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A set of happy birthday cupcakes with a combination of letters and floral design for mom birthday.
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5 from 2 votes

Happy Birthday Cupcakes

This gorgeous happy birthday cupcakes make the most perfect cupcakes for a woman. They are completely homemade, quick and easy.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Decorating time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 34 cupcakes
Calories: 183kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Equipment

  • Piping tips #224, #3, #2, #352
  • Disposable piping bags
  • Alphabet press set
  • Round scallop cutter
  • Food coloring in white, maroon and green.

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcakes

  • 120 g self-raising flour
  • 120 g granulated sugar
  • 120 g butter at room temperature
  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  • 30 ml milk
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • teaspoon salt
  • teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 120 g butter
  • 75 g granulated sugar
  • 25 g brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 100 g self-raising flour
  • 30 g cocoa powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 4 tablespoon milk
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 5 tablespoon chocolate sprinkles

Buttercream Frosting

  • 300 g powdered sugar sifted
  • 150 g butter salted
  • 1 tablespoon milk optional
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Bake the vanilla cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius. Prepare the cupcake casings.
  • Beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
  • Finally, add in vanilla extract and combine well. Pour batter into the prepared cup casings. Bake for 15 minutes until the top of the cupcakes spring back when pressed lightly. A toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes should come out without any wet batter sticking to it.
  • Remove the cupcakes from oven and let them cool completely before icing and decorating.

Bake the chocolate cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 170°Celsius. Prepare the cupcake casings.
  • Beat butter and both sugars till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
  • Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
  • Pour batter into the cupcake casings until they are about two thirds full. Sprinkle about ½ teaspoon for chocolate sprinkles on top of the cupcakes batter.
  • Bake the chocolate cupcakes for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of the casing you use) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out without any wet batter sticking to it.
  • Remove the cupcakes from oven and let them cool completely before decorating.

Make the buttercream

  • To make the buttercream frosting, place butter in a large bowl. Beat until creamy.
  • Add the sifted powdered sugar and continue to beat until the icing turns light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again until the vanilla is well incorporated. If the icing is too stiff, add some milk and beat again.

Frost the cupcakes and cover with fondant

  • Once the cupcakes are baked and have completely cooled down, cover them with a thin layer of buttercream. Set aside.
  • Roll and cut out white fondant circles with a round scalloped cutter.

Pipe the letters

  • For the first 18 fondant cut outs, emboss the letters H-A-P-P-Y-B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y-M-U-M-M-Y onto them. And then attach them to the vanilla cupcakes. Using some maroon buttercream, pipe the letters (with round tip #2) guided by the embossed letter marks.
  • Attach the remaining fondant cut outs (without any decoration or embossing) onto the chocolate cupcakes.

Attach the gum paste roses

  • Follow the link in the Equipment list above for the tutorial on how to make gum paste roses.
    You will need 5 full bloom roses in pink, 3 buds in pink and 6 buds in yellow. Attach all the 5 full bloom pink roses onto one cupcake each (5 cupcakes). For the buds, attach 3 buds to one cupcake (3 cupcakes).
  • Pipe some green leaves on the sides of the roses and buds.

Pipe the white buttercream flowers and green buttercream scrolls

  • Decorate 4 cupcakes with clusters of white buttercream flowers using tip #224. Pipe maroon dots for the flower centers and complete the design with green scrolls on the sides with tip#3.

Make the buttercream hearts design

  • With maroon buttercream and piping tip #3, pipe the buttercream hearts, free hand, on 4 cupcakes.

Assemble the cupcakes

  • Once all the decoration is complete, arrange the birthday cupcakes on a large board.

Notes

  1. Make the gum paste roses in advance to allow sufficient time to set and dry.
  2. Make sure your cake board is large enough and sturdy enough to hold all the cupcakes. You can make your own cake boards with this DIY cake boards tutorial. Alternatively, you can also arrange the cupcakes in a DIY cupcake holder or cupcake stand.

Nutrition

Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 22.1g | Protein: 1.8g | Fat: 10.2g | Saturated Fat: 6.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2.7g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 44.2mg | Sodium: 123.2mg | Potassium: 35.5mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 16.6g | Vitamin A: 319.7IU | Calcium: 15.5mg | Iron: 0.3mg