Beach Cupcakes

These beautiful cupcakes are refreshing and perfect for any celebration.

Just add cute beach themed decorations for a child's birthday party.

Or beautiful detailed shells for an adults party.

Or delicate homemade shells for a wedding celebration.

Makes About: 12 - 14 cupcakes

Takes About: 1 hours - not including decorations

Difficulty: 1 out of 5 - not including decorations

Prep:

Place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

- Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter - melted

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup Greek yogurt - plain

3/4 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup blue sprinkles

- Frosting

3/4 cup unsalted butter - softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

a dash of salt - to taste

few drops of food coloring (optional)

Ingredients:

- Step 1 - Melt the Butter

Place 1/2 cup of butter into a pan and melt completely on low heat and set aside.

- Step 2 - Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a medium bowl, mix together the 1 2/3 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and set aside.

- Step 3 - Mix Butter and Sugar

In a small bowl, mix the 1/2 cup of melted butter and 3/4 cup of sugar until it is mixed well - it will be grainy.

Once mixed, place the mixture into the fridge, for about a minute, or until the mixture no longer has liquid butter on top.

Don't let the butter harden.

- Step 4 - Mix the Liquids

In a large bowl, mix together 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, 3/4 cup of milk, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and the sugar and butter mixture.

- Step 5 - Add the Egg

Add the 1 egg to to the wet ingredients.

- Step 6 - Mix the Dry Ingredients to the Wet Ingredients

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the large bowl of wet ingredients - about 1/3 at a time.

Once blended, mix well for about 3 minutes.

- Step 7 - Fold in Sprinkles

Add the 1/2 cup of blue sprinkles into the batter.

Mix about 3 times.

Don't over mix, because the color will bleed into the batter.

- Step 8 - Fill the Liners

Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, fill the cupcakes liners 2/3 of the way.

- Step 9 - Bake

Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely.

- Step 10 - Make Decorations (optional)

There are three different variations of decorations that I did.

Two of them are made with fondant and one of them is made out of chocolate.

- Step 10 a. - Little Kid Decorations

Fondant is a lot like play-dough.

If you want to add a color, use food coloring and fold it in until completely mixed.

By taking small pieces of fondant, form them into small buckets, flip flops, towels, beach balls, and life preservers.

After they are done, let them dry for an hour.

They don't have to be perfect, just cute and colorful.

Cons: Fondant does not taste terrible, but it also does not taste great. In addition, they do take some time to make.

Pros: After the forms are made they keep their shape and they are really easy to make colorful.

- Step 10 b. - Chocolate Decorations

I bought a form to be able to make extremely detailed decorations.

Melt white chocolate and a small amount of milk or dark chocolate in a double boiler.

The trick in melting chocolate is having the burner on low or 1 and having a ton of patience.

Once the chocolate has melted, spoon a small amount of

the brown chocolate into the white chocolate and mix slightly - not a lot because you just want the brown to be streaked through the white chocolate.

Spoon the chocolate into the mold and then smooth it out until it is flat.

Place the mold into the refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until it has set.

Pop the chocolates out of the mold carefully and place them onto a piece of parchment paper and back into the refrigerator until needed.

Cons: These chocolate melt easily because they are thin and chocolate. You also need to buy a mold.

Pros: These taste great because they are chocolate.

- Step 10 c. - Beautiful Celebration Shells

Mix a small amount of brown into a medium piece of fondant and roll it out into a log. Take a piece of fondant twice this size and roll it out into a log the same length.

Place the brown log on top of the white log and twist together until together until it starts to look like marble.

Cut a small piece of fondant off the large piece and roll it into a carrot shape until it comes to a fine point.

Roll the piece of fondant into a spiral to create a snail shell.

A great video to watch is "Wicked Goodies" video on YouTube here. Shows you how to make some really amazing shells.

Let sit for an hour to harden.

Con: These are kind of a pain in the ass to make. It took me some time to actually get a shape that looked a little like a shell, but after getting it, it was kind of cool. In addition, they are fondant, so they don't taste great, but they taste like sugar.

Pros: These look pretty cool if made correctly.

- Step 11 - Start Frosting

In a large bowl, cream the 1/2 cup of butter for 3 minutes until fluffy.

- Step 12 - Add Remaining Frosting Ingredients

Add the 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, a dash of salt, and a few drops of food coloring.

Don't add too much food coloring - it should be a pail blue.

Mix the frosting on low speed for a minute and then increase the speed to medium for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy.

Once the frosting has been mixed well, spoon a little bit into a separate bowl and add more food coloring and mix.

- Step 13 - Prep the Piping Bag

Place a stared piping tip into the bottom of a pipping bag and cut a small hole in the bottom to let the tip poke out.

Press the piping bag into a large cup so that the frosting can be spooned into the middle.

- Step 14 - Spoon in Frosting

Spoon a stripe of the darker blue frosting up two sides of the piping back.

Spoon the light blue batter into the middle of the piping bag.

- Step 15 - Pipe the Frosting

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes starting from either the outside working your way into the middle to create a little nipple or start from the inside and work your way out to creating a flatter surface.

- Step 16 - Decorate (optional)

Either keep the cupcakes this way or add the decorations.

If you want to add "sand," place a few graham crackers into the food processor and blend. Don't press the crumbs into the frosting, just sprinkle on top.

This recipe was adapted from Sally;s Baking Adiction's Easy Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes.