Beach themed cupcakes

 These are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing.  Check out recipes for both the cake and icing under the "sweet recipes" tab.

I used Americolor good coloring gel to color the icing, then I used a round decorator tip to pipe it on.

For the sand, I used graham cracker crumbs and a little brown sugar mixed together and sprinkled on the icing.

The shells and starfish are made from white chocolate.  I melted down a bag of white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, then poured the chocolate into a plastic mold.  Put the mold in the freezer for 10 minutes then removed the starfish and shells from the mold.

To get the color on the shells and starfish, I used petal and luster dust.  This can be found in any cake supply store.  I picked out colors that I thought would make the shells and starfish look realistic.  Brush the petal and luster dust on with a small paint brush.  Set on the cupcake and you're done!  These look really complicated but are SUPER easy, anyone can do it!

The chocolate molds can also be found at your local cake and candy supply store.  If you are having trouble finding them, send me an email and I can pick some up at my local store and will be happy to sell them to you.  They are $2.50 each.