Kitty Girl Cupcakes
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INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
429g all-purpose flour
265g caster (superfine) sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
375ml of milk
125ml vegetable oil
2 tbsp Greek yogurt (can substitute with sour cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
2 drops teal food gel
2 drops pink food gel
1 tsp melon flavouring
Cat eyes
100 g (31/2 oz) Wilton black candy melts, melted
20 g (3/4 oz) Wilton pink candy melts, melted
Pink frosting
2 teaspoons strawberry flavouring
3 drops pink food-gel colouring
½ batch American buttercream frosting
Coloured frosting
1 teaspoon melon flavouring
1 batch American buttercream frosting
2 drops turquoise food-gel colouring
2 drops yellow food-gel colouring
2 drops pink food-gel colouring
2 drops purple food-gel colouring
Decorations
20 pink mini marshmallows, halved
METHOD
Makes 20
Level: Time Consuming
Cat eyes
To make the cat eyes, draw some cat eyes on a piece of paper.
Add melted candy melts into separate piping bags.
Begin by piping two little blobs of pink food gel next to each other. They’ll be the little sparkle in your cat eyes.
Pipe cat eye shapes over the pink blobs and allow them to set.
Cupcakes
Preheat a fan-forced oven to 140C (280F) or 160C (320F) for a conventional oven. Line a cupcake tin with white cupcake liners.
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix together using a hand mixer to combine.
Next add the softened butter and mix on low speed until mixture reaches a crumbly sand like texture.
Add the eggs, milk, oil, Greek yogurt, strawberry flavouring and vanilla. Mix on low speed until no dry ingredients are showing. Scrape down the bowl and mix for a final 20 seconds. It’s at this point where you can add any flavourings or gel food colours.
Fill each liner 3/4 of the way. Using an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter into the cupcake liners makes this a quick and easy process and ensures everything is filled the same amount and bakes at the same. Bake for 40-50 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I bake my cupcakes on a slow, low temperature. This ensures they don’t colour and crack on top. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.
Split the batter into two mixing bowls. Add pink food gel to one bowl and mix until well combined. Colour the second bowl with blue food gel.
Pink frosting
Add strawberry flavouring and pink food gel to frosting and mix until well combined. Add to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.
Coloured Frosting
To prepare the frosting, add strawberry flavouring to the frosting and mix until well combined.
Split into 4 mixing bowls and colour each one using the colour combinations listed in the ingredients list.
Add each colour to a separate piping bag fitted with a Wilton #4 piping tip.
To finish cupcakes, frost a tall bulb of pink frosting onto each cupcake. Then pipe long hairs of each coloured frosting on the bulb. Add cat eye chocolates on the front of the decorated bulb. Cut each marshmallow in half and add halves on each side of the bulb as ears.
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HELPFUL TIPS!
STORAGE: store in an airtight container for up to 3 days (refrigerated and thawed 40 min before serving). Although I’d recommend baking and serving on the same day.
EQUIPMENT: Can be made using a hand mixer (always mix on lowest speed) or a hand whisk. Take care not to over mix the batter.
OVEN TEMPERATURE: Each oven is different. Some are old, some are new. Some ovens can be hotter on the inside than the temp you set your oven at. If you find your cupcakes, cakes or macarons are browning or cracking, turn the oven temp down 10C. A handy trick is to get an oven thermometer which sits inside the oven and will give you an accurate temperature reading. They’re inexpensive and can be purchased online or at your local kitchen supply store. And always bake in the centre rack of the oven for best results!
BAKING TIME: These cupcakes will typically bake on a lower temp and for a little longer than regular cupcake recipes. I find a low temperate and a slow bake results in flatter tops and no caramelisation so that if the cupcakes are coloured they don’t change colour and brown. After 40 minutes, stick a skewer into the centre of one of the cupcakes, if it comes out with wet batter, bake for another 10 minutes until the skewer comes out with crumbs or completely clean.
TOOLS:
Large mixing bowls
Spatula
Magic Whisk for wet ingredients
Kitchen Scales
Stand mixer (or hand mixer)
Wire rack
Frosting bag
Tablespoon
Measuring spoons
Cupcake baking tin
Paper liners
Ice cream scoop (optional)