Golden Apple

apple & raspberry cupcake, raspberry pink glacé icing and golden apple topper

The myth of the golden apple...

Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Left off the guest list was Eris (goddess of discord), and upon turning up uninvited, she threw or rolled a golden apple into the ceremony, with an inscription that read: καλλίστῃ or, "to the fairest." Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite.

Zeus deemed Paris as the judge as he knew that Paris would be a fair and equal judge. He gave the apple to Hermes and told him to deliver it to Paris and tell him that the goddesses would accept his decision without argument, and so the goddesses appeared. Each of the goddesess offered Paris a gift as a bribe in return for the apple. First approached Hera who offered to make him a famous, powerful king; next came Athena, who offered to make him wise, above even some of the gods; and last of all came Aphrodite, who said she would give him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife, Helen at that time, of Sparta (later to be titled Helen of Troy). Paris chose Aphrodite, which would ultimately lead to the start of the Trojan war. Paris soon went to celebrate the marriage of Helen and Menelaus with his brother. They spent the night there, and Menelaus was called to Agamemnon, and thus Helen and Paris were left alone. In this time they made love, and Helen left Menelaus and sailed to Troy with Paris, thus initiating the Trojan War.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter break with family & friends, back to cupcaking today with beautiful Golden Apple toppers. I've always thought of the Zeus myth when creating these apples, but when I went to get the story from the net today the first Google results showed 'Golden Apple' as being a brothel in Sydney. That gave me something else to think about ;)

I've made these apples (& pears) in the past to surround a large Christmas cake, they work equally well topping a cupcake. Super easy to make, start with by rolling balls of white fondant or modelling paste to create your apples in a size appropriate for your cupcakes, set aside for 30 minutes and get your stalks ready. I used the dry parts of mint stalk pieces from an unsprayed mint plant, and insert pieces into the centre of the balls to create a stalk. Set aside to dry for 24 hours.

The leaves; I used tiny sprouting mint leaves to create an imprint on modelling paste. Pick your leaves, lay them out with the rear side facing upwards. Press and shape a small piece of modelling paste onto the leaves. Set aside for 30 to 60 minutes (don't leave it on any longer or the moisture from the leaf will dissolve the modelling paste), gently peel away the leaf. There will be a slight discolouration from the leaf, but that will be covered by the edible paint. Set aside to dry.

 

finished dried and painted leaves can be stored long term in a sealed airtight container

cake decorators edible paint available in nail-polish like bottles in metallic shades from cake decorating stores

Next day, paint your apples and leaves with edible food paint, I use light gold. Set aside to dry.

Attach your leaves to the stalks with a tiny pieces of modelling paste, this is a bit fiddly but not difficult. 

Set aside to dry, paint the seam where you have joined the leaves to the stalks. Next... you guessed it... set aside to dry!

All finished and ready to use as cupcake toppers.

*Any edible unsprayed leaf can be used as a template. Make sure your 'stalks' are from the dried woody part of the herb/flower plant.

golden apple myth wikipedia 

You might also be interested in...how to make glacé icing