Gruffalo Cupcakes

Sharing books, & baking in the kitchen are two of Minnie's favourite activities! Inspired by our outdoor Gruffalo Trail the other day we decided to combine a little baking with one of our favourite books & came up with these 'Gruffalo Cupcakes!'


These are so simple to make & would be a great addition to any Gruffalo Party! 

To make the cupcakes we used
8oz of self raising flour
8oz soft butter
8oz of caster sugar
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder (optional)
50g (2oz) plain chocolate, melted
4 large eggs

Method
1. Put all the ingredients, apart from the melted chocolate, into a large bowl & beat until smooth (we used an electric hand whisk). Beat in the melted chocolate.
2. Add the mixture to paper cases (we filled ours three-quarters full) 
3. Bake in the oven at 180˚c for 15mins (until springy to touch)
4. Allow to cool on a wire rack

To make the cupcake topping we used:
2 oz cocoa powder
8oz icing sugar / confectioners sugar
8oz of unsalted butter (softened)
Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract 
1 tablespoon of Milk (if necessary)
Packet of Jelly Tots (any small round jelly sweet are ideal)
Packet of chocolate buttons
Packet of mini marshmallows
Dark chocolate coloured icing pens

For the chocolate Gruffalo frosting we beat the butter until soft, then added the icing sugar, cocoa powder & vanilla extract & beat until fluffy. If the mixture is too stiff, add a little of the milk. We spread the frosting onto the cupcakes, & used a fork to create a rough looking texture. 





 To make the Gruffalo's eyes we used a couple of orange coloured Jelly Tots & added a little chocolate icing to the centre using the icing pens. For the nose we cut a green Jelly Tot in half, & drew a smile on the cake using an icing pen. The Gruffalo's ears were made from a chocolate button cut in half.


To make the Gruffalo's horns we cut a mini marshmallow in half (diagonally) & added to the top of the cake. We cut more marshmallows in half to create small teeth, & cut another diagonally (as we did for the horns) to create the two larger teeth.


Oh Help! Oh No! It's a cupcake Gruffalo!!


Here's Minnie's Gruffalo cake! Think she was rather taken by the sweets!!


We made these for a play date last week & took along one of our favourite books to share too! Doesn't that Gruffalo look good enough to eat!!


The Gruffalo cupcakes were a big hit! After we'd enjoyed our Gruffalo treats we snuggled down on the sofa to read a copy of 'The Gruffalo' together... closely followed by a copy of 'The Gruffalo's Child.' Perfect!


Think we'll be making Gruffalo Cupcakes again to celebrate World Book Day