These treats get a punk-rock twist with frosting "tattoos" and licorice spikes.
How to Make Pirate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 box (16.25 oz.) yellow cake mix
- 1 16-oz. can vanilla frosting
- Red paste food coloring
- 1 16-oz. can dark-chocolate frosting
- Black paste food coloring
- 1 cup licorice pastilles (red, black, white)
Make It
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions, lining 30 muffin cups with foil liners. Fill halfway with batter, bake 15 to 18 minutes and cool.
- Tint 1 cup of vanilla frosting red with paste food coloring. Transfer to freezer-weight resealable bag. Spoon remaining vanilla frosting into another resealable bag.
- Tint chocolate frosting black. Spoon 1 cup black frosting into a pastry bag with a #3 plain tip. Spoon remaining black frosting into resealable bag.
- Print templates at parents.com/pirate and cut out. Place template on top of cupcake; score outline with a toothpick. Pipe black frosting outlines using scored lines as a guide. Let set.
- Microwave bag of frosting at 5-second intervals, massaging in between until the icing texture is of slightly whipped cream. Snip very small, 1/8" corner from bag. Squeeze frosting into area you wish to fill, but don't overfill. Tap cupcake on work surface to help frosting spread. Use a toothpick to drag frosting into corners. Repeat with other two bags of frosting.
- Insert licorice pastilles into the cupcakes to look like spikes.
Originally published in the May 2013 issue of Parents magazine.
