Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Posted on March 3, 2014

Looking for a quick and fun cooking project for a rainy day or a playdate that needs a pick-me-up?  These Hello Kitty Cupcakes are just the thing.

1) Make a Batch of Cupcakes

Start by baking a batch of red velvet cupcakes.  We used a fun Duff Goldman red velvet cake mix that I happened to pick up at Michaels, but any red velvet cake mix (or any cake mix and some red food coloring!) would work.

We used these cute Hello Kitty cupcake papers that I purchased from Amazon. The pack of 50 paper liners is an add-on item so you can simply add them to one of your book orders and keep them on hand.

2) Make some Buttercream Frosting

If you’ve never made buttercream frosting – relax!  It’s much easier that most people think and you can make it with ingredients that you can keep on hand all the time.  It takes less than five minutes and you avoid having to schlep to the store for a tub of icing or worry about those scary-sounding preservatives. And just think how impressed your friends – and your kids – will be when you can pull out a mixing bowl and whip up some frosting at a moment’s notice!

To make the butter cream, simply combine a stick of butter with a couple cups of confectioner’s sugar using your mixer – it’s going to be powdery.  Then add a teaspoon of vanilla and a tablespoon of milk and keep mixing.  It’s going to look like a mess as you mix it and then suddenly turn into frosting.  If it’s too thick, add a little more milk one teaspoon at a time until you get the consistency you want.  (If you add just a little too much milk, fix it by adding a tad more sugar.)

N.B. If you want really white frosting, omit the vanilla extract or use a clear flavoring like lemon or almond extract.  Our frosting has a slight beige cast from the vanilla – yummy but not the ideal Hello Kitty look.

Here’s a nice video from “Laura in the Kitchen” that shows how to make the buttercream:

3) Add Hello Kitty Candies

 

I bought these Wilton brand Hello Kitty Icing Decorations from Amazon.  They are really cute.   Since they are basically just sugar candies, you can store them in your pantry for months and they will still be edible.  They are also an add-on item.  (Note that you might also be able to find the cupcake papers and these candies from Michael’s or your local baking store.)

Simply let your kids stick the icing decorations onto the icing then the cupcakes are ready to eat.

Hello Kitty Cake?

If you’re feeling really ambitious, Rosanna Pansino has a fondant-covered Hello Kitty cake project in her Nerdy Nummies YouTube series.  It looks fun too!

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