Odd Duck cupcakes for Cecil Castelucci
The list of Cecil Castelucci’s accomplishments is almost too long to mention. She is a great writer, creator and most importantly a friend and inspiration to me. Her newest book, Odd Duck is a fun children’s book about acceptance, staying true to yourself…and ducks! A great read for kids and kids at heart!
Cecil had a book release party at one of my favorite stores, Skylight Books in Silver Lake (recap here) where fans and kids filled the store to listen to her read the book. As with her last book signing, I made Theodora and Chad duck cupcakes to celebrate! Unique and fun duck cupcakes for all Odd Ducks of the world to enjoy!
Odd Duck cupcakes for Cecil Castelucci
Ingredients:
mini cupcakes
vanilla buttercream
yellow food gel dye
black frosting
orange frosting
pink frosting
edible pearls
Instructions:
Reserve 1/2 cup of the vanilla buttercream for the whites of the eyes.
Food gel dye is the best because it takes very little to get a vibrant color. Add a few drops to the vanilla buttercream and pipe onto the cupcakes. Use an offset spatula to flatten out for an even surface to pipe the face.
I really wanted to try mimic the adorable ducks that Sara Varon illustrated in the book in an easy way by using basic piping. Using the white buttercream you set aside, along with a #3 piping tip and pipe large round circles for the whites of the eyes.
Use a #2 tip to pipe a very small black pupil in the center of the whites.
For the beak I used orange frosting with a #2 tip to pipe a small upside down U for the top of the beak, then a larger right side up U for the bottom.
To distinguish the between the ducks I added a little pink flower and an edible pearl for the Theodora cupcakes.
