Shoe Cupcakes

Last weekend my friend and co-host of AlphaBakes Caroline from Caroline Makes celebrated her birthday. She decided to have a shoe themed birthday party asking guests to wear their favourite pair of shoes. Of course the best part of a birthday party is the cake!  She made a lovely 2 tiered pink polka dot shoe cake which was delicious. She also baked cupcakes, brownies and macarons. 

I offered to make some cakes (naturally) and suggested a shoe cupcake but had no idea how to go about making one. Caroline emailed me "Are these the sort of shoe cupcakes you meant? ... http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/fashionista-cupcake-alert-cupcake-high.html

It would be great if you wanted to make these :-) " 

I took one look at them and thought no way! But I really wanted to make them so I spent ages looking at the picture and thinking about how I can go about re-creating them. I think they turned out pretty good in the end - could be a lot tidier but I was in a hurry and it was my first time! The guests were suitably impressed which was good. These took a lot longer to make than I expected so I only ended up making 4 pairs of shoes. They are not difficult, just fiddly and time consuming! I've prepared a step by step photo post below if you want to give them a go yourself.

 I want to show you my new tea towel - I love it! :) 

 what you need to make the soles - rich tea fingers, white chocolate and chocolate fingers. You may of course use suitable alternatives. 

 First, trim the end of the rich tea fingers to create the shape of the sole as shown. You will also need to trim the chocolate finger depending on the height of your cupcake. Cut it at an angle as shown. 

 Dip the biscuit in melted white chocolate and place in the fridge/freezer to set. Do one side at a time. 

 Get out all your coloured sugars!

 Once you've dipped both sides of the biscuit, dip each edge and then roll in coloured sugar and allow to set. Dip the other edge and repeat. Finally cover the rounded end (front end)

 Stick the chocolate finger onto the back of your "sole" at an angle using more of the white chocolate. You may need something to support it whilst it's drying such as an empty cupcake case!

 I baked plain vanilla cupcakes but you can make any flavour you like. I also made vanilla buttercream frosting. 

 Spread lots of frosting on top ...

.. try to form a slight dome in the middle

 Roll in coloured sugar so the entire surface is covered. I found that the easiest way to do this was to hold the cupcake at an angle and roll it in the sugar

 Push the sole rounded end first into the edge of your prepared cupcake

 They really look like shoes!! 

Time for some decorations! I bought sets of tappits from Cake International and used ready rolled fondant to cut out shapes. 

 how cute is this? 

 I added a tiny bow at the back of the shoe as well. 

 The finished cupcakes which I'm pleased to say arrived in 1 piece! Which is your favourite?

I'm linking this up to Lets Bake Cupcakes and Muffins hosted by simply.food