These mini vanilla cupcakes are topped with the yummiest fondant and decorated like Keurig K-cups! So fun!!!
My friend and coworker Mary just got a new job. When I was thinking about her going-away party I just kept wondering how I could make a dessert that looked like a K-cup coffee pod. Mary is known in our lab as the K-cup supplier. Anyone who finds themselves without a coffee pod can find one in Mary’s supply…she literally orders by the case online and at any given time she has maybe 10 different flavors. Now that she’s gone we really miss her (and her coffee!)
This is less of a recipe and more of an “idea” post. It was a good chance for me to practice with the fondant recipe my friend Megan gave me a couple of months ago and a fun little art project to challenge my (terrible!) painting skills!
(It was also really a fun project to take pictures of!!!)
Want to know how to do this crazy edible art project?
Here it is:
- Make thick buttercream icing and fondant first. It’s easiest if I just send you to my original fondant recipe for the tutorial and directions. Just click here to open that page.
- For the cupcakes just use your favorite cupcake recipe (which for me was a white cake mix!)
- I used little cocktail nut cups as my cupcake liners, because they look like the sides of the K-cup pods, but you could certainly use mini white cupcake liners.
- Place the liners in mini muffin tins and fill about halfway up with cake batter (under-fill them a little, so that the tops bake relatively flat and not mounded up like a typical cupcake)
- Bake according to your recipe. My mini cupcakes baked for 12 minutes at 350F degrees.
- Color fondant as desired and roll it flat. Cut it into circles that are the size of the cupcake tops. I used a small round cookie cutter.
- Use thick buttercream to frost a smooth layer on the top of a cooled cupcake and then immediately press a fondant circle on top of the buttercream.
- Cut colored fondant into any shapes you might need on top and use a small amount of water to attach these shapes to the top of the fondant circle.
- Once those extra pieces are attached, use a small brush to wipe away excess powdered sugar and then use gel food coloring and a fine tipped brush to paint on the fondant. I used an actual pod as a model to paint from.
(note: you might need to add a little white food coloring to the dark colors to make them show up- otherwise your dark blues and greens will look like black when used as paint.)
Be creative and use your imagination! I just pulled all of my pod flavors out and tried to pick ones that were fun – but also ones I thought I could handle copying! I wanted to do a Starbucks pod- but that logo…! Yikes. No way I could paint anything that looked like that!!
My thoughts: These aren’t what I would qualify as easy, but they are really a fun afternoon project. Very relaxing. I’m POSITIVE you all can paint better than I, and if you like to just create and paint and color you will love this project! Take your time and enjoy the process. (and don’t actually try to brew one- lol! I had someone ask me about that and I had to explain that the above picture is simply a creative presentation of a cupcake!!)
I’m dedicating this post to you Mary!! I miss working with you and I hope your new coworkers realize how lucky they are to have you!!!
This is also a shout out to Keurig and the genius of those delicious little coffee pods– you make every morning so much happier for me!!! Lots of love from Easybaked to all of you! ~r
Other mini desserts you might enjoy:
EASYBAKED 