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You are here: Home / Gardening / How to Make Hollyhock Dolls and Use Them to Decorate Cupcakes

How to Make Hollyhock Dolls and Use Them to Decorate Cupcakes

April 30, 2015 by Alea Milham 30 Comments

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How to make a Hollyhock doll and use it for a cupcake topper  - decorating cupcakes with edible flowers

My childhood was populated with hollyhock fairies. They are fast and easy to make and can be made without any tools.

Hollyhocks are edible, so the hollyhock dolls make an elegant, but frugal decoration for cupcakes. You can use old-fashioned hollyhock flowers or double hollyhock flowers. Both are lovely for garden parties and tea parties.

Make sure your hollyhocks come from a source that has not been treated with pesticides and other chemicals. You need to rinse the hollyhocks well, if you are going to use them to decorate cupcakes. After rinsing the hollyhock flowers, pat them dry before assembling.

How to Make Hollyhock Dolls

Items needed to make 1 hollyhock doll:

  • 1 hollyhock bud
  • 1 partially opened hollyhock flower
  • scissors (optional)
  • toothpick (optional)

If  you are using the hollyhock dolls to decorate cupcakes, the multiply this amount by the number of cupcakes you want to top.

Items needed to create hollyhock dolls

Directions:

1. Pull off the sepal petals on the bud to expose the “eyes”:

How to make a hollyhock doll - step 1

2. Pull or cut off the stem to create the “mouth”:

How to make a hollyhock doll - step 2

3. Insert the stem of the flower into one of the holes in the bud:

How to make a hollyhock doll - step 3

Now stand your hollyhock doll up and she is ready for the party:

How to use a hollyhock doll as a cupcake topper - decorating cupcakes with edible flowers

How to Use Hollyhock Dolls to Decorate Cupcakes

You can use a toothpick to make your doll more secure. Insert it through the middle of the hollyhock, leaving a bit of toothpick sticking out on top to attach the head, and a little on bottom to insert it into a cupcake:

How to make a hollyhock doll cupcake topper

Once the head is attached you can stick the toothpick into a cupcake:

How to make a hollyhock doll and put it on a cupcake with a toothpick

You can also add rosemary or lavender twigs for arms if you choose. I doubt that most people will want to eat their hollyhock doll, but they can if they want to. The petals are slightly sweet, but the white portion of the bud is bitter and is avoided when used for culinary purposes.

Do you have hollyhocks in your garden? If not, here are tips on growing hollyhocks. You can also make candied flowers with rose petals and pansies and use them to decorated cupcakes.

I used this Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake recipe to make the cupcakes and I frosted them with Butter Cream Frosting.

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Thelma Day says

    February 22, 2019 at 10:28 am

    They are so cute. I heard about them, but never knew how they were made. Now I know. I’ll be making them next year. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. Linda says

    May 28, 2015 at 8:11 am

    I spent summers at my Grandmother’s, and also made these, but we also used small buds and a toothpick inserted through the top of the (body) flower, which would stick out on the each side, and put the small buds on for arms. I have since tried with my Granddaughter, also made “lady in the bathtub” with Bleeding Hearts, such fun!!! I also didn’t know they were edible, thank you so much!!!

    Reply
  3. Melissa French, The More With Less Mom says

    May 13, 2015 at 12:42 pm

    These are so precious. Thanks for posting. Hello from Treasure Box Tuesday.

    Reply
  4. Melissa says

    May 13, 2015 at 4:01 am

    So adorable! Thanks for sharing at Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party!

    Reply
  5. Angel says

    May 11, 2015 at 12:29 pm

    These are just too adorable. I’ve never seen this before but I love the idea. Thanks for sharing with us at Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party. I’m Featuring your post at this weeks party. Hope you will join us again and share more of your blog.
    Angel

    Reply
  6. tonilea says

    May 8, 2015 at 11:07 am

    oh, how sweet! I used to make these when I was little. I have lived in GA for over 35 years and we don’t have hollyhocks here. Such a shame. I actually did try to grow some years ago but they died out. I think it is just not the right climate here. I miss those sweet flowers — also peonies. And lilacs.
    thanks for the memories
    tonilea

    Reply
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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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