Christmas Dove Cupcakes

Step 1) Make the cupcakes.

1. Use your favorite flavor cupcake recipe. My go-to is Magnolia Bakery's vanilla cupcake recipe. I halved the recipe to make only 12 cupcakes. Make sure you let them cool completely before decorating them.

Step 2) Make & Color the fondant

1. While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, make the Fondant (see recipe below). Color a handful-sized portion each pink and teal for the flower garland. Then tint a US quarter-sized portion of black for the eyes and double that amount of gold for the beaks.

Step 3) Make the buttercream

1. See recipe below, which is a half batch, or halve your favorite recipe. Cover the finished buttercream with plastic cling film, pressing it into the surface of the frosting. Leave it covered until ready to use.

Step 4) Make and decorate the fondant tops for the cupcakes:

1. Roll out the white fondant. Use the round cutter to cut 12 shapes (1 per cupcake).
2. Use the fondant imprint stamps to press in designs on each of the fondant circles.
3. Use a pastry or butter knife to coat the tops of the cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Leave a 1/4 inch border from the edge of the cupcakes. You don't need a lot of frosting for this, so don't pile it high. Place the fondant circle on top of the cupcake and press gently to adhere, making sure the fondant topper is evenly placed on the cupcake. When all the cupcakes have been covered, the next step is to coat them with the pearl petal dust.
4. Pour the vodka or clear drinking alcohol into a small bowl. Dip a medium-sized paintbrush into the vodka, then into the petal dust, and spread the dust over the fondant circle until it is completely and evenly coated in the pearlized petal dust. When all the toppers have been pearlized, move on to the doves.

Step 5) Make the Doves:

1. Body + Head: Break off a small handful of white fondant. Roll and knead it between your hands until it is malleable. Use some extra vegetable shortening to make the consistency pliable.  Shape the fondant into a short, thick roll. Then mold one side thicker than the other. Use your fingers to form 1/4 of the roll into the head and smooth the rest into the dove's body shape.
2. Wings: Roll out a portion of white fondant and use the angel wings cutter to cut out a set of wings. Cut the piece in between the two wings to separate them. Use the knife to score the tips of both wings to resemble feathers. Gently smooth the wings onto the side of the dove. Press to adhere. Use some vegetable shortening to adhere them if the fondant is not sticky enough.
3. Tail: Cut out a fan shape from the white rolled-out fondant. Score the fan part with the knife to resemble feathers. Adhere the tail to the dove, gently smoothing it with your fingers. Use some vegetable shortening to adhere them if the fondant is not sticky enough.
4. At this point, I used one of the fondant stamps to press a design into the back of the dove between the wings.
5. Beak: Roll out two very small pieces of gold-tinted fondant about 1/8 inch long. Roll one end of each into a point. Press the non-pointed ends together, leaving the pointed ends separated, and adhere to the front of the head to create a beak. Use a dab of vegetable shortening to affix, if needed. Make sure the beak is not too long or thick, or your dove will end up looking like a white crow.
6. Eyes: Make two very small round balls out of the black fondant and press into each side of the dove's head. I accented the eyes by rolling small pieces of white fondant into very thin strips and adhering them over each black eye.
7. Gently coat the underside of the dove with a very thin layer of vegetable shortening and place it on top of a covered cupcake.
8. Dip a medium-sized brush into the alcohol and into the white rainbow disco dust and cover the entire dove (except the beak) with the dust.
9. Dip a small brush into the alcohol and then into the edible gold dust and carefully paint the gold onto the dove's beak.

Step 6) Make the flower garland:

1. Break off a piece of the green-tinted fondant and roll it into a long string. Place the middle of the green string into the beak of the dove. Place each side of the string on the tops of the cupcakes on either side of the dove. Use a dab of vegetable shortening to adhere the garland to the top of the cupcake, if needed.
2. Break off a piece of the pink fondant and roll it out. Cut out 2 flowers with the small flower cutter. Place the flowers on the garland, one on each side of the dove. Use a dab of vegetable shortening to adhere the flowers to the garland, if needed. Press a sugar pearl into the middle of each flower.
3. Dip a small brush into the alcohol, then into the pink disco dust, and carefully paint the flowers.
4. Dip a small brush into the alcohol, then into the green disco dust, and carefully paint the dust onto the green garland.

Step 7) Make the garland cupcakes:

1. Make the garlands as described above. But make them twice as long and make three flowers instead of two.
2. Lay the garland down on top of the covered cupcakes. Loop them around to create a design. Press the flowers in whenever you like, and press the pearls in. Cover the flowers and garland with disco dust as described above.

1. Place butter, 2 cups of the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a mixer and cream together.
2. Add the rest of the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until combined. If the mixture is too liquid in consistency, add more powdered sugar.