Sunflower Tuscan Cupcakes

My cousin Marianne enlisted me to make cupcakes for a Tuscan-themed party she will be having to celebrate her mother's and niece's birthdays today. She decided on a sunflower design and I got right to it.
I started baking the afternoon before. A lady from cookie class told me they sold a really good cake mix at Fresh & Easy. So, I stopped by on Friday and I was pleasantly surprised. I got two of their Cinch brand Deluxe Moise Yello Cake Mix for $1.09 each. Then, a few items adjacent to that, I spotted this Fresh & Easy brand Dark Chocolate Cupcake & Cake Mix. Being a mother and wife to chocoholics, I grabbed this one too. I think this one was about $3.
The cupcakes baked really well. They had a different look and texture than the ones I'm used to baking. I couldn't resist and had to taste one. I took one of the yellow ones and was pleased. I could taste the fluffiness of the egg a little, but it was really moist and tasty!
I started thinking these cupcakes would be too plain to just serve like that with icing on top. So, I got to thinking how I could make these "Tuscan." What exactly is "Tuscan"? I did a little research online and finally got inspired. I've never filled my cupcakes before and I had a cake filling I had purchased from Fabulous Cakes. It was this Bavarian cream. I am convinced this taste would go so well with the flavor of the cupcakes.



I wanted to add a little more jazz to it so I took out my handy-dandy Brandy! I mixed about an ounce into the Bavarian cream. I liked the outcome.



I filled my bag with the Bavarian cream and put a filling tip (Wilton Tip 230) at the end. Filling the cupcakes was a breeze! That little tub was enough for all 50 cupcakes!

Next came the decorating. I mixed my colors: golden yellow with a bit of orange to get the rich sunflower petal color; dark brown and a bit of black for the center.

I filled one bag with each color and used a Wilton Tip 22 for the center and a Wilton leaf Tip 67 for the petals. The decorating came very easily.


I packed the cupcakes to-go in my Cupcake Courier. I love this container! It holds 36 cupcakes and the rest I just put in my rectangular cake/cupcake holder. Now, I'm ready to go!