Cookie Monster Cupcakes

These beautiful cupcakes honor Sesame Street's Cookie Monster.  His fur texture is perfected with shredded coconut, and he even has a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth!

I used a different chocolate cupcake recipe for these cupcakes that didn't turn out as well as my usual chocolate cupcakes.  Whatever kind of chocolate cupcake recipe you decide on, add 1 - 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to your batter for an interesting texture and delicious flavor.

Once you finish baking your cupcakes, let them cool completely before decorating.

These Cookie Monster Cupcakes were assembled very quickly because we used storebought Chips Ahoy Cookies cut in half, and canned white frosting which we turned blue.  You can, of course, make your own mini chocolate chip cookies and frosting, but in a time crunch, going storebought was simplest.

Ingredients for decorating:

1 can of white frosting

1 blue food coloring bottle

1 bag of shredded coconut

1 box of chocolate chip cookies (Chips Ahoy works well)

1 bag of miniature marshmallows

chocolate frosting

Mix white frosting and blue food coloring to create an appropriate hue of blue frosting.  Mix in shredded coconut, as needed, stopping when the mixture looks sufficiently hair-like.  Frost the top of cupcakes.  Cut chocolate chip cookies in half and prop up on cupcake top with extra frosting.  Place two miniature marshmallows for eyeballs, and dot pupils with chocolate frosting.

Voila!  Cookie Monster Cupcakes, great for kids of all age groups!

Cupcakes for a Party (x2)

On Sunday I baked green tea cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes to take to two parties. They're frosted with marshmallow frosting, and decorated with strawberries and animal crackers.


Some alterations I made to the previous recipes are:
1. I used margarine in the frosting, instead of butter. The frosting turned out thinner than I had hoped, and would not stay in the chrysanthemum shapes featured in the last post.
2. The Green Tea Cupcakes were made with regular flour instead of rice flour, and rice milk instead of soymilk.

I really had a lot of fun experimenting with decorations, as you can see below. My favorite is the octopus shaped out of pieces of strawberry!

Strawberry-Raspberry-Applesauce Cupcakes with Marshmallow Flower Frosting

This tasty recipe is modified from one found on Little Miss Cupcakes blog. The modified recipe is vegan, although the frosting is not. I have yet to see if margarine and vegan marshmallows can be substituted for the frosting.

I love this recipe because my success with it is what really inspired my subsequent adventures in the realm of cupcakes and ovens.

Strawberry-Raspberry-Applesauce Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/6 cup canola oil
1 cup applesauce
1 cup soymilk
1 cup of strawberry soy yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 300°F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add canola oil, applesauce, soymilk, yogurt, and vanilla while mixing with an electric mixer. Do not overbeat. Fold in the frozen raspberries with a spatula.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely and frost with marshmallow icing.

Marshmallow Icing
enough to frost at least 24 cupcakes

2 sticks butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream

Cream the butter on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and marshmallow cream. Transfer to a plastic bag and pipe onto cupcakes.

In order to frost cupcakes in the Chrysanthemum style, make tiny 'C' shapes around the outer edges of the cupcake, spiraling clockwise towards the center of the cupcake. It helps to frost with one hand while rotating the cupcake with the other in order to form even petals.