http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf

THE DISH
Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, coated in sugar sprinkles and gold stars (recipe links at bottom of post)

THE STYLE INSPIRATION
In the past couple years, Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch has gone from barely-known British singer to international pop powerhouse. Her debut LP Lungs got her nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy Award, and she also performed in the awards ceremony’s Aretha Franklin tribute alongside the likes of Jennifer Hudson and Christina Aguilera. Her style is as dynamic as her music; Welch’s outfits are often either long, light and billowy, or shiny and sparkly. The cupcakes are red velvet for her fiery red hair (and also because it matches the color on her album cover), and the sparkly sugar sprinkles and gold stars are because she’s glamorous (and the gold also because of the photo below).

Florence and the Machine on MySpace

THE RECIPE
I found this red velvet recipe on Bella Eats (but it traces back to the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook) and the cream cheese frosting from Bake Fresh. I doubled both recipes, to make 24 cupcakes. For the cupcakes, I didn’t have quite enough red food coloring (you need a LOT!), so I used about half what it called for, then added some pink gel food coloring; somehow the color actually turned out OK, though maybe not quite perfect.

For the decorations:

Use a piping bag or spatula to frost the cupcakes. Spread shiny sugar sprinkles out on a small plate and dip the frosted cupcake into it (lightly, so you don’t squish the frosting). Make sure to get all the edges. You can sprinkle the sugar on top if you want, but it won’t cover the frosting as well. Scatter the gold stars on top, but don’t go too crazy on them as they are definitely edible, but don’t taste like much of anything! I bought them at New York Cake & Baking Supply.