Pretty pretty dragonflies

I had an order for 3 dozen cupcakes like this:

 They wanted half chocolate and half yellow cake, which comes out to 18 cupcakes of each, so I made two batches of 24 cupcakes to ensure I had enough.  Good thing, too, because the first batch had a few cupcakes that were too close to the walls of the oven and they....became significantly overdone.  Anyway, due to my ingenious planning, even with this mishap, I had enough cupcakes to fill the order.

The next issue was finding dragonfly toppers for the cupcakes.  The caterer said they were willing to pay for the exact cupcake picks pictured above, so I had to find them.  I couldn't find them in any store near me, unfortunately, so I had to turn to the internet.  Also significant is the fact that this order was solidified on Monday...so there was some haste necessary.  I finally found them at a lovely baking resource that I will certainly purchase from more often, now.  So I placed the order on Monday (a holiday), and priority mail claimed 2 day delivery.  They were delivered today, just in time.  There was minor panic when I checked online this morning and they still had not been delivered, but the box was there waiting for me when I got home from work.

(Hard to see, I know)

 Anyway, after the picks were safely received, I whipped up a batch of buttercream and frosted the cupcakes in the closest approximation of the picture that I could.

The blue color comes compliments of Wilton.  Their "airbrush in a can" is perfect for people like me who want the effect but cannot afford to purchase a food-grade airbrush machine and dye.

Works like a charm.  So after a quick spray with this, all they needed were some extra buttercream clouds and the dragonflies!

Now time to work on some halloween cupcakes for tomorrow.  More soon!