Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Easy Star Cut-Out Cupcakes - A Tutorial

I love finding ideas for super cute cupcakes...as long as they're easy.  Because seriously, kid's love them if they're cute, but they'll be just as happy with a plain cupcake too.

I saw these really cute Valentine Cupcakes from Glorious Treats a couple weeks ago and loved the simplicity.  As I was trying to decide what kind of cupcakes to bring for Firecracker's class on her birthday, I decided to try out some stars...since she'd asked for an outer-space party (that we had after school...more details from that one later.).

It turns out, I've decided these cupcakes are perfect for taking to a class party or church activity or whatever...
  • First off, since the frosting is mostly inside the cupcake, the kids don't get as much on their faces.  Their teacher will thank you.  
  • Secondly, since the frosting is mostly inside the cupcake, they're really easy to cover and transport (and keep in the fridge) if you're like me and don't have a fancy cupcake carrier.  
  • Third...the kids hardly need more sugar and these keep the frosting to a minimum.
  • Last...the kids in Firecracker's class thought the cut-outs were really cool and had fun eating them.  


I probably would have gone for making all chocolate cupcakes with the yellow stars...but there's a child allergic to chocolate in her class, so we made some vanilla cupcakes as well.  (We have a soft spot for people with chocolate allergies since Grandpa has them too.)  Since I'd made up some blue for the other cupcakes for Firecracker's birthday party, I used that to stand out against the vanilla better.  With the blue and yellow these make me think of cub scouts too...and I'm sure any pack of cub scouts would LOVE some as much as Firecracker's class did.

You could make these for any theme that you can find a small cookie cutter for.

Here's what you do: 
Start with a well-cooled cupcake.  I used this tip from Six Sisters' Stuff to fill the cupcakes a little more full with batter and then cook them at 325 degrees instead of 350 to get a rounder cupcake.  (Mine didn't get quite as round as theirs, but it still worked really well.  It also worked better for the chocolate than for the vanilla...I have no idea why.)
Cut the top off with a serrated knife.
Press your cookie cutter through your cut off top.

Frost the cupcake.  (I used Wilton lemon yellow to color the yellow.  The blue is from two parts Wilton sky blue and one part Wilton purple.)
Put the top back on.
That's it.

Pin It

For more quick and easy cupcake ideas, click here.

Please show my sponsors some love...
Scent Melts from Lily and Oak
Girl with the Savior Print from Shirleen Bland's Art Studio
Set of 4 Printable Flashcards (PDF) - Alpha, #'s, Shapes, and Colors - From The Red Kitchen

8 comments:

  1. Darling. And good timing for the Cub Scout suggestion...Cub Scout packs have their annual Blue & Gold dinner in February.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ahh, I hadn't read through any of the other tutorials to see how they actually did it. I agree, these do look like slightly more work than a plain cupcake (with no frosting), but they sure seem way less messy than regular frosted cupcakes. And they're so cute! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great idea! I'm terrible at frosting cupcakes, but I think even I can handle this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is a fantastic idea! I love the less frosting aspect! And it's true, the frosting job doesn't have to be perfect. Plus, you end up with star shaped cupcake bites.:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOVE it! THanks for sharing.
    Jacqueline

    ReplyDelete
  6. I pinned this! I'd love for you to link this up to my party. You get a chance to win 3 Sew Sweet patterns just for linking up. http://trophyw.blogspot.com/2012/02/linky-28-will-craft-for-free-patterns.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love love love....you saved me tonight..

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I love hearing from you. I also love responding, so please make sure your Blogger account is set up for me to be able to see your email address or include your email address. I've had to stop accepting anonymous comments due to spam. If you don't have any other way to comment, you can always send an email.