Buttercream Icing and Madi's Shark Attack Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes with delicious vanilla buttercream icing topped with a sugar cookie shark fin!
I was lunching with a friend when I heard that my coworker Michelle's daughter, sweet little Madi, changed her party theme for her upcoming 3rd birthday. The first theme was cats which to me seems pretty typical for a little girl. I made Madi's birthday cupcakes last year and the theme was Minnie Mouse. The tops of the cupcakes have 2 chocolate wafers for ears and the bow is made out of pink Starbursts that were softened in the microwave lol.
I assumed that the theme change would have been to Frozen, princesses, or Shopkins (whatever those are) but nope! Our cute little Madi chose SHARKS!! My first thought was how is her mother going to find Shark theme decor lol.
Madi ended up having a beautiful handmade party dress that had sharks on the lower half in blue material. It was perfect!! The dress was made locally by Milk Moustache Clothing. Check her out on facebook! My friend Britt has ordered many dresses for her little girl and they have all been beautiful! Here is a photo of cute little Madi from her birthday party!
I had seen a lot of different shark fin and ocean themed cupcakes last summer on Pinterest so I spoke to her mother to see if she had found someone to make her a shark themed cake or cupcakes. The answer was obviously no and we decided that I would make her cupcakes this year. I was delighted.
If you have read my previous posts you will know that from time to time I use boxed cake mix especially if the decorations on the tops of the cupcakes will require some fussing. For Madi's cupcakes I used Devil's Food Chocolate cake mix from Duncan Hines. I prefer this over Betty Crocker as they just seem to turn out nicer with puffy but smooth tops. Also, I know that the box says that you can get 24 cupcakes out of it...well you might but they would be pretty thin. Previously, their boxe contained 515g of mix but their new box contains 435g of mix. In the past I was able to get 23 nice sized cupcakes. Now with the new boxes I get 21 and if I try to make any more they do not reach the top of the liner. So I would recommend the 21 if you are going to be making cupcakes.
I decided to make the shark fins out of sugar cookies so that the kiddos could eat them. You could also make them out of fondant or cut them out from construction paper then glue a toothpick on the back. Tons of options! I used the sugar cookie recipe that I previously posted. I also googled printable shark fin cupcake topper template and found one...what can't you find on google..really. I cut out the shark fin on the paper of desired size then used it as a template. Rather than using a knife I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the lines nice and crisp. The knife would have worked fine but the cookie cutter was faster even though I had to do two cuts. I also still needed to use the template. Prior to baking, I stuck a toothpick in each fin so that it could be inserted into the cupcakes.
After the cookies were baked and cooled I iced them using the glaze and dip method I previously posted.
Now onto the icing! I LOVE buttercream icing! It is so easy to make and use even if you do not normally work with icing.
I have to mention that this past week another coworker approached me to tell me that she wanted to make cupcakes for her daughter's 2nd birthday. I was thrilled. We went over the icing recipe, the tip and bag needed, as well as how to frost the swirl on the cupcake. I demonstrated with a pen on an invisiable cupcake. Well on Saturday morning she sent me a photo of BEAUTIFULLY iced pink cupcakes topped with gumdrops!! She did such an excellent job!! Making this buttercream does not take long at all nor does frosting the cupcakes and it is definitely worth the effort!
I use this buttercream for all of my cupcakes. It is also the base recipe for my chocolate buttercream, and strawberry buttercream.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup Butter (Room temperature or slightly softened)
1/2 cup Vegetable shortening (room temperature)
4 cups Icing Sugar *see note
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 TBSP - 4 TBSP water
METHOD:
I usually keep my butter in the fridge. Prior to using the butter for this buttercream I set it on the counter for 30 minutes or you could microwave the 1/2 cup for 20 seconds. Using your mixer, cream the butter until the consistency is uniform. Add in the shortening and ensure that it is well blended. Sift the icing sugar one cup at a time into the bowl mixing well before adding the next cup. The consistency will be dry and lumpy when you are at the fourth cup - this is normal. Now, what I do is fill 1/4 cup with water and SLOWLY add it to the buttercream mixture. A little can go a long way. Continue to add water until you buttercream becomes smooth and whips in the bowl. Add the vanilla and mix well.
*Note - I only use ROGERS icing sugar. Red Path recently changed their sugar and it now is grainy when you make buttercream icing with it. The bulk icing sugar at superstore IS Red Path. You can get Rogers in bags at Superstore and also Bulk Barn. I'm not sure what brands other stores carry but I would stay away from Red Path icing sugar.
Once you have made your buttercream icing you can color it. I would use the Wilton gel colors. You can buy these individually from Bulk Barn for under $3.00 each and mine have lasted 3-4 years when stored properly. Add a small glob of the gel with a toothpick and mix well until you reach your desired color. A little goes a long way!
For my shark cupcakes, I split my icing into two bowls and colored them with the same blue - using a larger amount in one and a smaller amount in the other for contrast. I wanted the frosting to be multi colored to represent the water. In retrospect, I would have done this differently because as I piped the frosting the colors blended more then I had wanted. In the future, I will put large blobs of each color into the piping bag and not mix them prior. I have also made multi colored cupcakes using two bags in one. I will post about this another time!
I frosted all of my cupcakes blue using the 1M star tip then packed them into the carrying cases. The fins were too tall to fit in the case so I put them in a separate container for Madi to put on the next day.
These cupcakes would be cute for a pool party as well! Please try the buttercream next time you need to frost cupcakes rather than buying that old can of icing! You'll be glad you did!!