- Today we're making these cute sheep cupcake.
Sheepsa (chuckles)
They are so easy, there's no piping tips required.
And look how cute this is, do you see this face?
How could you say no to this face?
I can't say no to you.
Let's get started.
Before we even make the cupcakes
let's deal with those sheep heads.
They're fondants, we have to dry out of it first.
We're gonna roll out a thin layer
of black fondant and you can either use
a teardrop shape or this weird
little flower cutter I'm using to cut the sheep heads out.
If you don't have any cutters of the right size
just cut them out with a little knife.
It'll be totally fine.
You just wanna end up with a little oval shape,
which is why I'm trimming away the excess
because I have a weird shaped cutter too.
After little heads are all cut out,
go ahead and set them aside.
And now let's cut out some
tiny teardrop shapes for the ears.
They can be little oval,
even little circles if you want.
You could even cut them by hand once again.
Set those aside and now let's assemble those faces.
Make two little indents for the nose.
I'm just using a pointy tool
that I happen to have, but you can use a knife
or whatever you'd like, even a toothpick.
Dab a little bit of water to attach the ears.
And just press gently, and then to have a little bit
more water and place those candy eyes.
You can get candy eyes online or the supermarket.
They're a little bit expensive,
so if you don't have them,
maybe some white chocolate chips
upside down would work too.
And by the way, if you hate fondant
you could totally use modeling chocolate for this.
This is one of the few projects
I use fondant for, I swear.
Repeat that process over and over and over again
until you have all the little sheep faces you need
and you can set them aside.
You can do this a day or two in advance
because the drier they are,
the better they are for assembling.
You don't want a droopy face that's falling apart.
This batter is super quick.
We're starting off by mixing all
of the wet ingredients, except the sugar.
So that's 1/2 of a cup of buttermilk
into a large bowl, get it all out.
If you don't have buttermilk,
you can use regular milk and just add in a tablespoon
or two of vinegar or lemon juice.
It'll curdle the buttermilk and add that acid
that is what you're looking for.
1/4 cup of sour cream.
1/3 of a cup of vegetable oil.
Two large eggs, one, two.
We're gonna give this a quick whisk.
Two teaspoons of vanilla-ish
and 1/4 of a cup of hot coffee,
maybe a little bit extra.
The rest is for me.
Okay, mix that up, set it aside,
and now onto our dry ingredients.
For the dry ingredients I'm adding in
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
that is 180 grams.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Where's my scale?
How can I measure 180 grams without a scale?
180 grams of flour, there we go.
Wasn't that easy?
1/4 cup of cocoa powder, 1 1/3 cups of granulated sugar.
1/2 a teaspoon of salt, and one teaspoon
of baking soda for leavening.
There you go.
Sift it out, no lumps for me.
And now let's whisk all those ingredients together.
This can go right onto the stand mixer
with a paddle attachment and we're almost done.
This smells really good.
All we're gonna do now is pour it in
while this is mixing on low.
(upbeat music)
Don't splatter on me.
My batter is all done.
As you can see, it's very liquidy,
but that's fine, it's a super, super
moist chocolate cake that's gonna happen here.
And pop some cupcake papers in of your choice.
That's kind of a tongue twister.
I had just enough, I'm very excited about that.
Look at that, 12.
I'm using an ice cream scooper
to get an equal amount of batter in,
but you can use whatever method you'd like.
I'm super messy, I'm just gonna be upfront
about that, so this is my lifesaver.
Otherwise, I'd have batter all over the place,
which you've seen if you watch my videos.
Don't forget to subscribe, so look at that.
This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes
and my first batch is ready to go into the oven
at 350 for about 20 minutes
or until the centers are set.
While those are baking up,
I'm gonna be making my buttercream super fast, really easy.
One pound of butter into a standing mixer.
This is a really easy breezy American buttercream,
but if you want a slightly less sweet,
actually very less sweet,
but much creamier buttercream,
you could make an Italian buttercream.
Click up here for that or a Swiss buttercream.
Click up here for that. There are a couple more steps,
but they're actually really easy.
You can do them with your eyes blindfolded
once you get the hang of it. And you will get the hang of it
the first time if you watch those videos.
Okay, let's cream this up.
(mixer whirring)
Now, I will be adding in about a pound and a half
of confectioner sugar, so just add a little bit in first.
And by a little, I mean several cups.
Okay, and now we're gonna mix it on low.
Let's see if it clouds up.
(mixer whirring)
Nice, add some more sugar in
and repeat until you have a consistency
and flavor you're happy with.
I'll also be adding in half a teaspoon of salt
really gives that sweetness, a nice little contrast.
Add in a splash of vanilla.
I ended up with a pound and a third of sugar in there
and I'm just gonna transfer this
to a piping bag and snip the tip off of it.
The piping is really like a behind-the-scenes situation.
You don't even need a piping bag.
You could just smear some of the buttercream on
and stick those marshmallows right on top.
Close it up and we'll set this aside for later.
Get a bag of mini marshmallows
and cut the tips off of the marshmallows.
You're only doing this so they'll be sticky
because we want them to adhere to the cupcake
and not fall off after you spent all this time
assembling these cute little sheep.
After all of your marshmallows are cut up
and this is a great project for kids
to help with, by the way.
Pipe on a big swirl of that vanilla buttercream.
It doesn't have to look pretty.
It's gonna be completely covered.
Now we add our little mini marshmallows
one by one over and over again
until the surface is completely marshmallowy.
You can press them in, they move around a bit.
You want them to be nice and stable.
Place a little dollop of butter cream
onto the back of your sheep face
and then stick it onto the body.
And then repeat this process over and over again.
(upbeat music)
This sheep didn't make the cut.
I'm sorry, sheepsy, I'm sorry.
Let's put that face aside 'cause I don't eat faces.
But I will eat the cupcake.
Hmm, who knew that marshmallows and buttercream
and chocolate cupcakes would work well together.
I don't know, no idea.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
If you have any questions or comments
I love hearing from you, leave 'em below.
You can follow me on @preppykitchen on Instagram
and don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe.