Dinosaur Pull-apart Cupcake Cake + Review of homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
Homemade chocolate cupcakes arranged in a dinosaur shape with sweet vanilla buttercream icing! No cake to cut and no forks needed!
I was approached by a friend to make her little girl's birthday cake or cupcakes. I believe she's turning 4. She wanted a dinosaur theme. After looking on Pinterest and discussing a few options we decided on this dinosaur cupcake pull-apart cake by La Hoot Bakery. I also made some dino cookies. I found the dino cookie cutter at Superstore. They only had 4 cookie cutter bins and one was dinosaurs...what are the odds? So I scooped that baby up.
I have been looking for a standby chocolate cupcake recipe for awhile now. I do like Duncan Hines but I would prefer homemade and would also like to be able to make as few or as many cupcakes as needed. I have tried 4 or 5 recipes over the past while and found two favorites:
1) Death By Chocolate Cupcakes by Sally's Baking Addiction - Click for link
I LOVE Sally and all of the yummy things that she makes. I have never made something of hers that I DIDN'T like! These cupcakes are very rich, thick, and decadent... almost like a brownie. They have buttermilk in them as well as chocolate squares. After making these I immediately printed out the recipe. Sally answers anyone's questions, replies to comments, and will even answer your emails. I had actually emailed her a question about these and was shocked by how quickly she responded. Please check out her page! The reason I did not use this recipe for the dino cake is because I think that they are actually too rich for kids especially when I intended to put a sweet buttercream on top....please don't tell Sally.
2) Best Chocolate Cupcake Recipe by Add a Pinch - Click for link
These cupcakes are very easy to make, moist, and reliable. You will probably have all of the ingredients on hand. They come together very fast and there are only a few steps. My batter was ready in 5 minutes. Filling them 3/4 full results in no overflow and the perfect sized cupcake. I did leave out the espresso powder again because these were for kids. The batter is very thin but don't panic they will turn out beautifully. I know that the espresso powder is there to bring out the chocolate flavor and I agree that without it they are yummy but not a rich chocolate. I added 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips and this took it over the top. If you are making these mine needed 17-19 minutes to bake unlike what the recipe says. These are the cupcakes I chose to use for the dino and will continue to use for any cupcakes that I frost with buttercream.
There are not very many different ways to make vanilla buttercream frosting. All of the recipes have shortening, butter, and icing sugar. They also have some sort of a liquid whether it is water, milk, or cream. I use water so that the frosting does not need to be refrigerated. Here is the link to the Wilton recipe - VANILLA BUTTERCREAM.
STEPS:
I took empty cupcake liners and made the shape of a dinosaur to see how many cupcakes I would require. I ended up needing 23.
*You'll have to excuse the reflecting aluminum foil. It was very difficult to get a perfect photo.
I made one double batch of cupcakes and arranged them on a piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil. I did use a piping bag as I was note sure how this was going to work. In hindsight I don't even really think that I needed to but it made things go faster for the body.
I made a double batch of my vanilla buttercream frosting. I tinted 80% of it dark blue and then also left some white for the eye, black for the smile, and light blue for his belly. I used tip #1A which is just a circle. I put a blob of frosting under each cupcake to hold them in place on the board.
Next using a piping bag I outlined the entire shape (not individual cupcakes) then I zigzagged the rest of the frosting all over the body within my outline. Using a spatula I spread the icing all over his body. I debated whether to smooth the icing out or leave it a little rough. I chose to leave it a bit rough as I thought that it made him look like one of those plasticine clay book characters and thought it was cute.
Once I was happy with his blue body I added the finishing touches which included some spots, his eyes, smile, and belly. His eyeball is an upside-down chocolate chip!
Had more servings of cupcakes been needed I would have made a row at the bottom in green like grass.
I also made some iced sugar cookie dinosaus with royal icing (another recipe for another day). I'm not sure if the mother intended to just serve them as a plate of cookies or put them in the goody bags - either would be super cute.
I was so pleased with how this cake turned out! I'm hoping to be able to make more cupcake cakes in the future!!