Tess Cupcakes

So last night my bookclub met to discuss Tess of the D'Ubervilles. I've been wanting to make a cake or cupcakes that represent books that we had read for some time but just never did and so this time I thought ahead enough to actually do it.

Now if you haven't read Tess, it's sad story about a girl whose father is told that his family are decendants from an old family long since gone, the D'Ubervilles. This one event puts our heroine into unfriendly waters where she loses her innocence and her life is forever changed mostly for the worse.

These mushroom looking things in the back represent the forest where Tess was raped? still not sure if you would call it rape but definitely overpowered and taken advantage of. They were originally supposed to be trees but wouldn't really stand up and even standing they still looked liked mushrooms which I'm okay with because there are mushrooms in the forest.

The crosses. Well, Tess ends up pregnant from her unfortunate encounter, but the baby doesn't live long and dies unbabtized. She named him sorrow and buries him herself just outside the walls of the church cemetary. My friend Tonya came over to help me make these, which I'm so glad for. Saved me so much time. She iced the cupcakes and then put the coconut grass on them. We just started cracking up as I was making and placing the toppers. The cross was seriously the funniest. My writing isn't very good as you can see so I just said to Tonya, I'll just say that I'm just trying to make it look like it would have looked since Tess would have carved in the wood with a knife. That just got us going.

After Tess buries her child she finds working at a Dairy Farm, hence the cows. These are the best and Tonya's favorite. I just used frosted animal crackers and then rolled out tootsie rolls to make the spots. Everything was made from animal crackers, tootsie rolls and marshmallows. These also represent the happy time in the book for Tess, brief though it is.

These are supposed to be books, but I most people think gravestone at first, but they are books people.

Tonya and I had a lot of fun making them. I think making cupcakes, which are normally an uplifting food topped with representations of depressing events is just so hilarious. I wasn't planning on it being that way and they didn't come out as I pictured in my mind but I still love them.

On a side note on my way to get my hair done last night I passed by four geese trying to cross the street against the light on Van Winkle, which is a very busy street. It was kind of funny but I hope they made it okay. I'll post pics of my new hair soon. Nothing drastic, just more defined bangs and some highlights.