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

Eyeball Cupcakes

My boss asked me to make some Halloween cupcakes, and of course I was happy to oblige.  Other people were already bringing owl, witch hat, ghost, and spider cupcakes, so I was left looking for an easy to decorate cupcake that would still look good.  My enthusiasm for cupcake decorating is strong, but my talent is less so, and these eyeballs from The Brewer & The Baker were a great choice!  The cupcakes went over very well at work and were immediately recognized as eyeballs.  Several people also commented on enjoying the lime flavor.

When I made these eyeball cupcakes, I just placed the gummi candies right on top of the veiny cupcakes.  Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me that the red from the vein frosting would show through the translucent gummis and they ended up looking more brown than green.  Below, I included instructions to spread a small amount of white frosting on the bottom of each gummi so the red veins won't be visible.

Quick Note:  If you can't find Lifesaver Gummis, you can just use regular Lifesavers.  Adhere the Mini M&Ms with a tiny bit of frosting.  I went with the gummis because these cupcakes were for toddlers and preschoolers and I feared the Lifesavers could be a choking hazard.

Eyeball Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix (enough to make 24 cupcakes)

1 small box lime Jell-o powder

1 can white frosting

1 squeeze pouch red frosting (or you can add lots of red gel food coloring to additional white frosting)

1 package Lifesaver Gummis (one package had 27 green candies, you can always make different colored eyes if you run out of green)

24 brown Mini M&Ms (you can buy these in either a large bag or small tubes, two tubes had enough brown candies)

Preheat oven and prepare cake mix according to package directions, adding the box of Jell-o powder to the mix.  Bake in 24 cupcake papers according to box directions.  Cool completely.

Set aside about 3 tablespoons of the white frosting, then frost the cupcakes with the remaining frosting.  Pipe red frosting over the cupcakes to look like veins.  

Place one Mini M&M into the center of each green Lifesaver Gummi, it should be a perfect fit.  I did it so the M and Lifesaver logo were facing the same direction.  

One at a time, spread a small amount of white frosting over the bottom of the Lifesaver Gummi (do this on the side with the M and the Lifesaver logo), then immediately place frosting side down on the center of a cupcake.  Repeat with remaining candies and cupcakes.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Luscious Lemon Buttercream Frosting

This one is for all the lemon lovers out there!  A creamy, sweet, tart, and lemony buttercream that I found on AllRecipes.  I'm not very fond of most non-chocolate frostings because I despise the flavor of powdered sugar.  Weird, I know, but it just has a strange flavor that is really intense in the majority of homemade frostings.  To compound the issue and possibly even stranger, I also dislike the flavor of vanilla extract in frosting, so most buttercreams offer up a double whammy of unpleasantness for me.  This buttercream is different though!  The bright lemon flavor masks the powdered sugar flavor, and there's just a few drops of vanilla in it to round things out.  It's also stiffer than some buttercreams, which means you could pipe it easily.  I suggest only using the full amount of lemon juice if you want a tart and lemony frosting.  We loved it, but it did cover up the subtle strawberry flavor of the cupcakes I made to go with it (note: the strawberry cake turned out wonderfully, but I want to make it again with more strawberries before posting the recipe).  If you want your frosting to taste less lemony, just substitute a tablespoon of water for one of the tablespoons of lemon juice.  You could also add some lemon zest.  Yum!

  

These cupcakes were made in honor of my bunnies' birthdays.  Yes, their birthdays are celebrated every year; yes, it's partly an excuse to make cake; and yes, I am a crazy bunny lady, but I'm okay with that!  Below is our one eared boy getting a little taste of his birthday cupcake.  He definitely approved, though I'm sure he wishes I'd given him more than just a tiny piece!

 

Luscious Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1/2 C salted butter, softened
2 T lemon juice (or 1 T lemon juice and 1 T water if you want it more mild)
about 5 drops of vanilla extract
3 C powdered sugar
optional: a drop or two of yellow food coloring

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter with the whisk attachment until smooth.  Add lemon juice and vanilla, then add the powdered sugar.  Whisk on low until the sugar is incorporated, then bring it up to medium high and beat it for a couple of minutes until fluffy.  The longer you go, the fluffier it will get.  If it's too thick, add water a teaspoon at a time and if it's too thin, add powdered sugar 1/4 C at a time.  If you're using food coloring, beat it in at the end.  You can of course also use a hand held mixer.  Use the frosting right away or else cover it because the surface will dry.

Yield: Enough frosting for about 18 cupcakes if you use lots like in the picture, or 24 if you spread on a thinner layer.  I have not tried it yet, but I think it would be enough to frost a 9 by 13 cake.  If you want to fill and frost a layer cake, you should make one and a half batches so you have enough.