iced cupcake looks pretty appetizing too. Did you like the result with the AP flour?
So beautiful, and that violet liqueur is so intriguing!
I feel that we are kindred spirits when it comes to glitter. I ordered an embarrassing amount of disco dust yesterday. 🙂
Incredible fondant work – you are so talented. And purple is my favorite color, so these are absolutely beautiful to me.
How fabulous! That liqueur looks amazing. If I saw it I would have brought it back too 😀