Peacock Cupcakes – delicious chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and shiny fondant peacock feathers!
Course:
Dessert
Cuisine:
International
Prep Time:45minutes
Cook Time:25minutes
Total Time:1hour10minutes
Servings:15
Author:Manuela Zangara
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
190gms– 1 ½ cups flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
¼teaspoonsea salt
115gms– 4 oz. unsalted butter at room temperature
125gms– 1 cup + 2 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2eggs at room temperature
1teaspoonvanilla
½cupbuttermilk or yogurt
2tablespoonmilk
3 to 4tablespooncocoa powder
Vanilla Buttercream
125gms– 4.4 oz. butter softened
225gms– 8 oz. icing sugar
1 ½teaspoonvanilla extract or to taste
Green and Blue colouring
Decorations
Coloured Fondantgreen, blue and orange
Golden cachous/pearls
Edible glitter
Edible glue
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 165°C – 330°F and line muffin trays with papers.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
Then cream the butter, vanilla and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the flour and cocoa powder mixture in three batches, alternating it with two additions of buttermilk (or yogurt) and milk. Beat until well combined.
Put the batter into the lined muffin tray cups, filling each to about half.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until cooked through.
When cooked, let them cool down in the tray for 10 minutes, then put them on a wire rack to cool down completely.
Vanilla Buttercream
Beat the softened butter with an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for a few minutes and then slowly incorporate the icing sugar, vanilla extract, and green and blue colours. Mix well. I made 2 different shades of buttercream: one greener and one bluer.
Decorations
Cut out fondant “feathers” using cookie cutters. I used a leaf shaped cutter for the bigger part of the feather, then used 2 different sized teardrop cutters for the smaller parts.
Top with a golden pearl and some edible glitter. Use edible glue to stick all the elements together. Keep aside to dry.
To Assemble the cupcakes
Put the vanilla buttercream in a piping bag fitted with an open star tip (I used 1M Wilton) and decorate the chocolate cupcakes with it.