Holy Grade School Graduation, Batman!

So, it's happened again. Another school year has passed. The wonders of technology allowed me to watch my oldest nephew's 8th grade graduation live via streaming on my iPhone. School buses are cruising by the house earlier than usual because of end-of-year early release days. And my friend again engaged my services to make cupcakes for her twins' class at school, each one reflecting a topic they'd discussed during the year.

She asked me to do this last year, when I was just cutting my teeth on the use of fondant. Though they came out well, the whole experience was basically a tragic saga of stupid mistakes. For those of you who missed it originally, you can read all about it here.

This year went so much easier. Like, you can't even compare the two experiences. I put a sign on the oven so that I would be forced to check it every time and not bake the decorations I was storing in there. My skills are a lot higher now. It was just so much easier to work with the fondant. No stress. No fuss. Hardly even a mess.

And for those that are curious, I used homemade marshmallow fondant and worked with it over the course of about three days to make these decorations. I made one batch of plain white fondant and then colored it as necessary. If you're looking for a good marshmallow fondant recipe to try for yourself, here's a good one. Some marshmallow fondant recipes out there suggest that you use shortening from the get-go when you knead it. After my own trial and error, I don't recommend that. However, if you're working with the fondant over the course of a day or even over a few days, it can get stiff and less pliable, regardless of how much plastic wrap you've smothered it in or how many zip locks you put around it. So what I do recommend is that if you get that stiffness, just grease your hands up with some shortening or even no-stick spray and work it in. It will get more supple.

If you're new to working with marshmallow fondant and need tips on coloring it or otherwise using it, drop me a comment and I'll help however I can.

Anyhoo, this brings me away from the purpose of the post. I had time to actually take quasi-decent photos of the cupcakes this time, so I figured I'd post all 15 of them for your viewing pleasure. Notice how none of the fondant is melted?

The cupcake is chocolate, with cream cheese frosting. Some of the designs were up for interpretation, some were specifically requested.

Apple on bale of straw for orchard visit.

Metro Card to commemorate NYC trip.

Wagon wheel for pioneer studies.

Brain for human anatomy.

Big Mouth Bass for Hudson River Study class trip. Should have painted the inside of his mouth pink so that it would make more of an impact.

Newton's Second Law of Motion: Force equals mass times acceleration.

The U.S. Constitution for American Studies.

The bell from Polar Express.

Salamanders from a field trip to a local pond.

Gold nugget and pick axe for Gold Rush Day.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars for Planetarium Trip (obviously not to scale, all you sciencey-folk out there, but did you see how I managed to get the "eye"--the atmospheric storm on Jupiter?)

Sneaker for Holes book.

Rat and cockroach as friends for Gregor the Overlander book.

Easter Island head for "Dum Dum Gum Gum" in Night at the Museum.

Beagle for Shiloh book.

Rod of Asclepius and kitty with bandage for trip to veterinary hospital. For those of you who thought the caduceus was the medical symbol (like me), you're wrong. Wikipedia told me so.