Whip up a batch of these impressive animal cupcakes in just 40 minutes.
The kids are going to love these animal cupcakes. Create teddy bears, frogs, pigs, sheep, cats, and pandas' faces with just a handful of ingredients. This cupcake recipe (opens in new tab) makes 10 cupcakes of your choice. These animal cupcakes are ideal for kids' birthday parties and school bake sales.
Ingredients
- 125g butter (at room temperature) or margarine 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter(room temp) or margarine
- 125g caster sugar two thirds cup superfine sugar
- Half tsp lemon zest
- 2 eggs
- 125g self raising flour 1 cup plus 1 tbsp self rising flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
For the buttercream:
- 225g icing sugar sifted superfine sugar, sifted
- 100g soft unsalted butter 1 stick butter at room temperature
- 1 tbsp milk
- ½tsp vanilla essence
Alternatively you can use ready prepared vanilla and chocolate frosting
To decorate:
Teddy Bear
- Chocolate frosting (bought)
- Chocolate buttons
- Mini chocolate Digestive biscuits
- White and red jelly beans
- Black Writing Icing
Frog
- Green food colouring
- White chocolate buttons (resting on cocktail sticks pushed into the side of the cupcake)
- Green jelly beans
- Green Writing Icing
- White Writing Icing
Piggy
- Pink food colouring
- Pink marshmallows
- Mini candy coated chocolate beans
- Licorice Allsorts
Marhsmallow Sheep
- Large white marshmallows
- Mini marshamallows
- Black Writing Icing
Pussy Cat
- Yellow M&Ms
- Black Writing Icing
- Licorice Allsorts
Panda
- Chocolate Butttons
- Brown M&M’s
- Mini brown chocolate coated candy
- White Writing Icing
Method
- Pre heat the oven to 180C Fan 160C. (US 350F)
- Line a muffin tin with 10 paper cases. Put the butter, sugar, lemon zest, flour and baking powder into the bowl and beat in an electric food mixer until smooth.
- Divide the mixture between the paper cases and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the muffin tin for a few minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Whilst the cupcakes are baking you can prepare the icing. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar , the milk and a few drops of vanilla essence.. You can divide the icing into a few bowls and colour with a few drops of food colouring.
- Once the cakes are cold swirl some of the icing on top of the cakes and decorate them to look like animals using the sweets, writing icing and mini cookies..
- For the Marshmallow sheep simply cut one of the large marshmallows in half to make the ears.
Top tips for making animal cupcakes
These animal cupcakes can be made up to one month in advance and frozen in a plastic box. Defrost at room temperature for around one hour then ice as above.
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Chocolate cupcake recipe (opens in new tab)
Hummingbird Bakery’s vanilla cupcakes recipe (opens in new tab)
Oreo cupcakes (opens in new tab)