Bomb Cupcakes

Recently, we had a “secret-agent” party for a group of teenage girls. What better to eat at such a party than a cupcake made to look like a bomb?! Okay, it may sound a bit silly, but it was a lot of fun.

In case you’re aching for a bomb cupcake, here is how it’s done!

• Start by making dark-chocolate cupcakes. I decided to skip the black food-coloring, since I knew I’d add enough to the frosting. I also baked them in black cupcake liners I found at a craft store.
• Then I made the frosting! Again, I made dark chocolate frosting and added about 1/2 t black, gel food coloring. The gel works better than a liquid and a little goes a long way. I decided to settle on charcoal-colored frosting. Had I added more, all the guests would have left with black mouths.
• I piped the frosting on the cooled cupcakes and then smoothed it into a round shape using an offset spatula.
• Then I topped the frosting with silver glitter crystals. I suppose black glitter would have been more fitting… but I liked the silver better.
• Then I got cut of the ends from strands of red licorice (my son’s favorite part as he got to eat the scraps) and cut it into four pieces for the wick.
• Then comes the fun part. I found some firework drink picks at a craft store. Since I don’t drink, I immediately thought of sticking them in a cupcake!
• I put the licorice on the drink pick (the licorice was much shorter than the pick), and put the whole thing down into the cupcake.

Doesn’t it look like an explosion?