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Day of the Dead Cupcakes Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.7 from 54 reviews
  • Author: Stacy
  • Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Yield: 32 cupcakes 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Description

These vibrant Day of the Dead Cupcakes feature chocolate cupcakes topped with bright orange buttercream and adorned with intricately decorated white fondant sugar skull toppers, perfect for celebrating Día de los Muertos with a festive and colorful touch.

Ingredients

Scale

Cupcakes

  • 32 chocolate cupcakes

Buttercream Frosting

  • Buttercream frosting tinted orange

Fondant Toppers

  • White fondant
  • Royal icing tinted hot pink
  • Royal icing tinted yellow
  • Royal icing tinted aqua
  • Royal icing tinted black
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

  1. Prepare Fondant Base: Lightly dust your work surface with powdered sugar, then roll out the white fondant to about 1/8-inch thickness.
  2. Cut Fondant Circles: Use a 2 1/2-inch diameter cookie cutter to cut out circle shapes from the fondant.
  3. Mark Facial Features: Mark the fondant circles with a toothpick to indicate where the eyes and nose will be placed.
  4. Pipe Pink Teardrops: Using a #3 piping tip, pipe eight long hot pink teardrop shapes around the eyes in an asterisk pattern for decorative accents.
  5. Fill Eye Centers: With a #4 piping tip, fill the centers of the pink teardrops with bright yellow royal icing for eye detail.
  6. Temple Decorations: Pipe large yellow dots at the temples on each fondant circle.
  7. Outline Nose: Using a #1 piping tip, pipe an upside-down heart in black royal icing to form the nose shape.
  8. Smile and Teeth: Pipe the smiling mouth and teeth details clearly in black icing.
  9. Forehead Decoration: Pipe a heart in aqua royal icing in the center of the forehead using a #1 tip.
  10. Temple Accents: Pipe small aqua dots around the yellow dots at each temple.
  11. Cheek Scrolls: Pipe aqua scroll designs on each cheek for embellishment.
  12. Forehead Dotting: Pipe a large black dot above the aqua heart, with two smaller black dots below it.
  13. Side Comma Shapes: Pipe two black comma shapes on each side of the large black dot on the forehead.
  14. Yellow Dot Highlights: Pipe two yellow dots above the black elements and three yellow dots above each eye.
  15. Drying Time: Allow all royal icing toppers to dry and harden overnight for stability.
  16. Assemble Cupcakes: Spread orange-tinted buttercream frosting on the cooled chocolate cupcakes, then press the decorated fondant toppers firmly on top to complete.

Notes

  • Ensure the royal icing is stiff enough to hold intricate piping details and to dry hard.
  • Use powdered sugar or cornstarch to prevent fondant from sticking while rolling.
  • Let cupcakes cool completely before applying buttercream and fondant toppers to prevent melting.
  • Toppers can be made a day ahead and stored in an airtight container to maintain shape.
  • Customize colors of royal icing to match your personal Day of the Dead theme.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cupcake
  • Calories: 280
  • Sugar: 25g
  • Sodium: 150mg
  • Fat: 14g
  • Saturated Fat: 7g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 5g
  • Trans Fat: 0g
  • Carbohydrates: 34g
  • Fiber: 2g
  • Protein: 3g
  • Cholesterol: 40mg

Find it online: https://recipever.com/day-of-the-dead-cupcakes-recipe/