Two years ago- almost to the day- I brought home a puppy destined to be my best friend- his name is Casper.
This past thanksgiving weekend I was sent a picture via facebook by my friend Mimi. Mimi is spending a year studying in England and I’ve NO idea where she found this picture- but it made me laugh and I KNEW that someday I would make this dessert:
(I did try to find the original source of this picture and I just couldn’t– so my apologies if it is yours. I always try to credit a source but just couldn’t find it!)
My biggest concern with these cupcakes was of course the tremendous amount of icing on them—YUCK! I decided that mini cupcakes turned upside-down on top would bump up the center and reduce the amount of icing needed. My second concern was the icing itself. A heavy buttercream would work- but a little of that goes a long way.
After making my last dessert- Chocolate Mousse Cake, I realized that the filling “mousse” layer was the PERFECT consistency for these cupcakes. A light whipped frosting that is still thick enough to keep its shape. Once I’d decided on the frosting I created my own:
THAT one looks good!
Yum! I need a bite of that!
Here’s how I made them:
INGREDIENTS:
- One box of white cake mix (I use Duncan Hines) with water, oil and eggs to make according to package.
- One box (4 packets) of Dream Whip Whip
(find it by the pudding boxes- or order multiple boxes online for a better deal)
- 1 1/2c. cold milk
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- mini M&Ms or black/brown icing coloring.
DIRECTIONS:
- Make cake according to package and make as cupcakes. Only make about 16-18 cupcakes though and use the rest of the batter in a lightly greased mini-muffin tin to make 16-18 mini cupcakes (with no liners).
- While cupcakes are baking make frosting.
- Combine Dream Whip, milk and powdered sugar in a large bowl and beat on high until it is very stiff (whipped frosting consistency). Refrigerate until use.
- Cool cupcakes completely and then level the tops with a serrated knife
- Divide about 2/3 of the frosting off into a zip-top bag that has a corner clipped off and a decorator tip inserted in the opening. Refrigerate.
- If you aren’t using mini-M&Ms for eyes and nose, pull about 3T of frosting out and color it black or brown with icing color. Place this in a zip-top bag as well with a tip inserted. Refrigerate.
- Use the rest of the frosting to frost the top of each large cupcake. Tip the mini cupcake upside-down on top and frost that as well.
- Using the bag of icing with the decorator tip, pipe icing on making little points coming up from the cupcake. make a larger dollop of icing for the nose and two off the top and folding over a bit for ears.
- Take the bag of black icing (or your mini M&Ms) and make eyes and a nose.
(My technique started off rough and gradually improved. Here’s my two 1st ones:
Sheep?
Chewbacca?
- Keep refrigerated until serving
My thoughts: You could certainly use a couple of cans of frosting for this if you want. The light whipped frosting is SO tasty though. These cupcakes are easy but time-consuming. I’m no cake-decorator, so I loved that these are so free-form….just have fun!
Here’s some more photos of Casper and my friend Danielle enjoying the finished result (they BOTH have frosting on their noses!) Only little tastes for puppies though– these are cupcakes designed for people and feeding them to your pets could make them sick.
ENJOY!
Have you seen Casper in my other recipes?
Check him out in Coconut Lemon bars with Mimi and Fresh Blackberry Tart.
EASYBAKED 
ADORABLE!! And I love the one where he’s like, ‘I want that!’ =) too cute!
He eventually got his icing fix…he deserved it for being so patient with his photo shoot 🙂
Dog are not suppose to have those ingredients. I own a dog bakery! Dogs cannot have sugars, and boxed store cake mixes. So are these for humans or our furry friends. If its not for our furry friends then the title Dog Frostings should be correctly changed. It is misleading.
Thanks Robin! I’ve never even heard of a dog bakery– but that sounds really fun! These are human cupcakes –although my dog did get a taste of my frosting! I don’t have any recipes for animals on easybaked– only ones for humans! Hope that clears things up for you!
Great cupcakes but I REEEEally love the puppy! What breed is he?
He is a Coton de Tulear Kit– the perfect dog breed in my opinion 🙂
This so cute and you did a great job!
What great photos (and thanks for the recipe). He would have a lot of fun with my 102 pound Irish Wolfhound look-alike, Gracie who thinks she’s a lap dog!
So sweetvery sweet puppy is a wonderful
Those are genius. And I love that puppy picture!
Reblogged this on abackwardmap and commented:
This is soooo adorable. And also, delicious. My two favorite things–cute puppies and food.
These are the most adorable cupcakes ever, sooooo cute!
i cant get over how adorable these are !!!! wow !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much! 🙂
The idea for the doggie cupcakes are from a Cupcake cookbook published at least 3 years ago. I can’t remember the name but she is a genius! She uses marshmallows or a mini cupcake on its side for faces, heads, and etc. and then decorates that with icing. They are not solid icing! Then she decorates them with candy-coated sunflower seeds in fun colors (available in gourmet food stores) for the eyes, nose, and etc. They are sharper than chocolate chips and just look more polished. You should see her corn-on-the-cob cupcakes or the Van Gogh “Starry Night” painting made with cupcakes. Gorgeous! And of course all the pet cupcakes are so adorable with real edible leashes and everything.
Oh thank you so much for commenting! I went on a hunt and I think I found it :
Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make
and you are right– wow….I want to get it now!!! Thanks!The original photo is from Buster Cupcake – that little dog is named Buster – he had dinner at our house with his mom and dad, Andrea and David, last night! Andrea is an incredible baker.
Awwww—- he’s so cute 🙂 Thanks so much for letting me know- I’ve been wondering who to credit!
Hey, great ideas! So creative! I would really like to showcase this recipe on my cupcake recipes and ideas blog if you agree.
Absolutely! Thanks for asking 🙂
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the photo of Buster with the Cupcakes on the purple tablecloth is mine- thanks for looking for the photo credit! http://www.bustercupcake.blogspot.com
Yay 🙂 thanks for letting us know!
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