Emoji Cupcakes
Let's make emoji cupcakes! These cupcakes are so much fun and so delicious. I'm using meltable candy wafers to create the emoji faces which is easy and takes less than 10 minutes to set. These are perfect for kids to decorate as they can recreate their favorite emojis or create awesome new ones.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup hot coffee (or substitute hot water)
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup salted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound), softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar (1 pound)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup heavy cream or milk
- pinch salt
- 1-2 drops yellow food coloring
Decorating
- Candy Wafers - White, Black, Red + Blue
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners. This recipe makes 16 cupcakes.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer mix together the oil and the sugar.
- Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat just until combined.
- Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk.
- Add the hot coffee and mix on low just until incorporated.
- Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon fill the cupcake liners about ¾ of the way full. One scoop from an ice cream scoop is the perfect amount.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes. Move to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar one cup and a time. **see notes below
- Add the heavy cream and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add a pinch of salt (to taste) and mix.
- Lastly, mix in the yellow food coloring.
Decoration
- Place a piece of parchment paper or wax paper over your template and trace any elements you want to be white, like the eyes. You can use a toothpick to help guide the chocolate or to clean up any mistakes.
- After white, repeat with your other colors.
- Let your candy faces dry at least 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. While those are drying you can start frosting the cupcakes.
- Fill a piping bag with yellow buttercream. I'm not using a piping tip for these I just cut about 1/2 inch from the bottom. To get flat yellow circles on top of the cupcakes start by piping a small mound of frosting on the top of the cupcakes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and flip the cupcakes upside down and slightly press the frosting onto the parchment paper. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes and when you remove the cupcakes they will have a nice flat surface perfect for creating our emoji faces.
- Once your cupcakes are out of the freezer and the candy faces have dried its time to decorate! Carefully peel the candy melt faces off the parchment and stick to the buttercream frosted cupcakes. Follow the template or create your own new emojis my mixing and matching different eyes and mouths.
Notes
Buttercream Notes:
To make the buttercream you will need your butter to be soft. You can leave it out at room temperature about an hour before you need to use it, or microwave it for about 15 seconds to soften.
If you are using organic powdered sugar, you will want to sift it first to get out any large lumps.
Nutrition
Calories: 377kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 175mg | Potassium: 24mg | Sugar: 41g
This information comes from online calculators and these figures are only estimates.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!