Monday, January 17, 2011

How to Make Care Bear Cupcakes

My mom and I spent the day doing a little retail therapy.  At Ross I found a fantastic collapsible cupcake holder.  I'ver been eyeing similiar ones for months, but didn't want to cough up the $30.  So today I found this awesome one for $20 - I was sold!  This evening I was inspired by the Care Bears movies my kids and I watched last night and attempted to create a cute Care Bear cupcake.  Remember, I'm not an artist or a pastry chef and I'm sure most of you could do a much prettier job.  This is just to give you an idea of what you can do.  Most of it is easier than you think.

OK, the rainbow is a little ugly -- but lesson learned for next time.  Use piping gel or icing for a cleaner look.
Age: 8+. I made the cupcake and my kids watched and enjoyed licking the icing off of the utensils.
Time: About 4 minutes per cupcake.  But if you do an assembly line, it would be much quicker.
Mess/Cleanup: Surprisingly clean.  I did not mix any icing colors and used store bought icing.  I just had a few knives, spoons, and sticky kids to wash up.
What You Need:
  • Cupcakes.  I used a white cake mix, but substituted applesauce for the oil (1-1).  I also added about 2 tablespoons of watermelon sugar sprinkles.  I wish I added more.  There was a slight hint of watermelon, but I think 4+ tablespoons could have made these super fabulous. 
  • Pink Icing (Betty Crocker makes a pink cherry icing that is pretty yummy)
  • White Icing
  • Mini Marshmallows (about 2 per cupcake)
  • Edible Color Markers (Red, Yellow, and Blue - like these)
  • White Candy Melts (1 per cupcake, like these)
  • Scissors
  • 1 Baggie (I like the non-zippered gallon size)
Why I Like This Craft:
Moms like to craft too!  Since our Buzz Lightyear cupcakes are such a hit, I wanted to try to make another character cupcake.  I happen to have much love for Care Bears (circa early 80s) and my daughter was the cutest Care Bear for Halloween, how could I not try to make this treat?
I think the cupcakes made her happier than wearing this costume!
Step 1:
Frost the cupcake white.
Step 2:
Add pink frosting to the baggie.  Twist the open end and squish all of the frosting to a bottom corner of the bag.  Snip a small corner off the baggie with scissors.

Step 3: Make the Pink body
Freehand a Care Bear head.  It's not that hard.  Really.
Step 4:
Add some arms and a belly.  You can use a toothpick to smooth out the squiggly lines of the frosting.

Step 5: Make the Nose, Chin & Eyes
Snip a mini marshmallow in half lengthwise.  Reserve the half for the nose.  Snip the remaining piece in half again (1/4 of the marshmallow).  Reserve one quarter for the chin.  Snip the remaining piece in half again.  You now have 2 eyes.  You may need to reshape some of the pieces to make them work on each cupcake.

Step 6:
With the nose piece, use the red food marker to make a small heart near the top of the marshmallow.  With each of the eye pieces, use the blue food marker to make a small blue dot.

Step 7: Make the Belly Badge
Using the color markers, draw a rainbow on the white candy melt.  My markers were a little dry.  I think if I had piping gel or royal icing on hand, I would have used that to make a much prettier belly badge.
Step 8:
Place the pieces on the cupcake to make the Care Bear's face.  Add the belly badge.  Voila!  In this picture I also added to little marshmallow bits for the ears.  I guess they're optional.
(Yes, I do need to learn how to use my camera.)
Step 9:
Enjoy the cupcakes!  Our, as my kids do, enjoy licking off just the icing and put the sticky cupcake on the couch.

 -Rose @-}---

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