Fun Father's Day Cupcakes!

One friend that I do bake with is my hairdresser Elly @maxbrennerswife who offered to share with me her recipe for gluten free cupcakes that she has been perfecting for months now. Keen readers may know her as the woman who makes meal for her construction worker boyfriend Sebastian. I asked her if there was anything that she wanted me to show her how to make-a trade in knowledge as it were. She mentioned wanting to make decorated cupcakes for Father's Day. We brainstormed some ideas and one rainy Winter's day, she came over.

We baked the cupcakes and they were delicious and then we set down to making the cake decorations. Elly was a natural with the fondant and looked at it like play dough. There were some fails with colouring-I had run out of brown gel and we rather unsuccessfully tried to make brown ourselves. We thought of all the things that you would traditionally associate with our dads and before we knew it, we had four easy to follow cupcake decorating designs!

I'll admit that my father isn't really a traditional father in the sense that he uses these things and of course these lil cupcakes are full of stereotypes about dads. But one thing that I've known fathers to have is an appreciation for whatever you might serve them up or give them no matter how wonky or misshapen they might be and how they will politely focus on the best of intentions in which you've made them!

Some people don't really care about food and look at it as a chore. I know a few of these people and it always makes me chuckle when I hear them talking about preparing food. My trainer Nina is one of them and she was trying to explain to me about a vegetable bake that she was making. "So it took me three days to make the vegetables for this baked dish..." she began.

"Three days?" I said questioning just how long it took her to prepare vegetables. She explained that it indeed took her three days to roast some vegetables and it was only on the third day that she made the tomato sauce. The whole thing ended in her boyfriend opting to eat protein bars instead and her own admission that the three day vegetable bake was "not delicious." As much as I adore her, I know that we're not going to bake together any time soon because I think the entire process would traumatise the poor thing.

So tell me Dear Reader, what will you be doing this year for Father's Day? Would any of these cupcake designs appeal to your father or partner?

Strawberry Gluten and Dairy Free Cupcakes

• 250g/0.5lb strawberries (cooked down in a small pot on a low heat, add a splash of water then cooled into a jammy sauce )
• 1 1/3 cup gluten free self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup caster or superfine sugar
• 1 cup moist coconut flakes
• 1 cup small dark choc bits (if larger buttons, chop into smaller pieces)
• 1 finely mashed banana
• 2/3 cup coconut oil, liquid
• 1 egg white

Step 1 - Wash and hull the strawberries and slice. Cook in a small saucepan on how heat with a splash of water until it becomes a jammy sauce. Set aside to cool.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F. Line a muffin tray with liners. Mix together the flour, bicarb, cream of tartar, sugar, coconut flakes and chocolate until combined. Then add the banana, strawberry mixture, coconut oil and egg white and until just combined. Spoon into patty cases cook on 160 degrees for 25 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Shirt Cupcakes

You will need:

• Red and blue fondant*
• White fondant
• Round cutter
• Paring knife
• Water pen
• Rolling pin and non stick board
• Non toxic red, purple or green pen

*Note: usually gum paste is better than fondant for shaping things as it dries quicker but as Elly was learning I didn't want her to feel rushed.

The easiest cupcake is probably the shirt cupcake, mainly because it just entails rolling out and cutting in straight lines. I started Elly on this first and we donned gloves and coloured the fondant before rolling it out on a light sprinkling of cornstarch.

Cut out one round- I used plain cutters for these cupcakes as fluted ones tend to look feminine. Not that men can't be feminine of course but... well you know what I mean hopefully! Anyway, stick the fondant round onto the cupcake using a bit of water or this fabulous water pen that I got from Couture Cakes. Decoraters will find this the best $14 ever spent! Using a sharp paring knife cut out some strips, one longer and one shorter one. Curl one around to make a collar and then use the shorter for the centre strip.

Then cut out one square and then slice that in half diagonally to make two rectangles. Place these under the "collar". Cut out a small rectangle or square for a pocket. Once you are happy with the placement, affix these with the water pen.

Roll small balls of white fondant for the buttons and a tiny offside triangle for the handkerchief and a white stripe for the pocket. I don't know if dads use them now but it seems like a dad sort of thing. Use the water pen to affix these too (I need to think of a different word than affix now). Use a non toxic pen to draw dots or patterns on the handkerchief.

BBQ Cupcakes

You will need:

• Black, green yellow and red fondant
• White fondant
• Round cutter
• Jelly lollies
• Toothpicks
• Paring knife
• Scissors
• Water pen
• Rolling pin and non stick board

Perhaps not surprisingly, these were my favourite cupcakes as they involved food and that was much more familiar to me than hardware tools. We cut out a black circle with a plain round cutter and attached it onto the cupcake with the water pen and then added a little white to the black fondant to make a grey silver colour (you can also use edible silver paint but I only had gold). If you are making the other cupcake designs make a bigger batch of grey fondant as you also use it in the spanner and hammer cupcakes and the saw cupcakes.

Roll out the grey fondant into a long sausage. With fondant, it always helps to start with warmed fondant and roll it into a ball and then shape it from there. Roll out slightly thinner sausages to make the grill lines. Once you're happy with the position, use the water pen to affix it to the cupcake.

The kebab is easy-just thread the jelly lollies onto the toothpick and shape two small red balls onto the ends for tomatoes. To make the corn, shape the green fondant into small balls and use your hands positioned above to create a log that is wider at one end and narrower at the other. Using a pair of scissors, cut the narrow end to make corn stalks. Then flatten out a little yellow fondant and place it on the green corn as shown. Use the paring knife to carefully press down hatch patterns.

Hardware tool cupcakes

I must admit that these sort of flummoxed me. We had to delve into Mr NQN's toolbox to have a look at these as well as some picture on the internet. Honestly, what did we do before the internet? Oh that's right, that microfiche stuff. Anyways...

You will need:

• Black and yellow fondant as well as any colour for a background
• White fondant
• Round cutter
• Paring knife
• Scissors
• Water pen
• Rolling pin and non stick board
• Non toxic black pen

You see that strange coloured background? Well let's just say that that was supposed to be brown. And yep I know it's not brown but at some stage, it was even shaped like a phallic object (see blooper reel below). Anyway, not wanting it to go waste we just used it as a background but feel free to use any other colour and cut it out with a plain round cutter.

Mix the black and white fondant to make a grey colour. Shape a spanner. Now this is really where treating it like playdough works and Elly did a fantastic spanner just by shaping it with her hands. Just think of crab pincers at the end. Allow to dry as this will make lifting it much easier.

Then shape a hammer head by starting with a ball and then making it into a log. Pinch it at one end to become a hammer head and then taper it on the other end. Use a pair of scissors to snip the tapered end in two to make the two pronged claw. Once you're happy with your hammer head, shape the handle out of some yellow fondant. That's easy, it's essentially a log. Adhere the hammer head and handle together with the water pen and allow to dry - you can go ahead and do other cupcakes while you're waiting for them to dry. Once dry, affix them to the cupcake using the water pen.

When the spanner and hammer are on the cupcakes, make the measuring tape. Roll out the yellow fondant thinly onto the board using a rolling pin and using an edible black pen mark little measures and numbers. Cut into small lengths and drape over the tools.

Saw & Tape Cupcakes

You will need:

• Black, red, green and yellow fondant
• White fondant
• Round cutter
• Plane cutter (or something that can make a hammer handle)
• Paring knife
• Ravioli cutter
• Straw
• Water pen
• Rolling pin and non stick board
• Non toxic black pen

These were mercifully easy and by the end of the day Elly and I were both getting a bit tired bending over cupcakes and decorating them. Start with rolling out white fondant for a background and cut out circles using a plain round cutter.

Mix the black and white fondant to make grey and then roll out into a small rectanglish shape. Cut into a rectangle with the paring knife and then use the ravioli cutter to make a saw tooth pattern as shown.

Roll out the red fondant on the board with the rolling pin. I used a plane shaped cutter but you can use any kind as long as it takes a round "bite" out. Use a straw to make the handle hole in the centre and stretch it out a little using the straw.

Roll out the black fondant into a little box shape. Make a little green piece for the front and a little red ball for the top. Then roll out some yellow fondant onto the board using the rolling pin and draw some markings with the edible ink pen. Have the tape coming off the black box - attach this using the water pen.