Lifestyle
How to make delicious animal cupcakes for your kids
When it comes to keeping your kids busy and entertained, is there anything quite like getting them in the kitchen?
We all know how much easier it is to get kids to eat things if they've had a hand in making them - but I'm not sure there will be any issues at all getting your little ones to chow down on these beautifully decorated cupcakes!
Let your tots pick their favourite animal from our selection, and then you can decorate some sweet treats to keep them entertained on a rainy day.
Buttercream Recipe
You will need;
- 2 sticks/250g of soft unsalted butter
- 4 cups/500g icing sugar
- Dash of vanilla extract
Method
- Beat your butter and icing sugar together till it it is a soft and fluffy consistency.
- Mix in your vanilla essence.
TOP TIP - To make chocolate buttercream melt dark chocolate and add in to the buttercream till it’s chocolatey enough for you!
Panda Cupcakes
You will need;
- Vanilla Buttercream
- Cupcakes
- White and Milk Chocolate buttons
- Milk chocolate drops
- Small bowl of granulated white sugar
Method
- Spread vanilla buttercream onto cupcake and smooth into a dome.
- Press cupcake into a bowl of granulated sugar to create ‘fluffy’ texture.
- To make the panda’s features: cut one chocolate button in half to make ears, push a small round nozzle into a white chocolate button to cut out the whites of the panda’s eyes, and use an even smaller round nozzle to cut the pupils from a chocolate button.
- Now assemble your panda! Push the ears into place and layer on the eye parts.
- Finally add a chocolate drop to make the cute button nose and you are done!
Sheep Cupcakes
You will need;
- Vanilla Buttercream in piping bag
- Cupcakes
- White mini marshmallows
- Brown fondant
- Edible eyes
- Cocktail stick
Method
- Pipe dollop of buttercream onto cupcake.
- Smush mini marshmallows into buttercream all over the cupcake, leaving one space for the sheep’s head.
- Roll a ball of brown fondant into an oval shape and stick into it’s space on the cupcake.
- Stick on edible eyes with dab of water.
- Finally, poke two nostrils into the head with the cocktail stick and you have one cute sheep!
Pig Cupcake
You will need;
- Pink Vanilla buttercream in piping bag with 1M nozzle
- Cupcakes
- Pink marshmallows
- Edible eyes
- Cocktail stick
- Scissors
Method
- Pipe a swirl of pink buttercream onto the cupcake
- Cut a marshmallow in half diagonally with scissors to create two pointy pig ears.
- To create the snout cut another marshmallow in half horizontally and, with half of it, poke two nostrils into the marshmallow.
- Push the ears into either side of the buttercream swirl and press the snout onto the front.
- Finish off by adding two edible eyes just above the snout and you are finished!
Frog Cupcakes
You will need;
- Green vanilla buttercream in piping bag with large round nozzle
- Cupcakes
- White Chocolate buttons
- Milk Chocolate drops
- Red fruit leather strips
Method
- Pipe a swirl of green buttercream onto the cupcake.
- Stick two white chocolate buttons onto the side of the swirl to make the eyes.
- Stick two milk chocolate drops in front of the eyes to make the pupils.
- Roll up the fruit leather on one end and stick onto the cupcake beneath the eyes; this is your frog’s lil’ tongue!
TOP TIP - If this is sticking to your fingers use a cocktail stick to press it into place.
Owl Cupcakes
You will need;
- Vanilla buttercream in piping bag with tip cut off.
- Mix of vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream in piping bag with tip cut off.
- Cupcakes
- Giant Milk Chocolate buttons
- White chocolate buttons
- Milk Chocolate drops
Method
- Pipe teardrop shapes onto cupcake in short rows. Start with the base of the teardrop and drag away to make the tip. Layer them up to make the ‘chest’ of your owl.
- Pipe the mix of chocolate and vanilla buttercream either side of the ‘chest’ to create wings and texture them with a cocktail stick.
- Stick on two giant milk chocolate buttons, then layer on top white chocolate buttons and milk chocolate drops for pupils- using buttercream in between as glue.
- Grab your piping bag with a mix of chocolate and vanilla buttercream and pipe a line above the eyes and between, the ‘t-zone’, and texture this with the cocktail stick to create expressive eyebrows.
- Finally stick on a small triangle cut from a milk chocolate button to create his beak.
TOP TIP - If you want to get even fancier you can use a cocktail stick to apply a small glimmer of vanilla buttercream to his pupils to add even more character!
Pua Cupcakes
You will need;
- Chocolate buttercream in piping bag with 1M nozzle
- Cupcakes
- Light pink fondant
- Darker pink fondant
- White fondant (very small amount)
- Edible paint in brown and black
- Paint brushes
- Veiner tool
- Sugar shaper tools - tri-tip chisel and bone chisel
Method
- Roll light pink fondant into a ball roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Using the side of your finger indent one side to create a space for the eyes. Drag the veiner tool across this to define it.
- Use the bone chisel sugar shaper to shape the brow area, including making small sockets for the eyes. Put Pua’s head to one side for now.
- Using more of the light pink fondant shape two ears. Start with shaping long triangular pieces and then indent the middle with the bone chisel tool to give it more of a ‘pig ear’ look.
- Stick the ears on to the head, if they don’t adhere well then use a small dab of water to make the fondant sticky.
- Using a small piece of the darker pink fondant create a flat oval shape and press in two sides with your fingers to create a wide rounded triangle. Use the veiner tool to add nostrils and more detail. Press this onto the face just under where you drew the line on the face.
- To add more detail you can press thin, small pieces of the darker pink fondant into the ears and texture them with the veiner tool.
- To make the trotters roll two small sausages using the light pink fondant. On one end of each sausage press the tri-tip chisel tool into it to create a triangular indentation, now you have your trotters, leave them separate from the head for now.
- Use edible paint and a thin brush to add brown patchy details to his face and trotters. Also, you can use black edible paint to emphasize his eyebrows and sockets.
- Roll pea sized balls out of the white fondant and press them into the eye sockets, then paint on the pupils with edible paint.
- Take your cupcake and pipe a swirl of chocolate buttercream on top.
- Push in the trotters at the front of the swirl, stick the head on top and now you have your Pua cupcake!
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