Twinklies, Unicorns, Minions, and Throwing Glitter In The Air!!!

I made "Twinklie" Cupcakes.

♥

Inspired by Twinkies.  I call them Twinklies. Because they *sparkle*.  Yellow Cupcakes..stuffed with Marshmallow Cream Buttercream..  Swirled with the same fluffy buttercream on top.  I made these awhile ago, when the world was sad and void of Hostess Twinkies.

You know what Twinkies have inspired (now that they have returned)?

Minion Cupcakes ♥ from Despicable Me.
I know you've seen them..all over the internet!
People turning Twinkies into yellow minion cupcake toppers!

I had so many friends posting the yellow Twinkie Minion Cupcake photos on my personal Facebook timeline, begging me to make them.   But I knew that I had to do something a little different. A little more Amanda Cupcake-esque.  Waiting is sometimes worth it because *I* was inspired when I went to see.....Despicable Me 2!

I made these:

The Purple Minion Clones.

The whole movie Despicable Me 2 is based out of a cupcake bakery.

And when I saw the purple Minion Clones..I just knew they'd make the perfect cupcake minion army!Purple hair, funny chompy teeth, crossed eyes!  I love how the minion clones try so hard to be mean but they are still such kind souls underneath the purple. 

I cut Twinkies in half, and froze them for about an hour on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper so they'd be solid enough to make it through a cupcake fondue process!  In the meantime, I melted white candy melts in  a deep bowl (deep enough to dip twinkies in).  I colored the candy melts with purple candy color gels after after the candy melts were melted and smooth.

These are my minions in progress.. after, dipping in purple candy melts, setting down on parchment paper and sprinkling on eyes.  I was thinking that the Minions might end up looking like Grimace (from McDonalds) or the ghosts (from Pac Man).  New inspirations for a cupcake in the future perhaps?!

♥

How I got this far:  After the Twinkies were frozen, I dipped cake pop sticks in the melted purple candy melts, and immediately stuck them into the bottom flat side of the Twinkie to "glue" the Twinkie to the cake pop stick and let the cake pop stick set for a few minutes for easy dipping!

Hint:  It's easier to add eyes to the purple Twinkie clones while the candy melts are still wet.  It only took the eyeballs a few minutes to dry onto the Twinkie..and I was on my way to the next step....

Piping Goggles around the eyeballs!

Using a 7/16" Round Tip inside of a disposable piping bag.

I folded a few dots of black color gel paste into white buttercream to achieve the grey goggle color

♥

Another Hint:  I love to make all my cupcake creatures look cross eyed (it gives them character--especially Minions!)  So  don't be afraid to have crazy fun sticking the eyeballs on the candy coated Twinkies!

I piped white teeth on to the Purple coated Twinkie using another small round tip.  The purple hair was piped on with a small open star tip.  (The "lavender" hair color was achieved by adding a small dot of purple gel paste color to white buttercream).   

♥

I baked the cupcakes using my "Twinklie" recipe and colored the batter Regal Purple (using Americolor Gel Paste).  I didn't fill the cupcakes with the Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream, since the cupcake had to be pretty stable to hold the Minion Clones on top. 

However..

A Twinkie Coated in Candy Melts..

On top of a Cupcake frosted with Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream..was double the cupcake love.  Maybe even triple..

...or Army Sized Cupcake Love!! ♥♥♥

My Minion Clone Cupcakes.

♥

Another reason I love Despicable Me..Unicorns ♥

Unicorn Cupcakes were simple.

♥Bugles-for the horns

♥Mini Pastel Licorice Candies for the ears

♥Sugar Eyes

♥Marshmallows cut in half for the noses

♥Edible Ink marker in black for the nostrils!

(if you want to know how to make the rainbow frosting, see my Rainbow Cupcake tutorial!)
"It's Beautiful!"
(this was a quote by Agnes referring to her pet unicorn in Despicable Me 2)!


Your own "Twinklie" recipe

Easy to bake at home ♥♥♥♥

Ingredients for the Cupcake:

1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix

1 Box of Instant Vanilla Pudding, as Powder (3-4 oz)

1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

4 Eggs

Directions:

♥Preheat Oven to 325.
♥Line Prepared Cupcake Pans with 18 cupcake liners.

♥Using your stand mixer, blend ingredients together: Yellow Cake Mix, Vanilla Pudding, Buttermilk, Vanilla Extract, Vegetable Oil, and Eggs.

♥After 30 seconds of mixing ingredients together, scrape your bowl with a rubber spatula to incorporate all ingredients together.

♥Mix again for 1-2 minutes until batter is creamy.
♥Use an ice cream scoop to fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.
♥Bake in your oven at 325 for approximately 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of cupcake comes out clean.
♥Let cool before decorating.



Colorful Twinklies!

 

The Filling and Frosting
You can leave the cupcakes with the filling inside only without frosting on top.
Or..you can go the extra mile and pipe frosting on top of the cupcakes after filling.
Either way, this filling recipe works as both a frosting and a filling for the Twinklies.

Marshmallow Cream Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:
14 oz Marshmallow Cream
1 lb butter-softened but not melted (yes, 1 lb. Everything is better with butter!)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
8 Cups Powdered Sugar or more, depending on how thick you want frosting to be.

♥Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer.
♥Mix well until fluffy and well blended.
♥Gradually add vanilla extract.
♥Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency.
(The more powdered sugar you add--the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating).

Decorating:
♥Use a cupcake corer to form a hole in the center of your Twinklie Cupcakes.
♥Slide an open star tip down to the end of a disposable piping bag and cut a hole large enough to fit the piping tip.

♥Fill your piping bag with the Marshmallow Cream Buttercream you just made.
♥Now fill the inside of your cupcake and continue to swirl on top of the cupcake, as pictured above!
♥Sprinkle with edible sparkles, gems, or confetti! Whatever you fancy ♥

♥...or..don't fill it all and top it with a Twinkie disguised as a purple Minion!!

"Always be yourself unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn."

Yes my cupcake friends here are...Wearing Unicorn Horns, Throwing Glitter in the air, and Making Wishes at my Cupcake Mansion in New London ♥♥

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes♥

Amanda Cupcake & Strawberry Shortcake.

 ♥

BFFS.

Made possible by a cupcake dream that came true.

I sandwiched summery strawberry hopes and wishes in between layers of vanilla deliciousness.  The pink sprinkled dots were definitely an Amanda Cupcake touch.  But I have to give the credit to Strawberry Shortcake for the delicious strawberry sandwich idea.

See what I mean?

This is inspiration for my strawberry shortcake cupcake creation.

It's kind of like my mission of uniting cupcakes & pie.

When I finished decorating the cupcakes...

I couldn't help but notice that the pink swirl on top sprinkled with pink dots looked just like one of my fave celebrities from the 1980s.

My childhood in a cupcake, that is now in my hand.

♥

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake-how to bake it yourself ♥

(If you really want to channel your childhood, dust off that EZ Bake Oven)!

To keep it simple, you can doctor up a cake mix:

The Best Vanilla Cake Mix (if I use cake mixes at all, I use Duncan Hines).

1 or 2 Vanilla Beans

1 1/4 Cup of Buttermilk (in place of water)

1/3 Cup Oil

4 Eggs
1 3.9 or 4 oz box of White Chocolate or Vanilla Instant Pudding

• Pre-heat oven to 350.    Line Cupcake Pan with appx 24 Cupcake Liners.
• Mix Cake Mix, Buttermilk, and Vegetable Oil in Stand Mixer.
• Open and scrape vanilla beans into batter. ♥
• Gradually add Eggs into mixture until well blended.
• Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl so all ingredients are incorporated.
• Fill Cupcake Liners about 2/3 full and bake for appx 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean.

For Strawberry Goodness Sandwiched into your cupcake:

Strawberry Gelee (recipe adapted from Sticky Gooey Chewy Creamy)

1 Cup Strawberry Puree

¼ Cup Sugar

1 T Lemon Juice

2T Cold Water

3 T Strawberry Jello

½ Cup  fresh summery strawberries, diced!

1.  Puree your strawberries (I use a blender and that works wonderfully).

2.  Now you can heat your strawberry puree & sugar in a small saucepan.

3.  Add lemon juice-then remove from heat.

4.  Combine cold water and gelatin in a small bowl.

5.  This water and gelatin combo will need to sit for 5 minutes.

6.  Add your strawberry puree/sugar blend to the water/gelatin combo and stir until gelatin dissolves.

7.  Stir strawberries into mixture and let this chill for 1-2 hours before sandwiching into your cupcake.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Recipe:

by Amanda Cupcake.

1 lb unsalted butter

5 T of strawberry jelly or you can use 5 T of the strawberry gelee that you already made.

1 T of Vanilla Extract

3Tof Heavy Whipping Cream

6-8 Cups Powdered Sugar

**To help blend the strawberries into the frosting, use the whisk attachment on your stand mixer for this recipe.

Directions:

1. Using your stand mixer,  mix your unsalted butter until it looks fluffy and creamy.

2.  Gradually add strawberry gelee, vanilla extract, and heavy whipping cream.

3.  Once all ingredients are incorporated gradually add powdered sugar until you reach the consistency desired (the more powdered sugar you add the thicker the frosting will be).