Martha Stewart's Father's Day Cupcakes

Martha Stewart is one of my personal heroes, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I mean, she's the modern-day master of all the domestic arts. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that she was coming out with a whole book dedicated to cupcakes, titled appropriately enough: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat. The book was no disappointment. It's filled with a range of ideas from easy to extra-difficult and everyday to elegant. If like me, you're a longtime subscriber who has kept every back issue of Martha's magazine, a lot of these cakes will be familiar. However, it's fantastic to have them all gathered into one volume so you don't have to dig through years of magazines to find that one perfect idea.

With Father's Day just around the corner, your friends here at ShelterPop thought we'd share Ms. Stewart's adorable dad-themed cupcake idea. These cute cakes are frosted to resemble mini-putting greens and sand traps. In the book, Martha suggests frosting an entire golf course by decorating 18 cakes with different flags and turning the remaining cupcakes into traps -- love this idea!

Martha Stewart's Cupcakes includes recipes for Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes and a Sweet Meringue Buttercream (both of which sound absolutely yummy). Pick up a copy of the book for Martha's personal recipes or re-create this clever idea with other basic vanilla cake and buttercream recipes.

Here are Martha Stewart's instructions* for how to make her "Tee-Time Cupcakes":

1. Using an offset spatula, spread each cupcake with a smooth layer of buttercream. Pour green sanding sugar into a small bowl. Dip tops of frosted cupcakes in the sugar, then sprinkle more on top to coat completely.

2. To create putting greens, make flags (you will need 18): Cut out lengths (3 to 4 inches) from white grosgrain ribbon. Fold each length around one end of a wooden skewer and adhere folded sides together with hot glue or double-sided tape. Cut ribbon into a triangle shape and plant the skewer into a cupcake. Place a small white candy "ball" near the flag.

3. To create sand traps, spoon about 1 teaspoon graham-cracker crumbs in the center of each of 6 cupcakes. With your thumb, make an indentation in the middle of each pile of crumbs, shifting it to one side to form a steeper side or to form an irregularly shaped trap. Refrigerate 30 minutes to allow frosting to set.

*Excerpted with permission from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes (Clarkson Potter)