Making a foolproof cupcake recipe with your kids is a good way to spend a snowy afternoon. Turning those cupcakes into sugary snowmen is an even better one. You can use decorating gel instead of candy to create the snowmen’s faces, if you like. The fruit-leather accessories are optional! For a more formal topper, use a bit of icing to stick a Reese’s Mini upside down onto a chocolate cookie for a dashing hat.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
For the frosting
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 pound (about 4 cups) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons milk
To decorate
- Assorted small candies such as Red Hots, sprinkles, and candy corn
- Fruit leather
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 6 regular-size muffin cups with cupcake liners, and line 6 mini muffin cups with mini liners.
- Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat for 3 to 4 minutes, until the batter is creamy and fluffy.
- Add 1 cup of the flour along with the baking powder and salt, and mix to combine. Add all the milk and mix until combined, then add the remaining flour and stir it in completely. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes, until a skewer poked into the center of a mini cupcake comes out clean. Remove the minis and let the larger ones bake another 4 or 5 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely on a rack.
- Combine the frosting ingredients and beat the mixture until it’s smooth; spread it on the larger cupcakes.
- To assemble the snowmen, make the face by putting an unwrapped mini cupcake on its side on top of a larger cupcake and pipe frosting onto it to cover. Shape the eyes, nose, and mouth with candy (candy corn makes a good nose, if you have any). Use fruit leather cut into strips to make a scarf.
