Giraffe Cupcakes

I'm not sure where my sister's love for giraffes came from, but she has loved them for as long as I can remember. She has a giraffe print room, giraffe clothes, giraffe shoes, giraffe posters...you get it. It truly is an obsession. So it was an obvious choice to make giraffe cupcakes for her graduation party.

These cupcakes not only have an adorable fondant giraffe on top, but are giraffe print on the inside as well!

And I also found these adorable giraffe print liners!

As a short cut, you could use boxed brownie mix for the spots, but I made my brownies from scratch. Either way, the brownies are the first thing you make. Then you make the yellow cupcake batter.  I added a little bit of yellow food coloring to the batter to really bring out the yellow color. Once the yellow cake batter is mixed you can break apart the brownie and add a few pieces of it to the bottom of the liners.

Then top it with  1 1/2 tablespoons of batter. Then add a few more pieces of brownie.

Finish it off with another 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter. Now it's ready to bake!

For the frosting I made a vanilla buttercream. I think next time I might do chocolate at least on some to go with the giraffe spots.

Overall I was ecstatic about how these cupcakes came out! Cute and delicious!

*If you are interested in the fondant recipe I used, look here

Giraffe Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

For the brownies

{recipe from allrecipes.com}

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan
2. In a large saucepan or microwave, melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat in cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder until smooth. Spread into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool completely.

For yellow cupcakes and creation of giraffe print
{yellow cupcake recipe slightly adapted from Taste of Home}

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon gel food coloring (or as much as needed to make batter more yellow)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with liners.
2.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Add yellow food coloring until a vibrant yellow color is apparent.
3. Cut cooled brownie into small chunks and add a few pieces to the bottom of each cupcake liner. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons of yellow cupcake batter on top, trying to cover the brownie pieces the best you can. Add another few pieces of brownie and then cover with another 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter.
4. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan before moving to wire rac
   
   
   
   
   k to cool completely.

For the vanilla buttercream
{recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction}
*You may need to make more frosting depending on how much you frost the cupcakes*

Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter, softened
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Beat butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, cream and vanilla with mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more powdered sugar if too thin or more cream if too thick. Use to frost cooled cupcakes and decorate as desired.