white dog cupcakes

Cupcakes for Casper :o)

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Ruthanne

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.