In today’s post: Make these pretty butterfly cupcakes using pretzels, yellow candy melts, sprinkles and chocolate chips. They’re perfect for a birthday party, summer get together, or baby shower.
Easy + Pretty Cupcakes
I’m pretty useless when it comes to decorating cakes and cupcakes, so I always love a good EASY decorating idea. These butterfly cupcakes turn out so cute and are extremely easy to put together.
Tips for Pretty Cupcakes
- I always bake cupcakes in plain white liners. Then once they are completely cool, I drop them inside a pretty colored liner. This gives an extra “ruffled” look around the cupcake, and makes sure the colored liner stays pretty – if you bake cupcakes inside colored cupcake liners the oils from the cake can discolor the liners.
- Use less cake batter in each cupcake then you think you will need. It’s easiest to decorate cupcakes that are fairly flat on top and have not overrun the liner. Shoot for filling them halfway full, not 2/3 of the way full.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make butterfly cupcakes:
- Frosted Cupcakes
- Yellow Candy Wafers aka Candy Melts
- Small colorful sprinkles: for decorating the wings
- Brown “jimmies” sprinkles: these are the sprinkles that look like little sticks, you’ll use them for antennae
- Mini Pretzel Twists: to use as wings. I like the Great Value brand pretzels here because they are a bit smaller than the name brand version
- Chocolate Chips: to make the body
How to Make Butterfly Cupcakes
Bake and Frost the Cupcakes
You can turn any flavor cupcakes into butterfly cupcakes! Bake your cupcakes and allow them to cool completely before decorating. When choosing a frosting, be aware that the wings will stand up better if you use a fairly thick frosting, like a nice thick vanilla buttercream or a cream cheese frosting. Additionally, you’ll want a good amount of frosting on each cupcake. You can pipe the frosting or just frost using a knife or offset spatula, but shoot for about 1/2 inch thick layer of frosting, and smooth it out flat on top. I like how the butterflies look best using white frosting, but you can use a colored frosting if you choose.
Prepare the Wings
You will use mini pretzels to make the butterfly wings. Place yellow candy wafers (melts) in a small bowl and microwave in thirty second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Dip each pretzel in the melted candy using a fork. Tap the fork against the side of the bowl vigorously to allow the excess candy to run off, then place the dipped pretzel on the cookie sheet. Stop every 4-5 pretzels to add sprinkles. You will need two wings per cupcake. You can let the butterfly wings set up on the counter or in the fridge (it will only take about 5 minutes in the fridge).
Assemble Butterflies
Now it’s time to assemble the butterflies. Start by adding the wings. Hold a pretzel in each hand and press them straight down into the frosting, about half an inch apart. Again, press them straight down into the frosting, then allow them to open out toward the sides – if you press them in at an angle you will get a weird bump of frosting in between them. Then add three chocolate chips upside down to create a body, and two jimmies sprinkles for antennae. You may want to use tweezers to add the antennae. Then your butterfly cupcakes are ready to serve!
Butterfly Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 12 Baked and Frosted Cupcakes
- Yellow Candy Wafers aka Candy Melts
- Colorful Small Sprinkles
- Brown Jimmies Sprinkles
- 24 Mini Pretzel Twists
- 36 Chocolate Chips
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Instructions
- Place candy melts in a small bowl and melt in the microwave in thirty second intervals, stirring in between. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Dip each pretzel in the melted candy using a fork. Tap the fork on the edge of the bowl vigorously to allow excess candy to run off, then place the dipped pretzel on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the pretzels, stopping regularly to add small colorful sprinkles.
- Allow the pretzels to set up completely on the counter or in the fridge.
- To assemble the cupcakes, hold a dipped pretzel in each hand and press them straight down into the frosting, about half an inch apart. Then allow them to open out to the sides.
- Place three chocolate chips in between the pretzel wings, upside down, to create a body. Add two brown jimmies sprinkles to make antennae. It can be helpful to use tweezers here.
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