Starting with the cupcakes it was easy to decide that the flavour would have to be chocolate ~ and a deep rich chocolate at that, which is achieved by adding melted chocolate to the cake mix and not just relying on cocoa powder.
For the topping I used a white chocolate sugar paste icing which I made by adding some of my handmade modelling chocolate to ordinary fondant icing. This gave the cupcakes a lovely ivory finish.
The decorations were a mixture of handmade mini piano keys and music themed note and treble cleft cutters with a few '21's and a 'Happy Birthday' thrown in for good measure.