Horse Cupcakes

This is the creation I made with the six extra cupcakes that were made with the batter from my dark chocolate cake featured in yesterday's post. I covered the cupcakes in the same chocolate ganache used in my Luigi cake. Then I thought of decorating ideas. It was nearing the birthday of one of my friends, and I know she really likes horses. That reminded me of the idea for decorating horse cupcakes I had seen in my cupcake decorating cookbook. They were absolutely adorable, and the three-dimensional horse idea really seems much cuter, more elaborate, special, and realistic than simply piping a horse face or body onto a cupcake. The only problem was, I did not have the necessary ingredients required for this design. I needed a chocolate wafer cookie coated in chocolate melting wafers for the neck, a peanut cookie for the head, and a pretzel piece for the tail, none of which I had. That's when I got creative and began to improvise. Searching the cupboards, I found materials that would serve as suitable stand-ins for the missing ingredients. I used half of a miniature Kit-Kat bar for the neck, and attached a Hershey's chocolate kiss to this using some chocolate buttercream. I used the top, curved part of a miniature candy cane for the tail. To complete the cupcakes, I piped on some eyes and a mane using chocolate buttercream and a grass tip. To three of the six horses, I added cutie marks, which are simple little symbols placed near the horses tail, that are sometimes seen on ponies. They may not look quite as polished as the original idea, but I do think they are quite cute and definitely look like horses.