Hello, Cupcake!

Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make

I spent an afternoon making cupcakes inspired from the designs shown in Hello, Cupcake! a new book by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. It was a lot of fun!

The owls were the easiest to make since they only require a few basic items:
Oreo cookies, chocolate frosting, Junior mints and a yellow candy for the beak (I didn’t have any of the banana shaped Runts mentioned in the book, so I used a yellow M&M).

The most difficult part was separating the two Oreo cookie halves, but the suggested few seconds in the microwave made it much easier.

The post for Halloween Owls provides more information about how to create owl cupcakes.

The slumber party required a few more steps. I didn’t have a vanilla wafer cookie for the heads, so I ended up cutting off the top part of the cupcake and making a mini circle for the head. Following is a picture of the assembled pieces before decorating. I didn’t have any jelly beans for the feet, so I substituted M&M’s.

I decorated the face after assembling it. It was difficult to decorate the face at that angle. I was not happy with my results. In the future, I would decorate the face on a flat surface before assembling it.

The blanket is made out of Air Heads (or you can use Laffy Taffy). A few seconds in the microwave soften it enough to be able to roll it out into thin shapes. It is then easy to cut with scissors.

Buy the book. It is a lot of fun!



Following is the recipe I used to make peanut butter cupcakes. They are really good, but they need to be eaten within two days. They tend to dry out quickly.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

6 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons milk

Beat butter with sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternating with milk.

Fill cupcake holder 2/3 full. Bake cupcakes in a 350 degree oven for 15 or 20 minutes.

Frost with vanilla frosting or Nutella.