Dartboard Themed Cupcakes

A family friend, Patti, recently asked me if I could make dartboard themed cupcakes for her husbands upcoming, surprise 60th birthday party.  I quickly agreed and was super excited about the endless possibilities I had in my mind on how I would decorate the cupcakes.  Imagine my disappointment when I realized I was confusing the targets used for archery (which are simple) with a dartboard.  Oh geez….have you seen how intricate a dartboard is?  Panic.  Setting.  In.  So, today’s post is all about making the fondant dartboard decorations and sharing with you my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe!

Patti and her husband, Bill, have been competing in dart competitions for years, and the cupcakes and surprise party for Bill were going to be held at a bar where they play darts.  And all of their friends that they compete and play darts with, were going to be at this party.  No pressure to get these cupcakes right or anything. 😉  Here’s what a dartboard typically looks like, in case you are clueless like I was!!

Oh and to add on to the stress?  The party was being held the day after I was returning home from my trip to Boston.  So I was juggling my trip to Boston, work and three dozen dartboard themed cupcakes.  After brainstorming with James (he is good at reigning me in on all my grand ideas that tend to be very time-consuming and labor intensive), I ditched my initial idea of making individual dartboards out of fondant for each cupcake, and decided to top the cupcakes with an image of a dartboard made on edible rice paper.  That I could buy, instead of make.  They must make those right???  Oh and they do…I was kind of shocked to find them!  I found the dartboard rice paper cupcake toppers HERE, which arrived at my house within days of ordering, were all precut into rounds and came in great condition (no broken toppers)!!

To complete my dartboard themed cupcakes, I decided to arrange the cupcakes on a black circular tray and use fondant to make the happy birthday letters and mould fondant into the shapes of darts, to lay on top of the cupcakes.

I used my fondant letter mould for the letters and added gold dust onto the “60th” pieces for a stand-out effect.  I have used several varieties of fondant over the years, and the Wilton fondant above has been my favorite to work with.  Plus I guess it tastes good?  The kids always pick the fondant pieces off the cupcakes I make, and just eat the fondant.  So there ya go, fondant haters!  Hahaha.  I used a variety of colors for my fondant letters and darts, and used gel food color to dye the fondant.  To make the fondant darts, I used a heart cookie cuter to cut out two hearts for the flight of each dart.  I rolled out the black fondant into the shape of the shaft and added a piece of white fondant, thicker than the shaft, for the grip (or barrel), which I scored with a knife and painted gold dust on.  I added black fondant at the bottom to form the tip.  I took each heart piece and gently creased it down the middle and attached the bottom of the hearts to the top of the shaft.  I worked the top parts of the heart to form the shape of the flight.  I let the fondant darts dry for several days, and harden, to ensure the darts would hold their shape.

For the cupcakes I made my FAVORITE Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.  Recipe HERE.  Seriously.  The BEST chocolate cupcakes.  I found cupcake liners that kind of reminded me of a dartboard too!

I love how easy this cupcake recipe is to make!!

After my cupcakes cooled, I piped on a thin layer of my vanilla buttercream frosting on top of each cupcake, and topped each cupcake with a dartboard rice paper cupcake topper.  I arranged the cupcakes in a circle on my black circular tray and added the fondant letters and darts on top!  I attached the fondant pieces to the tops of the cupcakes, by adding a little buttercream to the back of each fondant piece, before gently placing the fondant pieces on top of the cupcakes.

 

And so there ya go!  Dartboard themed cupcakes!  Did I hit a bullseye with these cupcakes???  😉  Let me know what ya think!

XOXO,

Kelly

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PS-

I have linked this recipe up at the following link parties: Pretty Pintastic Party, The Pin Junkie, Meal Plan Monday, Weekend Potluck, Sugar and Spice, Create Link Inspire.  Click on the links to check out all the fun link parties!!