Icing cupcakes recipes
Our top 3 of 4 Icing cupcakes recipes
Tips
Philadelphia now sell a chocolate version, so you could try using this, instead of adding cocoa. To keep with the monkey theme, go for a banana cupcake! Still good with the chocolate cream cheese icing.
Ingredients
- 100 g Caster sugar (normal or golden)
- 100 g Unsalted butter, softened
- 2 Eggs
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- 30 g Cocoa powder (good quality - not drinking chocolate)
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 70 g Plain flour
- 100 g Cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia - full or ½ fat)
- 25 g Cocoa powder
- 75 g Unsalted butter, softened
- Approx. 500 g Icing sugar
- Approx. 100-150 g Brown fondant icing
- Approx. 50 g Pale pink fondant icing
- A little White fondant icing
- Black food colouring pen / tube of black writing icing
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tin with 10 - 12 paper cases (approx.).
- With an electric hand whisk, or in a stand mixer / food processor, cream together the butter and sugar for at least a minute until pale and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a cup, add the vanilla extra if using, and beat lightly with a fork. Sift the cocoa powder, baking powder and flour into another bowl. Add about half of the beaten egg and about half of the flour etc. to the creamed mixture and beat for about a minute until well mixed, then repeat with the rest.
- Spoon into the cake cases, filling each one about 3/4 full, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.
- For the chocolate cream cheese icing, beat the cheese and butter together in a stand mixer or with an electric hand whisk, then sift in about 100 g icing sugar and beat again, followed by the cocoa powder and another 100 g icing and beat again. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for at least 3 minutes until really smooth and fluffy, adding more icing sugar / cocoa powder if needed, depending on the consistency / taste that you want.
- To make the monkeys, use the fondant icing to make a head, arms and a tail for each cupcake (see photo).
- Pipe or spoon the icing onto the cooled cupcakes and add a monkey to each one so that it looks like it has got stuck in the icing. Smile and enjoy!
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Tips
For cupcakes, see my basic cupcake recipe, or my 'extra special chocolate cupcake' recipe, which is what I used here (they make a nice dome shape which means you don't need quite as much icing, which is perfect - completely flat cupcakes will need more which could be a little sweet and sickly for some).
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Add commentIngredients
- 8 plain sponge cupcakes in paper cases (preferably home-made)
- 50 g - 75 g unsalted butter, softened
- 200 - 250 g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 - 2 tsp hot water
- A little blue food colouring (paste or gel is best)
- 80 g desiccated coconut
- 16 white chocolate buttons
- 16 dark chocolate drops or melted dark chocolate
- 4 small chocolate chip cookies (home-made or shop bought)
Method
- Make the buttercream icing by beating together 50g butter and 100 g icing sugar. Add a teaspoon of hot water, beat again, then another 100 g icing sugar, and more water if needed (may need up to 1 tbsp). Taste and check for consistency, and add more butter / sugar / water if needed. Add a little blue food colouring and beat again until the buttercream is uniform in colour. Add a little more colouring if needed to get the shade that you want.
- Put the desiccated coconut into a small resealable freezer bag. Add about 1/4 tsp blue food colouring, seal the bag, and squeeze and shake it about to turn the coconut blue.
- Put a generous tablespoon of icing onto each cupcake, add more as needed, and shape into a mound. If the cakes are flat, you will need more icing, but if they have risen in a dome shape, you can shape the icing around that.
- Tip the coloured coconut into a bowl, and dip in each cupcake, scattering over a little more, and pressing down into the icing, as needed, to completely cover.
- Alternatively, if you don't want to use coconut, simply 'fluff up' the icing with a fork or sharp knife to make Cookie Monster's fur. (Both options are shown in the photo).
- Leave to set for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Warm the bottom of the dark chocolate drops (e.g. with the back of a metal spoon dipped in boiling water) and stick onto the white chocolate buttons. Or, melt a little dark chocolate and spoon or pipe on to make the eyes.
- Place the eyes on the cupcakes, in any position that you like.
- Cut the chocolate chip cookies in half.
- Make a slit for the mouth, squeeze the cake a little, and push in the half cookie. If the cookies crumble, don't worry, as you can put pieces in his mouth instead. Or even break some on purpose to do this!
- Smile and enjoy!
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Tips
I used banana cupcakes (relatively low in butter and sugar which is a good contrast to the rich buttercream and sweet decorations - see my recipe), but you can use any sort you like (I also have a basic cupcake recipe on here, if you need it). If you can find pink chocolate (e.g. pink chocolate mice), you could use that. I couldn't find any. Other options for the eyes - white mini marshmallows, white Mentos / Softmints. If you don't like fondant icing, or can't get hold of any, you could make the hats out of dark chocolate also, in the same way as the moustaches, with white chocolate mouths. You could make glasses out of fondant icing or liquorice laces, and large cherry lips / jelly lip-shaped sweets could be used for Mrs Potato Head. I'll be trying her out next time!
2 Comments
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Love baking Thu Apr 12 2012 • Reply
Hi Cam and Freddie. Thank you for letting me know. I am really glad you like them, and that you made your own. What a fun thing to do together on a wet day.
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Hi Love Baking - I have just seen your Mr Potato Head cup cakes and showed the picture to my young lad Freddie.... we both laughed our heads off. So clever and such a great likeness! Freddie would not go to bed until we had baked a batch - your recipe really made our day on what would otherwise have been a wet and dreary Easter Monday - thanks!
Ingredients
- 8 Sponge cupcakes in paper cases (preferably home-made)
- 40 - 50 g Unsalted butter, softened
- 175 - 200 g Natural '('golden') or white icing sugar
- 1 - 2 tsp Hot water
- 1 generous tbsp Nutella (or 30 g melted dark chocolate)
- 50 g White fondant icing
- 1 - 2 tsp Black food colouring paste
- 16 White chocolate buttons (or white chocolate mini eggs)
- 8 Red or orange Smarties or Smarties mini eggs
- 30 g White chocolate
- A tiny bit! Red food colouring paste
- 30 g Dark chocolate
- A little Black writing icing or a black food colouring pen (optional)
Method
- Melt the white chocolate, then add a tiny bit of red food colouring, then stir it well to turn it pink. Melt the dark chocolate separately.
- If you want to use a template, draw ear and moustache shapes on a plain piece of paper and put it under a sheet of baking paper. Use the cupcake as a guide for the size that you need. Using the template, or freehand, spoon or pipe (small nozzle, or freezer bag with the corner snipped off) the chocolate onto the baking paper to make ears and moustaches. You can also pipe little eyebrows (although my hats were quite large so there wasn't really room for them!). Also use a little of the dark chocolate to mark the pupils on the white chocolate buttons / mini eggs for eyes. Leave all the chocolate to set.
- Take a little of the white icing and roll it out, then cut out little shapes for the mouths, and add a line of black writing icing or dark chocolate. Or mark teeth shapes using a knife - whatever you prefer.
- Colour the rest of the fondant icing black, knead in well, then roll out to about 3mm. This is quite a messy job - I used gloves and rolled the icing out between two sheets of cling film, to avoid getting black food colouring everywhere. If you can get hold of pre-made black icing, it might be a good idea! Make a little hat template out of paper and use to cut out 8 icing hats.
- All of the above can be made a day or two in advance if needed.
- Make the buttercream by beating together 40 g butter and 100 g icing sugar. Add a teaspoon of hot water, beat again, then add another 75 g icing sugar, another tsp of hot water and the Nutella (or melted chocolate), and beat well. Taste and check for consistency and add more butter / icing sugar / water if needed.
- Ice the cupcakes with the buttercream, then use the parts prepared above to make the faces.
- Alternatively, serve the iced cupcakes as they are, with a little dish of 'detachable parts' so that people can make their own faces, just as with the toy.
- Smile and enjoy!
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