Puppy Dog Cupcakes

For those of you who missed my facebook post a few months ago, I would like to share with you just one of the many poor decisions that my dog has made recently. 

That was a loaf of freshly baked chocolate chip banana bread that was cooling on the table that she helped herself to.  Just in case you were wondering - she spent the rest of the afternoon outside in the yard. 

Even though Mia drives me absolutely crazy some days, I cant help but love her.  She is FULL of personality so when I was asked to make some doggy cupcakes, I tried to give them just as much personality as she has. 

I made terriers, chocolate labs, chihuahuas, bulldogs, schnauzers and westies.  I am going to attempt to share my directions for each of these cupcakes through pictures on the blog today.  The inspiration for these cupcakes came from the Hello Cupcake cookbook but I did change a few things in my versions.

 Start with a batch of unfrosted cupcakes.  (any flavor)

If you are going to make the white Westies, you will need 1 mini cupcake and 1 big cupcake for each doggie.

 Schnauzer

Frost a cupcake with gray tinted buttercream.











Cut a marshmallow in half with scissors and shape each half into a semicircle for a muzzle.












Press marshmallow onto the bottom half of the cupcake and add mini m&m eyes with a drop of white buttercream.

Pipe some short hairs along the bottom of the marshmallow.  (My daughter thought this looked like walrus.)

Melt a pink starburst candy in the microwave for 3 seconds.  Cut off 2 small pieces and shape into ears for the dog.  Use another small piece for the tongue.  Add the ears and tongue to the cupcake and then pipe more fur onto the marshmallow.





Pipe gray fur on the outside of the marshmallow and on top of the head.  Pipe a small line of gray buttercream around each ear.  Add eyes and nose to the cupcake.

 










Terriers

Purchase some thin chocolate cookies and cut them into a triangle shape and 2 smaller ear shapes using a serrated knife.  (1 big triangle and 2 small ears for each cupcake.)

As an added bonus, there will be lots of leftover cookies and scraps too.

Melt a pink and a red starburst in the microwave for 3 seconds.  Shape a piece of the pink starburst into a tongue and a piece of the red candy into a bow.  Choose a jelly bean for the nose and black candies for the eyes.  (I used sixlets.)















Spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting on top of a cupcake.  (any flavor)  Position the cookies on the frosting as shown in the picture.  Add a mini marshmallow for the muzzle.








Color some buttercream frosting a golden yellow and add to one side of a pastry bag or Ziploc bag.  Add chocolate frosting the other side of the bag.   Pipe frosting in short strips for resemble fur.  Add the candy bow, tongue, eyes and nose to the finished pup.

Chocolate Lab

Spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting on top of each cupcake.




Gather up the rest of the supplies for your chocolate lab cupcakes.  1 circus peanut (for the tongue), 2 tootsie rolls (for ears), 3 mini marshmallows (for them muzzle), a jelly bean (for the nose) and a couple of black candies for eyes.

 

Position the mini marshmallows towards the bottom of the cupcake.

Slice a small section of the circus peanut into a semicircle for the dog's tongue.  Spread chocolate frosting over the mini marshmallows and position the tongue at the bottom of the muzzle.  Pipe a small line of frosting on the edge of the circus peanut.

Use black icing to pipe the outline of a nose on each muzzle.  Add candy eyes and nose to each cupcake.

Melt 2 tootsie rolls in the microwave for 5 seconds.  Roll out into long ovals to make the dog's ears.  Add to cupcake.

 Chihuahua

Frost cupcakes with a layer of light brown buttercream.













Cut a marshmallow in half and then into a circle with scissors.

Spread frosting over the marshmallow to create the muzzle.













Press a black jelly bean into the muzzle for a nose and 2 brown m&m's into the cupcake for eyes.  Use black icing to pipe definition on the nose. 

Use a serrated knife to cut ears out of thin chocolate cookies.

Add chocolate cookies for ears and cover with chocolate frosting.  Pipe a line of brown buttercream around ears.

Bulldog

 

Melt 3 vanilla tootsie rolls and 3 caramels in the microwave for 5 seconds.  Marble together with hands by kneading gently. 

Roll into a flat sheet onto a piece of waxed paper.











Cut muzzles, and tongues and ears out of marbled caramel with a sharp knife.













Frost your cupcake with light brown buttercream.















Cut a marshmallow in half and then shape into a semicircle with scissors.  Position on the lower half of the cupcake.













Press the ears into pink sugar on one side.  Position the tongue and the muzzle over the marshmallow and the ears on top of the cupcake.










Add the finishing touches to the bulldog cupcake.  Add a jelly bean nose, black candy eyes, buttercream teeth and some chocolate frosting wrinkles on his head. 

 

Westies

Cut 1 mini marshmallow in half, diagonally and press the cut side in pink sugar for ears.  Cut 1/3 off the diagonal of another mini marshmallow for the dog's muzzle. 









Attach the marshmallow muzzle onto the mini cupcake with a drop of buttercream.







Using a leaf tip and a pastry bag, pipe a ring of fur around the outside of the larger cupcake.






Position the smaller cupcake on top of the larger cupcake towards one side.  Pipe buttercream around smaller cupcake.

Continue to pipe buttercream fur all over dog.  Add ears.







Add brown m&m's for eyes and a half of a black jelly bean for a nose.

Not much cuter than a puppy dog cupcake.

Ciao!