We celebrated my son’s second birthday yesterday with some “out of this world” cupcakes!
Inspiration for these came from the 2010 Donna Hay Magazine kid’s issue. Yes, I’ve had these cupcakes in my head for over one year! Finally the opportunity came to make them for myself.
I did not use Donna Hay’s cake and frosting recipes. I will never use a Donna Hay recipe for cakes or frostings as in the past I have repeatedly had issues and failures with them. The recipes I used for my cupcakes were ones that I love and know will turn out properly and delicious. The chocolate cupcakes are vegan, and the vanilla buttercream, while not vegan, is my favorite vanilla frosting recipe. The recipes are below, although feel free to use your own favorite flavor combination.
A quick note about the vegan chocolate cupcakes: these cupcakes are very soft and moist and delicious. They are my favorite cupcake to bake. But I repeat, they are very soft and do fall apart easily. They would not be suitable for a heavy layer of frosting or lots of decorations.
Decorating these is extremely simple. Use Smarties or M&M’s to place around the outside edges of the cupcakes (I used Smarties, but M&M’s would be smaller and probably would look slightly better). The “alien” inside is a Starburst Sucks lollipop, in apple flavor. I had to trim the plastic lollipop stick to fit down into the cupcake. Finally, top the “alien” off with a tiny shot glass-sized clear plastic cup. Be sure to also use foil cupcake liners for the full UFO effect!
We placed two candles on our favorite UFO and our little guy blew them out! Happy Birthday!
These UFO cupcakes would be a hit at any children’s party and being so easy to decorate, anyone at all could do it! If you make them for yourself or someone else, please share a photo with me – I’d love to see them!
Update March 12, 2012: I just discovered that YouTube contributor, yoyomax12, has created a how-to video for making these UFO cupcakes! Click here to go to YouTube to check it out!
Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Love & Olive Oil
Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons almond meal
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together, by hand, the coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low-speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the coconut milk mixture until it is uniform and smooth (do not overmix).
Pour batter in liners, filling cups no more than 2/3 full (3 tablespoons of batter). Bake 18-20 inutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
green food coloring – paste, gel, powder or liquid is fine
Method
Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes. (After every 2 additions, increase speed to high, and beat for 10 seconds, then reduce speed to medium-high). Add vanilla and enough food coloring to turn the frosting a bright pastel green, and beat until buttercream is smooth.
These are SO adorable! Where on earth did you find a shot glass sized plastic cup? I can only find 300ml ones, or the like.
I’m sure that even people my age (18) would adore these!
I found them at one of those dollar shops where you can get anything at a really cheap price. I don’t know where you live, but I have seen them at Coles here in Sydney’s north once or twice.
These cupcakes are sooo cute!! I’ll have to show my sister when my nephews birthday comes along!
Adorable! Happy Birthday to your little guy, what a fun cupcake. I’m thinking I’ll try it out for Halloween.
The Cupcakes look great.
Look at you, you creative little thing. You certainly are one to watch. Loving how fun and vegan these are!
Hi,
i’m a french student, in cooking studies.
You’re cupcakes are so beautifuls.
Bye
Love these they are so cute! Love your blog too, just discovered it. Beautiful!
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