Creepy Critter Cupcakes

My latest cooking class is composed of children between 4 and 14 years of age so flexibility in use of materials and expectations runs the gamut during our 3/4 hr each week. As always, they did an excellent job with these "creepy critter cupcakes," in honor of Halloween. I loved the colors and their imagination and creativity.

My Cupcake Decorating Class

I had some amazing kids between 3 and 12 years of age in my cupcake decorating class this last session and wanted to share some of their creations with you. They were imaginative and had great creativity with the materials I gave them (plus they loved eating the left-overs :) This week was "dragons and unicorns" and we had an absolute blast!

 

 

       
 During previous classes, we did animals and characters. See if you can spot Shamu, bunnies, cows and the monkeys in any of these. There's even a pirate...

 

                                                            

  

                      

                 

Chocolate Cub-Cakes

Here's a cute recipe that I used with my cooking class last Saturday. I found it in a wonderful cookbook called The Cake Mix Bible. The kids really enjoyed creating (and eating) these:


Chocolate Cub-Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 chocolate cake mix (we used chocolate fudge)
• 1 can chocolate frosting (we used classic chocolate)
• chocolate wafer cookies (cut in quarters for ears) - 2 pieces per cubcake or use a decorated cookie as the photo shows
• chocolate shot
• chocolate non-pareils
• cinnamon candies for eyes and nose (we used skittles and milk duds!)
• black gel frosting for mouth

Directions

1. Prepare cake mix as for cupcakes (one box made about 18 med/large)
2. Frost with your choice of frosting
3. Place cinnamon candies (or skittles or milk duds) as eyes
4. Place cut cookies on top as ears - they can stand up or lie down, your preference
5. Place nose in position
6. Using gel frosting, pipe a line under the nose (muzzle) and smile on your cubcake
7. Using chocolate non-pareils, fill in muzzle (as shown in photo) and use shot as "fur"
8. Enjoy!

Consensus in my class was that it was "the best!" 

Note from the kitchen: Frosting anything, from cakes to cupcakes, is easier if they are frozen. Less crumbs, less mess.