Duck in the Pond Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 12 small orange gummy candies
• 3/4 cup yellow mastic
• 2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
• 12 vanilla cupcakes
• 2 cups American vanilla buttercream
• 0.5 cup avocado-colored glaze
• Blue decorative sugar
• Special equipment: skewer; pastry bag; Wilton tip No. 235

Preparation:

1. Beak:
   
   Place the orange candy on its base. Use scissors to cut down about three-quarters of the way to create the mouth. Trim the candy on all sides to reduce its size and create a pointed beak. Make the remaining beaks in the same manner.
2. Duck:
   
   Form a 1 cm ball of yellow fondant for the head. Attach the beak to the head. Form a teardrop-shaped piece from some of the remaining fondant. Wet the bottom of the head with water and attach it to the side of the teardrop, near the thick end. Assemble the remaining ducks in the same manner.
3. Eyes:
   
   Dip a skewer in melted chocolate and draw 2 small dots on each head for eyes. Set aside.
4. Assembling cupcakes:
   
   Frost the cupcakes with buttercream. Transfer the green frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton #235 tip. Hold the bag vertically, with the tip 0.3 cm above the surface. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcake surface, pulling the pastry bag upward to create grass blades approximately 1 cm long. Decorate the edges of the cupcake with the grass. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
5. Sprinkle the center of the cupcakes with blue sugar to create a pond. Place the ducklings in the center of each cupcake and press gently to adhere.