by: Kate McMillan
Cook Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
30 minutes
Yield
12 cupcakes
Total Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
30 minutes
Yield
12 cupcakes
summary
Kids will love making adorable Bunny Cupcakes, using our Strawberries & Cream Cupcake recipe as the base. All you need for this super-fun kid’s craft is some marshmallows and colored sugar or sprinkles to make the perfect set of ears.
ingredients
- Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
- 10–12 fresh strawberries, hulled
- Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries
- Bunny Ear Ingredients:
- 15 marshmallows
- Pink colored sugar or sprinkles
directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the egg whites and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and milk in thirds, alternating dry and wet ingredients. Mix until combined, but don’t overmix.
- Dice the fresh strawberries into very small cubes (about ⅛ inch). Using a flexible spatula, fold the fresh strawberries into the cupcake batter. Fill muffin cups just below the top of the cupcake liners. Transfer the cupcakes to the oven and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 20–22 minutes. Let cupcakes sit for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the buttercream frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat the butter until it is perfectly smooth. Add the confectioner’s sugar, milk and vanilla and beat on low until combined, then on high for 30 seconds.
- Place the freeze-dried strawberries in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until the freeze-dried strawberries are a fine powder. Add the ground freeze-dried strawberries to the buttercream frosting and mix to combine.
- When the cupcakes are completely cooled, frost generously with a small offset spatula.
- To make the bunny ears, cut marshmallows diagonally in half. Pour a few tablespoons of the sugar onto a small plate. Dip the cut side of the marshmallow (it will be sticky) into the sugar. Place the ears onto the frosted cupcakes and serve.
notes
It is very important that your ingredients are at room temperature for both the cupcake batter and the buttercream frosting.
If you don’t have a food processor, put the freeze-dried strawberries in a sealed plastic bag and use a rolling pin to grind them.
If you can’t find freeze-dried strawberries, you can also use red food coloring to create pink frosting.
Do not frost cupcakes until they are completely cooled. Otherwise the frosting will melt.
The easiest way to frost a cupcake is to use a piping bag or an offset spatula.
You can use any color of sugar or sprinkles. It would be a cute display to use several pastel colors, such as blue, green, yellow and pink.
You want the frosting a little chilled so the marshmallow bunny ears don’t slide off.
