You know the feeling when you finally accomplished something you worked hard on?
Yep. These cupcakes.
But come on, so worth it!
Now these cupcakes take a lot of time.
And you'll feel like they're staring at you afterward...
...and as you eat them.
But in the spirit of spring and Easter, I'd go for it!
Come on, they're daring you to do it.
I told you.
Now that you've decided.. get ready for this.
Chick Cupcakes
About 24
Ingredients:
1 box vanilla cake mix (You can make your own but be prepared for the amount of time you will put into making the fondant)
Yellow food coloring
Prepare according to box. Add in 10 drops of yellow food coloring. Fill cupcake liners about 1/2 way full and bake according to box.
Chick Decorations
Homemade Fondant (Chick decorations)
Ingredients:
Orange food coloring
1 and a half bag mini marshmallows (10.5 oz)
3 tablespoons water
2 lbs. powdered sugar
Crisco shortening
Cornstarch (may not be necessary)
Buttercream
Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1 and 1/2 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco and fill with marshmallows and water. Microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing each time, until melted.
2. In another large bowl, pour all of your powdered sugar EXCEPT for about 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Save this sugar for later. Grease the beater(s) of your electric mixer with Crisco and pour the melted marshmallows over the powdered sugar. Beat the mixture until a dough forms. There will be loose bits in the bowl.
3. Prepare your workspace (I used the equivalent of a giant plastic placemat, you can also just use a countertop.) Spread Crisco on your workspace and dump the mixture onto it. Generously grease your hands with Crisco and start to knead your mixture together (until smooth.) Grease hands as you go (when needed.) I divided my dough into 4 separate pieces (three of the same size (medium) and one generally small) to ease the kneading process. Make sure to keep the pieces that you are not using wrapped in plastic (saran) wrap.
4. Once your dough is generally smooth, slightly flatten one of your medium sized pieces and add 5 drops of yellow food coloring to the center. Fold the piece in half (keeping the color inside) and continue to knead. Strive to make the dough all the same color and keep kneading until all the stripes are gone. I added 4 more drops of food coloring but the color is up to your discretion. Once you have the desired color, cover the piece with a little Crisco and wrap in saran wrap. Repeat with the two other medium sized pieces.
5. With the small piece, divide in half. Save one piece in saran wrap. Dye the other orange (since I used Wilton food coloring, there were no drops.) Once you are finished, wrap the orange piece in saran wrap.
6. Roll out two pieces of wax paper (to place fondant pieces in between).
7. Take one of your balls of yellow fondant and roll out onto a Crisco-ed surface so it will not stick. Try to make all of the fondant an even thickness.
8. Cut out circles that are BIGGER than the top of your cupcake (if you have 24 cupcakes, you will need 24 circles.) You can use a cookie cutter/top of a glass/whatever is big enough to use. These will be used as the body. Place each circle between the two pieces of wax paper so they do not dry out. You will have some yellow fondant left over which will be used for the wings.
9. I freehand cut the wings out of the rolled out yellow fondant. You can model yours off of my pictures. Remember to place them between the wax paper.
10. For the beaks, roll out your orange fondant and freehand small triangles to use as beaks (see pictures for guidance.)
11. For the eyes, I rolled out my white fondant and freehand cut ovals. For the pupils, I used brown sprinkles (I didn't have black but I would use black if you have them.) The brown sprinkles I picked out of an assorted colors bottle.
12. Before you assemble your chick, you need to make the buttercream. Cream together your sugar and butter. Mix in your vanilla and milk.
13. Frost the top of your cupcake lightly with buttercream. You do not want a lot of frosting. You want just enough that you can still see the cupcake very well (you can google "dirty ice a cake" for a better description.)
14. Once your cupcake is frosted, take one of the yellow circles and evenly place it on the top of your cupcake. Press the wings, beak, and eyes onto the top of circle (I used a little Crisco shortening to help the pieces stay on the cupcake.)
15. If you want to, or if your circles weren't big enough, you can roll the sides of your cupcake in sprinkles (as seen in my pictures.) I happen to like the cupcakes better that way. Just make sure to have a little buttercream sticking out so the sprinkles have something to stick to.
16. Once your cupcakes are finished, keep them in a covered, airtight container. Depending on the temperature of where you are storing your cupcakes, you might want to keep them in your fridge. Mine got a little melty after awhile.
