Page 293 - Cupcakes

MERINGUE BOWS AND RIBBONS

• • • •
On Christmas eve, when everyone is eager to open at least one gift, festive

cupcakes with pretty bows just might make the waiting a little easier.
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1½ tablespoons powdered egg whites
3 tablespoons water, plus more for thinning
Gold, silver, or white edible glitter

1. At least 3 hours before baking, prepare the meringue bows: Line two baking
sheets with waxed paper, and set them aside. Place the sugar, powdered egg
whites, and 3 tablespoons of water in a medium-size mixing bowl and beat with
an electric mixer until the mixture is very stiff, about 5 minutes.

2. Spoon 1 cup of the egg white mixture into a pastry bag with a #2 plain tip.
Draw outlines of 24 bows in a fancy figure eight, by slowly piping the mixture
onto the waxed paper in the desired bow shape. Now pipe the notched ribbon
ends that hang off a tied bow separately. Each bow gets 2 ribbon ends. Each bow
should measure about 2½ inches wide; each ribbon end about 1½ inches long.
Leave 2 inches between bows. To prepare the filling for the bows and ribbon
pieces, thin the remaining egg white mixture with water until it has the

consistency of white school glue. Use either a toothpick or a small plastic knife
to fill in the bow and ribbon outlines with the thinned mixture, taking care to fill
the corners. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle gold and silver edible glitter on
each bow. Allow the meringue bows to dry for at least 3 hours before using.

How to Make Edible “Plastic Chocolate”

Need big chocolate curls for those extra-special cupcakes? You don’t have
to be a pastry chef; you just need what is called “plastic chocolate.” This
edible chocolate putty is rolled out to form curls or leaves or roses,
whatever shape you like, to garnish the top of cakes. Here is how it goes:
Melt 2 ⅔ cups (or 16 ounces) of semisweet chocolate chips in a small heavy