Introduction: (Mario Bros) Piranha Plant Cupcake

By EXCAVADE
About: I'm a Designer, Creator, Inventor. #1 Hobby - brainstorming. I invented the Unicorn Poop cookie, as published here on instructables. And now I am a metalsmith. <3
Introducing the Piranha Plant, (from Mario Brothers), Cupcake!  If you do this, I suggest that you only make one, and for the birthday kid/adult.  Because these take a long time and a lot of babysitting.  Oh, and...maybe you don't want to make it as scary as mine is.  I have no idea what happened, but it totally looks like the teeth are coming out of the plant's gums and it looks like a creepy mouth.

Okay, I was going to do the Little Shop of Horror's Audrey II, after I tried out this cutie plant.  But then I realized it would be redundant, so I settled for my bright-mario-killer-plant cupcake!  This is only my second time working with fondant, the first, being my husband's pimp stormtrooper cheesecake. I made marshmallow fondant because I read online that it tastes better, and they are totally correct.  I love this stuff!

The cool thing about it is that you can eat the whole thing, no warnings when you serve it.  I used pretzels for the leaves and plant stem.  I always utilize pretzels and their shapes when it comes to building with food because they are stable and taste good.  :)

Step 1: Be Ready.

Have your cupcake made, have your marshmallow fondant ready, dyed and mold-able.  

For this you will need-----

Red, Green and White Marshmallow Fondant
2 thin stick pretzels
1 thick stick pretzel
some icing around the cupcake for fondant to stick
Piping Gel - to use as glue
toothpicks for piping gel

Step 2: Pieces!

Make your pot/tunnel/pipe out of flattened green fondant and separate a thinner/more narrow strip to use as the top of the pipe.  Do your cupcake bottom, so that your base of the cupcake is out of the way.  Use frosting to hold the fondant to the cupcake.

Next, use the white and make lots of teeth, if you don't use them all, just eat them!

Make some white dots, smooth and flatten them with your fingers.  

Make the "lips" with two snake-like rolls of fondant.

Then get your pretzels and use some green fondant to shape your leaves around.  (2)

Step 3: The Bulb.

Grab a big chunk of red fondant and start playing with it until it's smooth, non-blurring, non-cracking, etc.  Make it warmed up and perfect.  Lay your finger into the top of the ball to split the bulb a little, make it like a tulip and play with it until you get the shape you like.  Basically, with this much fondant, you just want to make the tops meet a little, then gravity will do the rest. 

Grab a toothpick or something stick-like to dab on some piping gel.  Line the outer rim, and go into the mouth about a quarter inch, so that you're primed for the lips to be glued on and the teeth.

Start with the teeth.  Place them, one by one, into the mouth and arrange them so that you don't have any awkward overlapping or jamming.  If you want to adjust them, just slide gently with the toothpick.  Gravity will make them move once in a while, when you are turning the bulb and working on the other side.  Just keep babysitting the teeth and sliding them back to where you want them to go.  The piping gel will eventually set, so-to-speak, and you won't have to adjust them anymore.

Now, lay the lip cords on, adjust and cut the ends with food scissors or a knife.  Or just have them cut to size already.

After your lips and teeth are good to go, lay your dots on there with a tiny bit of piping gel.  Smooth the dots into the bulb of the plant to smooth them out and help them conform to the shape.  They will look nicer, not like buttons.  :)

Step 4: Assembly!

Now that your bulb is put together and your pot or pipe is formed to your best ability, it's time to put it all together.

I stood my plant up next to the pot and decided to cut the thick pretzel shorter, because I wanted the plant to rest a little.  So I bit off parts of the pretzel.  Hahaha.  Then I just shoved it into the middle and put the leaves on either side, slowly pushed them in until the pretzels were invisible.  If your plant is still a little tall, the leaves will actually support the sides of the Piranha, and everything will fit together perfectly.

Congrats, you've made a Piranha Plant and this thing tastes like a cupcake covered with soft and bright candy.  You may want to share!  :D

Step 5: 1 V 2 ... Like a Boss!

Share!  This thing is loaded with sugar.  :)  I sent it to work with my man, shoved into a Tupperware container and it came right back home with him.  I guess he got full, just looking at his Bento that day!  So we tried to eat it tonight, but with two lives left, his and mine...the Piranha Plant defeated us, GAME OVER.  :)

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