• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Art of Doing Stuff
menu icon
go to homepage
  • HOUSE
  • COOKING
  • GARDEN
  • HOW-TO
  • EXTRA
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • HOUSE
    • COOKING
    • GARDEN
    • HOW-TO
    • EXTRA
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » How To Stuff » How to (Christmas)

    HOW TO MAKE CUPCAKE TREE ORNAMENTS.

    November 10, 2016 by Karen 77 Comments

    Pin4K
    Share
    Email
    4K Shares

    title

     

    We like cupcakes.  We like Christmas trees.  So could you explain to me why we never thought to combine cupcakes with our Christmas Trees?

    It can be done.  You can have an ENTIRE Christmas tree covered only in cupcakes this year.  I know.  Because I've done it.

    YOU can make Cupfakes for your Christmas tree this year and they'll look GREAT.  They're totally made with some poisonous materials so don't do this if you have either small children or a very stupid but much loved spouse in the house.

    You make the "cake" out of a can of  Great Stuff expandable spray foam insulation.  You make the "icing" out of a bucket of premixed drywall compound.

    Using these 2 ingredients, some items from around the house, plus some do-dads for decoration you'll have cupcake ornaments that will look like real cupcakes.

    But to reiterate you probably shouldn't eat them.  I don't mean to tell you what to do, but if it were me ... I wouldn't eat them.  What with them being made out of poison and plaster.

    This is incredibly easy to do but does take some time.

    HOW TO MAKE A CUPCAKE TREE ORNAMENT

    Materials

    Drywall Compound (might be called something else in your part of the world.  It's the stuff that comes in a bucket and you use it to repair your drywall or sheetrock)

    Great Stuff expandable foam insulation

    Muffin tin/cupcake tin

    Paper Muffin/cupcake cups

    Acrylic Paints

    Piping Bag and tips

    Electric Handmixer

    Kitchen Bowl

    Decorations (sparkles, Mini ornaments, beads) for top of cupcake

     

    To make the cake portion of the cupcakes get your muffin tin and liners.

    cupcake-liners

    Some paper cups also come with these tooth pick thingees.

    christmas-picks

    You can save those to use in your ornaments or spear a cocktail wiener with them as you're making your Cupfakes.

    Line your muffin tins with the liners. I didn't do this the first time I made these, but putting a heavy washer or pebbles into the liners before you fill them will help weigh them down so they don't tip over later on.

    done

    Fill the liners ¾'s full with Great Stuff expandable foam.

    great-stuff

    This much foam will make about 40 Cupfakes.

    liners-with-foam

    See that cupcake with the green liner in the centre? It's too full. You should only fill to ¾s full.

    Move slowly because this Great Stuff is REALLY sticky and you don't want to make mistakes.  Also wear gloves.  Did I mention you should wear surgical gloves?  Also, it's easiest to fill the cups if you spray the foam in circles.

    The reason I say to only fill the cups ¾s of the way is because this stuff means it when it says it expands.

    This is how much the cup looks at ¾s full.

    10-minutes

    And 10 minutes later ...

    10-minutes-later

    And another 10 minutes later.

    10-minutes-later-2

    Let your foam set for a minimum of a couple of hours. I let mine set overnight. Once they're set you can pull them out of the muffin pan and start to paint them if you want.  When the foam dries, it's completely white and shiny.  You can leave them like that, or you can paint the cupcakes.  I painted mine to make them look as though they were really baked vanilla cupcakes.
    So instead of looking like this ...

    cupfake-1

    They look like this.

    coloured-cupfake

    To paint them just mix up a couple of brown and cream colours of acrylic folk art paint and swirl them together a bit.  Then brush the paint right onto the Cupfake.  It's as simple as that.  Just do a light, swishy coat so some of the colour beneath shows through.  Then go over the Cupfake again, darkening any high points so it looks like they're a bit more browned there.

     It's a bit easier to "ice" your Cupfakes if you cut the top off of them because the compound will stick better to the porous surface of the cut foam.  Plus, it'll keep your Cupfakes a more manageable size.

    Like so ...

    cut-cupfake

    O.K.  Now that your cupcakes are formed and painted you're ready to move onto the final step.  Throwing them at people.  Wait, no.   Icing and decorating them.

    Tips!

    *  Great Stuff is incredibly sticky and if you get it on your arm it will require scrubbing with hot, soapy water, drenching with acetone, a splash of Goo Gone, and another treatment with acetone.  Finally,  remove your arm with a hacksaw.  In other words, be very careful with the Great Stuff.

    * Do not overfill your paper cups.  ¾s full and that's all.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    * Don't attempt to pull them out of the muffin tins before they're dry.

    * Keep plenty of paper towels handy.  And by handy, I mean pre-ripped off of the roll, sitting right beside you.  You'll need them to wipe the goo off of the nozzle when it accumulates there.

    Tips may or may not be based on real life experiences.

    Now that the actual "cake" portion of the Cupfakes are done, it's time to move onto the fun part.  Not that spraying goo in paper cups and watching it explode in size isn't fun.  'Cause it is.

    For decorating your Cupfakes you're going to use a bucket of pre-mixed drywall compound coloured with acrylic paint.  That'll be the icing on the cake.

    On *top* of the icing you can put whatever decorative pieces you want.  You can use sparkles, or beads or brightly coloured condoms.  Whatever tickles your chin.

    Whatever you put on your cupcakes needs to be fake.  Not real food items.

     

    MAKING THE ICING

    Spoon a glob of drywall compound into a mixing bowl.   Add enough to fill a piping bag.

    drywall-compound

    Add a dollop of whatever colour paint you want.  The drywall compound is greyish so unless you can find a white drywall compound you'll never have a pure white icing.

    Work quickly now because the drywall compound's sole purpose in life is to dry out when it hits the air.

    tinting-compound

    Whip up the tinted compound with a hand mixer.

    mixing-colour

    I feel the need to reiterate work quickly.  There's no time for stopping and staring blankly at your recently manicured and newly wrecked fingernails. No. Time.

    The drywall compound starts to dry out almost immediately and you need to get it into your piping bag quickly.

    To make your life much easier, if you plan on making a variety of coloured icings, get a few extra tips and disposable piping bags and mix them all up in advance.

    Once you have the drywall compound in the piping bag, it'll stay fresh while you make the cupcakes.

    pastry-tip

    Wilton 1M tip

    pastry-tip-2

    Wilton 1A tip

    Once your piping bags are filled with your tinted drywall compound set your prepared Cupfake in front of you.

    Unless you plan on piping with your bum.  In which case you should probably place the cupcake behind you.

    The drywall compound is a little softer than icing, but other than that it is remarkably similar.

    Pipe it onto the cupcake however you fancy.

    icing

    Once you've iced the cupcake and topped it with sparkles or whatever else you want, insert a paper clip into it so you have somewhere to hang a hook off of.

    The paper clip hangers are in there fairly snug.

    However, just to be safe, once they were dry I dropped a teensy bit of hot glue where the wire inserted into the cupcake.

    paper-clip

    If you put the wire directly in the centre of the cupcake, it will hang perfectly straight from the tree.  If you put it off to the side the Cupfake will hang at an angle.

    Doesn't this look like soft serve ice cream?

    Covered in purple sparkles?

    Which is how I most enjoy my ice cream.

     

     

    If I'd had more time I would have made black and white cupcakes.

    I  might still make black and white cupcakes.

    done

     

    Don't wanna hang em from the Christmas Tree?  'Cause you're Jewish?  Or  Jehovah's Witness?  Or Muslim? Or you just don't like Christmas trees?

    No problem.  Put em on a cake plate.

    cupfakes-final

     

    After you ice and decorate your cupcakes, sit them to the side (carefully) and let them dry for 2 days. Just ignore them. Sit them in the corner and pretend they don’t exist. Treat them like your spouse when they’ve wronged you.

    You can now hang them from a tree, put them on a plate or use them as a bow on a Christmas present.

    Oh … be prepared to make real cupcakes after you make your fake cupcakes. I can’t explain it, but for some reason you’ll have an uncontrollable craving.

    Have a good weekend!

    signaturetransparent

    More How to (Christmas)

    • Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
    • My Best Gift Wrapping Ideas for Christmas.
    • 17 Easy Christmas Decoration Ideas for Your Home!
    • A Christmas Cocktail To Keep Amaryllis Stems Short

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      The maximum upload file size: 512 MB. You can upload: image, audio. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

    1. MelissaSue

      December 05, 2016 at 9:32 am

      I made some of your cupfakes. My daughter-in-law and I had a blast. Thanks for the helpful tips. They will make great gifts!

      Reply
      • Karen

        December 05, 2016 at 9:48 am

        They look great MelissaSue! I'm so glad you made them. :) ~ karen!

        Reply
    2. Heather

      November 21, 2016 at 12:20 pm

      I wanted to tell you my 4 year old and made these this past weekend and you aren't kidding when you said the Great Stuff expands. It does. Really really big which was great fun for the 4 year old. Ours aren't nearly as cute as yours but they are huge and really sparkly and we had a ball making them! Thanks for the awesome idea!

      Reply
      • Karen

        November 23, 2016 at 10:11 am

        That's great. And you're insanely brave (or just insane) for having a 4 year old help you with these, lol. Glad they worked out! ~ karen

        Reply
    3. Marlene Eastman

      November 15, 2016 at 5:11 pm

      I forwarded this to my niece who has a cupcake shop in Burlington. She loves the idea, but can't do it this year as she is starting into full gear already for Xmas .... 30 gingerbread houses on the agenda.

      Loved her reply to me:
      Would love to do these for our tree in the shop. Kids would probably bite and lick them but who hasn't put something weird in their mouth at one time our another? Plus it's fun to see how parents handle stuff like that - there are so few perks to dealing with the public.

      I have no experience with a piping bag, so, this is not something I will try just yet :)
      Keep the ideas coming!!!

      Reply
      • Karen

        November 15, 2016 at 7:11 pm

        OMG, I love her reply as well!!! Love it! I'll have to go searching for Burlington cupcake shops. :) ~ karen!

        Reply
        • Marlene Eastman

          November 16, 2016 at 12:22 pm

          hey, I'll give them a plug .... just search in FaceBook .... LA Cupcake Boutique. They do incredible specialty cakes as well, they are fondant wizards ..... and the taste is amazing!!! Give them a visit! They do corporate events too!!

    4. Susan Alexander

      November 11, 2016 at 8:52 pm

      I will never make these because I would end up with caulking compund on the ceiling and Great Stuff up both nostrils... but, dang, girl... I will be reading your directions three more times, and bookmarking this page AND forwarding it to my friends because your writing is phenomenal and down to earth and TRUE!

      Thinking about it...you remind me of the author, Sir Terry Pratchett, who was wickedly funny in the very best way.

      Please...keep writing this blog. I need it.

      Reply
      • Susan Alexander

        November 11, 2016 at 8:59 pm

        I know how to spell compound...really.

        Reply
      • Karen

        November 12, 2016 at 7:44 pm

        Well thanks Susan, lol. And this wasn't even one of my better blog posts. I don't think. Maybe it was! I'll have to go reread it now, lol. ~ karen!

        Reply
    5. Gayle M

      November 11, 2016 at 1:53 pm

      PERFECT! Now that my sons are adults and married (no grandchildren, and don't say "yet" cuz it ain't gonna happen. Stopped wishing years ago), we have done away with the gift exchange--the first year my youngest son was married (got two teenage step-grandsons in the deal), the gifts under the tree were, well, quite disgusting. Really? THAT many gifts? Not enough room for all of us to be in the same room as the tree! Had to cut down, so now that we are all well into adulthood, we exchange holiday ornaments--preferably hand made. Yes. PERFECT! I've been all over Pinterest looking for that perfect ornament that will wow the boyss and dils. This is it. THANK YOU so much, Karen! Going shopping today for sure.

      Reply
    6. Benjamin

      November 11, 2016 at 1:43 pm

      How fun, what a cute project. After I sit them in front to pipe the frosting then I'll sit them behind and give them a splash of sparkle from on of my famous holiday glitter farts. I love the way you indulge my crazy-weird side of storytelling/crafting. ((hugs))

      Reply
    7. Michele Zivkovic

      November 11, 2016 at 12:13 pm

      This reminds me of those elaborate Decoden cases people make. They use silicone caulk.

      Reply
      • Ei Con

        November 11, 2016 at 3:46 pm

        Had to google Decoden. O. M. G. I had no idea this was a thing.

        Reply
    8. Katie C.

      November 11, 2016 at 11:25 am

      Another Great Stuff tip: Don't let your spouse/partner/self leave the can sitting on the edge of the dryer up against a box so when you later need to reach above the dryer to get some mac & cheese from a high shelf it depresses the button and sprays into the pocket of your hoodie.

      I heard from a friend that my... err... her sweatshirt is still crunchy years later.

      Reply
    9. Nicole

      November 11, 2016 at 9:11 am

      Just reading the post has made me crave real cupcakes. :)

      Reply
    « Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    SHOP ON AMAZON

    Use it 👆 to support my work. LEARN MORE

    My name is Karen Bertelsen and I was a television host. In Canada. Which means in terms of notoriety and wealth, I was somewhere on par with the manager of a Sunset Tan in Wisconsin.

    I quit television to start a blog with the goal that I could make my living through blogging and never have to host a television show again. And it’s worked out. I’m making a living blogging. If you’re curious, this is how I do that.

    So I’m doing this in reverse basically. I’m the only blogger who is trying to NOT get a TV show.

    More about me 👋

    Seasonal Articles

    • Today's Puzzle: Welcome to Sidewalk Daycare
    • Today's Puzzle: 72% Chance of Greasefire
    • Today's Puzzle: Literature, SPF 30, & Processed Cheese
    • This Fruit Fly Trap Catches 25X More Than Your Bowl of Vinegar Does
    • Apple Watch Band Stuck? How to Remove It.
    • Cleaning Copper with Ketchup: A No-Rub Experiment

    Popular Articles

    • This Is Where I Try To Buy Your Love
    • Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip
    • A Year Full of Pots: Win Sarah Raven's New Book
    • The Difference Between People Who Eat Mayo & People Who Eat Miracle Whip
    • Your FIRST look at my new kitchen in Canadian Living Magazine.
    • How to Print an Image on Wood.

    Footer

    as seen in

    About

    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Social

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    3913 shares