Octopus Cupcakes

Octopus Cupcakes – These super cute googly eyed cupcakes are perfect for an under the sea party! Everyone is bound to love them!

Follow me on Pinterest

I am a sucker for theme parties. I love browsing through pictures of parties on Hostess with the Mostess, I find inspiration in all of their cute ideas. But looking at the themed parties they share on their blog also make me think.. “That kid had a nicer 4th birthday party than my wedding!” It’s a little ridiculous.

Everyone seems to throw themed parties now. And when Ryan and I have kids, I’m sure I’ll fall into the trap of wanting to put on these nice, pinterest-y styled parties. Except our kids will have to pick – do you want a ridiculously cute themed birthday party or do you want presents? And no kid I’ve ever met has declined presents.

Crafting Octopus Cupcakes

It certainly helps cut down on some of the cost of creating a themed birthday party if your a little crafty. And that is 100% my sister Katie. My creativity begins and ends with food, which is still a talent I suppose, but Katie is a craft genius.

I’m sure you know a craft genius. It’s like they have this magic ability to take paper and some paint, and turn it into something you think you’d only see in a movie set.

Octopus Cupcakes

Katie and I would make a good team. While I’m getting the octopus cupcakes ready, she’d already have gigantic octopi hanging from the ceiling and an under the sea mural painted on the wall. I foresee a new family business in our future :) These octopus cupcakes were actually so fun to make!

If you’re planning an under the sea or ocean party, you’re in luck! This week we’ll be sharing three cute under the sea themed party recipes! All of our recipes are things you can recreate at home. No need to pay big bucks for cute themed treats when you can learn how to make them yourself!

5 from 2 ratings

Tap stars to rate!

Octopus Cupcakes

By: Beth

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 cupcakes

SaveSaved Pin Rate Print

These super cute googly eyed cupcakes are perfect for an under the sea party! Everyone is bound to love them!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• ▢ 1 ½ cups flour
• ▢ 1 tsp baking powder
• ▢ ½ tsp baking soda
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ ¾ cup sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 stick butter, melted (1/2 cup)
• ▢ 1 ½ tsp vanilla
• ▢ ½ cup sour cream

Buttercream

• ▢ 1 ½ sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 cup)
• ▢ ½ cup vegetable shortening
• ▢ 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ ½ tsp vanilla
• ▢ dash of milk, if frosting becomes too thick

Octopus

• ▢ Blue/Teal food coloring
• ▢ Orange food coloring
• ▢ Large marshmallows
• ▢ Orange candy melts, plus small amount of vegetable shortening
• ▢ Candy eyes

Instructions 

Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl combine the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and sour cream until combined.
• Slowly add half of the flour mixture to the liquid, stirring to combine. Repeat with the rest of the flour mixture.
• Divide the batter among a muffin pan lined with muffin liners, fill the muffin cups to be about a little more than 1/2 full.
• Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Buttercream

• In a mixing bowl, combine the room temperature butter and shortening, beat using an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Begin to add in the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time. Slowly beat the mixture until the powered sugar is incorporated. Continue this process, adding enough powdered sugar to make sure the frosting isn't too wet.
• Add in the vanilla and beat until just combined.
• Divide the frosting into 2 bowls - about 2/3 of the frosting in one bowl to make the blue frosting and 1/3 in another bowl to make the orange frosting for the legs of the octopus.
• Dye each bowl the appropriate color using food coloring and mix both bowls combine they are well combined.
• Transfer a portion of the blue frosting to a large piping bag with a large piping tip (I used wilton 2D tip). Push or squeeze the frosting down, getting rid of any air pockets.
• Begin to pipe the frosting onto a cupcake, starting with the outside edge and working your way into the center of the cupcake, progressively stacking the frosting as you go around in circles. Refill the piping bag as needed.
• Transfer a portion of the orange frosting to a large piping with a small round piping tip. Push or squeeze the frosting down, getting rid of any air pockets. Begin to add octopus legs, 4 on each side. Once you have the legs drawn, add the octopus body on top.

To make the octopus bodies

• Melt half of the orange candy melts with about 1/2 tbsp of vegetable shortening in a small pot over the stove on low heat, stir occasionally. It make take the candy melts up to 10 minutes to melt completely, but keep the heat on low. Once the chocolate is melted, place one marshmallow in the pot at a time. Spoon chocolate over the marshmallow, making sure it gets completely covered. Remove the marshmallow with a fork, gently tap off any excess chocolate and place the dipped marshmallows on a silicone baking mat or wax paper to set. Once the chocolate is set, add two candy eyes to each octopus. Use the leftover orange candy melts as “glue” to attach the eyes to the marshmallows. To do this I simply used a toothpick to dab a small amount of chocolate onto the marshmallow, held the eye for a few seconds and then repeated with the other eye.

Notes

Equipment used: piping bags, piping tips, candy eye balls, orange candy melts.

Nutrition

Calories: 499kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 318mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 693IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition Disclosure

All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.

Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!