Beaver Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a friend’s homecoming party, to celebrate our mutual love of beavers! They are super-easy to make with a really adorable end result!! I made an army of double-chocolate beavers using 15 devil’s food cupcakes frosted with chocolate icing…

First, assemble your ingredients.

You are going to need:

• Your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe (Mine makes 15 cupcakes, so adjust your quantities appropriately.)
• Your favorite chocolate icing recipe (If using pre-made frosting, 1 tub is enough for 12 cupcakes.)
• 1 large icing bag (I use a 16-inch decorating bag because the 12-inch bags are a little too small for a tub of frosting.)
• A large star tip (I use Wilton’s 1M tip because it creates the big, pretty, swirly cupcake top.)
• 15 Nutter-Butter cookies
• 30 brown M&M’s
• 15 red M&Ms
• 30 candy eyeballs (I use these because they are pretty cheap and much easier than piping eyes on with icing!)
• 15 pieces of white gum (I used eclipse gum because they are nice and long.)
• Black food coloring marker (I use one from this set.)

Begin by frosting your cupcakes. Place the icing tip in the bag, narrow end first. Using a pen, mark the bag about half-way along the metal tip. Remove the icing tip and cut the end of the bag off.

Place the icing tip back in to the bag, narrow end first. Fold over the top of the bag to form a cuff. Place the bag in a tall glass and fill with icing.

Unfold the top of the bag, and lift it out of the glass. Holding the tip approximately 1/4″ above cupcake top, pipe a spiral of icing, beginning at the outer edge and working inward. Continue spiral in to the center of the cupcake. Stop pressure on the bag and pull the tip straight up and away. Continue with remaining cupcakes.

To assemble the beavers, begin by cutting the ends of the Nutter Butters using a sharp knife. Insert the cut end of the Nutter Butter in to the back of the cupcake.

For the teeth, take the black food coloring marker and draw a line down the center of a piece of gum.

Now, for his cute little face… 🙂

For the ears, insert 2 brown M&M’s near the top of the icing tip.

Insert the gum at a 45 degree angle (approximately) into the frosting, about half-way in. Make sure there is some frosting above the teeth. Place a red M&M on top of the teeth for his nose.

Last step is to add the candy eyes. And… Tah-dah! It’s a beaver!! 😀

Finish up the rest of the cupcakes, and you’ll have your very own beaver army!!

Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below! 🙂