RECIPE: Ladybug Cupcakes

Good luck comes in many forms, in this case two… ladybugs and cupcakes. Has there ever been a sweeter combo?

Serves 12

One of our favorite things to do is veganize non-vegan recipes.  And these cutie cuppies are not different.  It goes without saying that we use the most all-natural, clean, vegan versions of any items noted below.  We have made it easy for you by hyperlinking to clean (vegan) recipes needed for certain pieces of the cupcake and to online shops where you can buy the ingredients listed wherever you may dwell.

Ingredients:

• 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
• green food coloring
• 12 unfrosted cupcakes baked in green paper liners*
• ½ cup green decorating sugar (colored sugar can be pricey (and often not vegan) so to get around that, make your own using vegan sugar and all natural food colorings)
• 12 vegan green gumdrops (tradition gumdrops contain gelatin, so when I made these I left off the gumdrops and used mint leaves to create the leaves instead, but you can find great fruit-sweetened vegan gummy candies here)
• 3 Tbsp granulated white sugar
• Red food coloring
• ½ cup red decorating sugar (see above for info and links to vegan decorating sugar)
• 12 vegan Mallomars (sorry, you’ve got to make these yourself until someone starts selling them) OR buy the Sweet & Sara mini ‘smores (or full size depending on how large your cupcakes are) which will serve the same purpose.
• ½ can (1 cup) chocolate frosting
• 24 brown chocolate chips
• 1 Tbsp chocolate sprinkles

*Green paper liners can be purchased at Confectioneryhouse.com. Or use eco-friendly ones or skip the liners and just add food coloring to your cupcakes to turn them green.

What you’ll need:

• A rolling pin or a heavy bottle
• Kitchen shears or scissors
• 1 resealable sandwich-size plastic bag (Ziploc)

For the leaf cupcakes:

1. Tint 1 cup of the vanilla frosting green with the green food coloring.
2. Spread the green frosting evenly on top of the cupcakes.
3. Place the green decorating sugar into a small bowl. Roll the edge of each cupcake in the green sugar to coat.
4. Using a rolling pin or a clean, heavy bottle, roll out the green gumdrops in the granulated white sugar to flatten. Using kitchen shears or clean scissors, cut each flattened gumdrop into 2 leaves OR simply set aside washed mint leaves to dry. Arrange the leaves on one edge of a cupcake. Repeat with the remaining gumdrops and cupcakes.

For the ladybugs:

1. Tint 1 cup of the vanilla frosting with the red food coloring.
2. Spoon the red sugar into a small bowl.
3. Cover each Mallomar or ‘Smore with red frosting. Roll each frosted Mallomar or ‘Smore in red sugar to coat completely.
4. Place one sugar-coated Mallomar or ‘Smore on each leaf cupcake.

For the decoration:

1. Spoon the chocolate frosting into a resealable plastic bag and snip a small corner of the bag. Pipe a line of chocolate frosting down the center of the red cookie; pipe an oval onto the front of the red cookie for the ladybug’s head.
2. Place 2 brown chocolate chips on either side of the chocolate line; stick 2 chocolate sprinkles upright into the ladybug’s frosting head.
3. Continue with the remaining cupcakes.

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