Cowboy Cupcakes

This weekend we had a girls night out for a friend's birthday. We went to one of only a very few classic "country" bars in our area. 

I made some cowboy cupcakes for the occasion.  

(The hat we made our friend wear is in the background!)

It was my first attempt at red velvet cupcakes. 

I was quite worried that everything in my kitchen would be red with all that food coloring (2 tbsp!), but I managed to keep it all clean.  

I used this recipe, and was very happy with how they turned out.  

The cowboy hats were made from pre-made fondant, which I rolled out.  I made a little pattern out of thin cardboard and cut each hat out with a sharp knife. 

The red trim was made with Wilton Candy Decorating Pens.   I haven't used these before and I really like them for something little like this where you don't want the detail to smear like icing would. 

I didn't want to carry a bulky cupcake carrier around with me, so I put the cupcakes in a shoe box lid and lined it with a bandanna.  When we finished at the restaurant, I stuck the bandanna in my purse and threw away the lid.  Easy!