Fragrant, lush and magical. I can’t imagine anything as wonderful as a well tended garden! I adore admiring all the pretty blooms that a gardener has lovingly raised. It’s almost like they are the parent of the delightful flora, patiently raising each beauty from seed or bud to mature flower. Being a Manhattanite, sadly I don’t have my own garden.
Even though I currently don’t have a green thumb, there are plenty of places for me to go in New York to admire blossoms. This past spring I took my young twin daughters to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for the first time. As I was raised in New York City, my parents used to take me there as a child. It was truly amazing continuing the family tradition by bringing my own kids to this beautiful destination.
As we meandered the Shakespeare Garden, looking at all the gorgeous plantings, my thoughts wandered to The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This charming novel was a childhood favorite of mine. I often wondered what it would be like to come across a hidden door that led to an enchanting garden.
Inspired by this classic book, I decided to make cupcakes! I had so much fun creating what I felt they should look like. As their muse is a secretive place, I partially hid each one in decorative wrapping. Hope you find the magic all around you today! ✨💗✨
If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.
—Frances Hodgson Burnett
Decoration
Pink and white sugar blossom cake decorations (various sizes)
Pink medium size wafer flowers
White filigree cupcake wrappers
Vanilla Cupcakes
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Next, in a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Then add in the rest of the ingredients, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour the batter into lined cupcake pans.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool so you can frost and decorate.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
First, with an electric mixer, beat the vanilla extract and butter in a medium bowl. Then slowly mix in the powdered sugar, and beat. Now pour in the milk. Lastly, using the electric mixer, beat the mixture until it is smooth and fluffy.
Now decorate the tops of the cupcakes with frosting. Then place the cupcakes in decorative wrappers. Put a wafer flower on each cupcake. Lastly, arrange various size sugar blossoms on the tops of the cupcakes.
Makes 14 cupcakes
Note: If you prefer an easier version use store bought cake mix and frosting. Or…just pick up undecorated cupcakes and embellish them yourself!
(You may want to be kind to your teeth and not eat the sugar blossoms!)
