What’s more fun than making farm animal cupcakes? My daughters spent the week in summer theater camp preparing for the musical production, “E-I-E-I-Oops!” This adorable moosical featured 28 very young actors and actresses in the roles of farmers and singing barnyard animals who, after learning that Madame Cow had lost her moo, help restore her confidence and sing their way to a barnyard hoedown!

I felt the cast party after the play should include treats almost as adorable as the play so we made these farm animal cupcakes as a family the night before.    The kids were brilliant in their roles and the farm animal cupcakes were a big hit with the kids!

These cupcakes are not a precision project- don’t worry if you can’t find the same types of candies I used. Use whatever you can find. A good sharp knife and a little molding work wonders in creating edible farm animal faces. While I used a cake decorating bag and tips to pipe the frosting on the cupcakes, a good ol’ butter knife and a can of store-bought frosting would be perfectly fine too.

DIY FARM ANIMAL CUPCAKES

SUPPLIES NEEDED

24 cupcakes
Food Coloring (pink & yellow)
White buttercream frosting, divided into 3 bowls: one white, one tinted pink & one yellow (buttercream recipe, below)
Mentos fruit flavored (for pig & cow noses and lamb ears)
Jellybeans (pink for lamb noses & red for chick combs)
Buttercream mints (for pig and lamb ears or can substitute Mentos)
Junior Mints (for cow ears)
Mini Marshmallows cut in half with scissors (for eyes & lambs’ wool)
Orange circus peanuts (cut into triangles for rooster beaks)
Chocolate chips (cow spots)
disposable cake decorating bags
Wilton decorating tip #5 (writing) & #12 tip
Red Wilton Candy Melts (for rooster wattles)
A few tablespoons of chocolate chips or a handful of Wilton chocolate candy melts (for pupils)

LET’S MAKE IT!

Frost cupcakes. (8 white, 8 yellow, 8 pink)
Cut ~1″ of narrow end of decorating bag off with scissors. 
Place coupler inside bag, add tip #12 to outside of bag and screw the coupler onto bag. 
Frost cupcakes starting at outside edge, moving in one continuous circle towards the center to finish.

Chick: red jelly beans for comb, orange jelly bean for beak.

Rooster: red Wilton candy melt cut in half for comb and another for wattles. Circus peanut for beak.

Lamb: pink Mentos halved for ears, marshmallow halves for wool and pink jellybean nose.

Cow: pink Mentos for nose, jelly beans for horns (that cows don’t have) and Junior Mints for bizarre ears.

Pupils & Nostrils:
Place chocolate candy melts in a small bowl and microwave 30 seconds at a time. Remove, stir and repeat in 30 second increments until just melted. (It shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes total. Careful not to over-heat)
Fill decorating bag fitted with #5 tip & fill with melted chocolate. Dot each marshmallow eye with chocolate and each pig or cow nose with 2 dots.

WILTON BUTTERCREAM ICING

INGREDIENTS

Makes approximately 3 cups of icing (medium consistency)

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

LET’S MAKE IT!

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. 

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use.

Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Re-whip before using.