Chick Cupcakes for an Easter Extravaganza!

 

Today I am joining up with a group of fabulous food bloggers
to bring you some creative Easter ideas.
Big thanks go to Hani at Haniela's for organizing this Easter Extravaganza!
(She makes the most amazing cookies EVER! Seriously.)

You should really check out all the awesomeness at the end of this post
...I am just so impressed!
 
I'm bringing these Chick Cupcakes to the party.
I've decided they are my absolute favorite cupcakes of all time,
because they are just SO stinkin' cute!!   

Want to make some super adorable chick cupcakes?

What You Need:
A batch of cupcakes
Frosting: yellow, orange and white
Yellow sanding sugar
Decorating bags
Decorating tips: Wilton #102 (petal) and #2 (small round)
Mini chocolate chips

Put some sanding sugar in a small bowl or plate.
Spread a layer of thick frosting on your cupcake and smooth the top.

Turn the cupcake upside down and press into the sugar until it is completely covered.

Press two chocolate chips into the cupcake for eyes.

Using tip #102, pipe some ruffly wings on each side.

Spoon some sugar over the wings, then shake off the excess.

Using orange frosting and tip #2, pipe a triangle beak and little feet at the bottom.

Using white frosting, pipe a tiny dot on each eye.

He's almost too cute to eat! :0)

Happy Easter!

Check out all these amazing Easter creations...
beautiful, yummy and fun too!
You can click on a photo, or on the links below. 

3D Easter Bunny by Marielle - De Koekenbakkers

Chick Cupcakes by Robin - Bird On A Cake

Mrs. Bunny Centerpiece by Myriam - Chapix Cookies

Cheesecake Easter Eggs by Beth - Hungry Happenings

Cho "Bunny" Greek Yogurt Pops by Jill - Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons

Hidden Easter Eggs by Stephanie - Ellie's Bites

Easter Egg Cupcakes by Liz - Hoosier Homemade

Easter Treat Pouches by Elena - Just Me

Mini Meringue Cake by Karyn - Pint Sized Baker

Bunny Cake by Kathia - Pink Little Cake

Easter Gumball Machine by Marlyn - Montreal Confections

Easter Island by Laura - A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe

Easter Bunny Sandwich by Michelle - Creative Food

Bunny Garland by Sue - Munchkin Munchies

Egg Hunt Pound Cake by Jennifer - Not Your Momma's Cookie

Dutch Easter Egg by Lorraine - Lorraine's Cookies

Easter Egg Painting Chicks by Mike - Semi Sweet

Easter Basket Cookies by Amber - Sweet Ambs Cookies

The Carrot Patch Cake by Kim - The Partiologist

Cookie Bunny Pop by Meaghan - The Decorated Cookie

Pretzel Bunnies by Sarah - Miss CandiQuik

I, Robot Egg Cookie by Hani - Haniela's

I link up at these fun link parties. 

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Cupcake Toppers

 Top o' the mornin' to ya!

How do you feel about anthropomorphized shamrocks?

You know...shamrocks that smile back at you?

I think these Shamrock Cupcake Toppers are super cute!

Plus, they are easy to make and a tasty treat made out of white chocolate.

Want to whip up some for St. Patrick's Day?

First, save and print this template my hubby made.

Or, you can pipe them freehand if you have ninja piping skills.

Tape your template to a piece of cardboard or a cookie sheet.

Tape a piece of wax paper on top of it.

Melt some green candy melts (I mixed in some white ones to lighten the color).

 Put them in a decorating bag fitted with a small round tip,
or in a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off.
Pipe the outline of each shamrock.

Then, fill in each outline with the candy melts.

 

Let the shamrocks harden, then carefully peel them off the wax paper and turn them over.

 Melt some chocolate chips or brown candy melts.

 Pipe a dot of chocolate on the backs of two candy eyeballs

and arrange them on the flat side of your shamrock.

Pipe a cute little mouth.

 Place the shamrock toppers on the top of your frosted cupcakes and enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For more good luck, try this yummy treat...
Key Lime Shamrock Cake 

I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Triple Chocolate Malt Cake

Chocolate.

That's what this delicious creation is all about.

Chocolate malt cake, chocolate malt frosting, chocolate ganache.

Triple Yum!

Oh yeah, and it's decorated with chocolate malt balls too.

Because chocolate is my BFF.

The secret ingredient in this recipe is malted milk powder.

(I found mine by the chocolate milk powder in the store.)

It adds a subtle flavor that brings to mind a chocolate malted milkshake.

Your taste buds are going to love it!!

Triple Chocolate Malt Cake

adapted from Paula Deen's Holiday Baking (2007)

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Ingredients

Chocolate Malt Cake

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup malted milk powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Malt Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup malted milk powder
• 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• malted milk balls for garnish

Chocolate Ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Chocolate Malt Cake

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of three 8 or 9 inch round cake pans with wax paper. Grease the sides.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, combine the milk and malted milk powder; stir until dissolved. Add milk mixture, oil and eggs to flour mixture; beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat just until combined. Pour the batter into prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Chocolate Malt Frosting

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder with electric mixer until creamy. In a small bowl, combine the cream and malted milk powder; stir until dissolved. Add the cream mixture to the butter mixture; beat at low speed until combined. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.

Chocolate Ganache

Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Heat cream over medium heat. Watch it closely and immediately remove from heat when it starts to boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 or 2 minutes. Then slowly stir the mixture, stirring until all the chips have completely melted. Mix in the vanilla. Allow to cool until it reaches desired consistency.

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I may or may not have eaten a slice of this chocolatey goodness for breakfast.

Enjoy! 

Want some more yummy chocolate recipes?
Nutella Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

 Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cake 

  
I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

  

My son decapitates cupcakes.

He licks off all the frosting, eats the top of the cupcake and refuses to eat the "stump".

(Anybody remember the "muffin stump" episode on Seinfeld?)

I thought of him the whole time I made these Red Velvet Whoopie Pies.

Because they are basically 2 cupcake tops with frosting in the middle.

It's a cupcake sandwich!

Delicious red velvet sandwiches with cream cheese frosting in the middle!

And some heart sprinkles to make them pretty and Valentine-y.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

by Bird On A Cake

  

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (OR 1/2 c. milk + 1 t. vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat the egg with a wire whisk. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla, buttermilk and food coloring. Whisk together and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix on medium high until combined. Grease a whoopie pie pan. Fill each cavity with 2 tablespoons of batter. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until the cakes spring back when touched.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Let cream cheese and butter sit in mixing bowl until softened. Mix together until creamy. Gradually add sugar, mixing until smooth. Mix in vanilla.

Enjoy!

You might like this recipe too...

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

This post was featured!

Valentine's Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes

  
Every time I go to the grocery store, I walk down the baking aisle.

It doesn't matter if I need anything there or not...

I go for inspiration!

Sometimes I will come up with a new recipe right there, standing in the aisle.

Sometimes I will find something new that sparks an idea.

Something like this...

Cherry Baking Morsels!

You can bet I snatched these up in a hurry.

And my mind began furiously coming up with recipes to use them!

The first thing I thought of was melting them to make Valentine's Day cupcake toppers.

So I made these cute little curly hearts.

My hearts aren't perfectly shaped, since I made them freehand.
Just put your melted morsels in a decorating bag or ziploc with the corner snipped off.
Then pipe some hearts on wax paper and wait for them to get hard.

Next, I came up with this recipe for Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes.

The flavor is fantastic...just like a chocolate covered cherry!

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes

by Bird On A Cake

6040993

Ingredients

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cherry extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup cherry baking morsels (may substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Chocolate Cherry Buttercream

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon cherry extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and cherry extracts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the sour cream to the batter until thoroughly combined. Mix the cocoa powder and boiling water in a small bowl until smooth, then add to the batter. Fold in the cherry morsels.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 with batter and bake for 20-22 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Cherry Buttercream

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar on low speed. Add cherry extract and milk, mix well. Mix in the melted chocolate. Keep covered.

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Want to see the inside?

I found the cherry baking morsels and the cherry extract at Walmart.

It may be hard for some of you to find the cherry morsels, so I did a little research.

You can buy them here and here.

OR, you could substitute chocolate chips in this recipe

...it would still be delicious!

 Enjoy!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.