Princess Leia & Chewie Cupcakes

I'm a big Star Wars fan and made these cupcakes in honor of May 4th.  A Facebook friend posted a link to the Princess Leia cupcakes on May 3rd, and I thought they were so cute that I got to work making them almost immediately.  It appears that the Leia cupcakes are originally from the blog Just Jenn Recipes.  I made a few small changes, namely chocolate frosting instead of black (Leia's hair is brown!), Oreos with chocolate filling, mini chocolate chips for eyes, and I got to use my lip sprinkles.  My mom gave me those sprinkles a couple of years ago and I've used them for Valentine's Day manatee cookies and Lofthouse cookies, it was fun actually using them as mouths.  You could definitely use the heart shaped ones shown in the original recipe, though.

 

The Chewbacca cupcake design idea was my husband's.  They aren't super fancy, but they are cute!  While the Leia cupcakes are pretty easy, the Chewie ones are even easier and would be a great choice for children to decorate.

 

I just used a box of cake mix and canned frosting.  I fully admit to enjoying boxed cake mixes, but as I get older, the canned frosting gets grosser, particularly the vanilla flavor.  Feel free to use a buttercream frosting instead of the canned frostings.

 

Quick Note:  As I mentioned below, 1 package of the chocolate filled Oreos has 30 cookies, so enough to make 15 Leias, assuming none of the Oreos are broken.  Buy a second pack of Oreos if you want to make more Leias!  I thought it was fun to have an even number of Leias and Chewies, but you do what you want.  You will have enough frosting to make more than 12 Leias and 12 Chewies, but the exact number depends of course on how generous you are with the frosting.

 

 

Princess Leia & Chewie Cupcakes

   

1 box cake mix, big enough to make 24 cupcakes (I used strawberry flavored)

ingredients called for on cake mix box

1 can vanilla frosting

1 can chocolate frosting

mini chocolate chips (for Leia's eyes)

semi-sweet chocolate chips (for Chewie's eyes)

larger sized milk chocolate chips (for Chewie's nose)

pink food coloring

orange food coloring

long chocolate sprinkles

lip or heart shaped sprinkles

1 package chocolate cream filled Oreos (this will be enough to make 15 Leias)

  

Prepare and bake cupcakes according to directions on box.  Cool completely.

  

Add very small amounts of pink and orange food coloring to the vanilla frosting, and stir thoroughly.  This frosting is for Leia's face, so try to approximate a caucasian skin tone.  Set aside.

  

Spoon about 1/2 cup of the chocolate frosting into a sandwich sized Ziploc bag, squeeze the excess air out, seal it, and cut the very tip off one of the corners.

  

To make a Leia cupcake, spread a dollop of the peachy colored frosting over one of the cupcakes, and smooth it out.  Use the bag of chocolate frosting to make her hair.  Press two mini chocolate chips upside down into the frosting to make eyes, and a heart or lip sprinkle for the mouth.  Spread a small dollop of chocolate frosting on two of the Oreos and press them gently to the sides of the cupcake so they look like Leia's buns.  Hold them gently in place for a few seconds, then carefully move the cupcake to a safe place to dry, holding onto the Oreos.  Repeat with more cupcakes.

  

To make a Chewie cupcake, sprinkle about 1/4 C chocolate sprinkles into a cereal bowl.  Spread a dollop of chocolate frosting on a cupcake, going all the way to the edges.  Gently press the cupcake, frosting side down, into the bowl of sprinkles, making sure the frosting is completely covered.  Set the cupcake back down on the table and press in two normal sized chocolate chips (upside down) for eyes, then a big chocolate chip (again, upside down) for a nose.  Repeat with more cupcakes.

   

Yield: 24 cupcakes