Tornado Cupcakes

What is better for a 9 year old obsessed with Tornadoes birthday than a Tornado made of cupcakes?!

This is what inspired my latest creation!

 

Cupcake Ingredients:

Betty Crocker Party Rainbow Chip (Or any flavor cupcake of your choice!)

1 cup Water

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

3 eggs

Vanilla Frosting Ingredients: 

8 cups confectioners sugar 

1 stick butter, softened 

8 tbsps milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Materials:

Poster board

Toothpicks

Wilton Color Mist Black (I found mine at a craft store, or you can buy it online)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.   Mix all cake ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix with a hand mixer on low speed for ~30s to combine.  Then beat at medium speed for ~2min, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.  Fill cupcake liners with 1/4cup batter (This makes 21 cupcakes, which turned out to be the perfect amount for the Tornado!).  Bake for 20 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Line cupcakes up on the poster board:

 

Once the cupcakes are where you want them, secure them with a toothpick inserted into the posterboard and the bottom of each cupcake.  I cut the toothpicks in half and it worked great.

Next combine all frosting ingredients in a bowl, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  I used a stand mixer to make the frosting.  I piped the frosting on using my Wilton 1 M Star tip.  I started at the top left and went row by row until I got to the bottom.  Of course you could use a frosting knife, but that would take longer, and I liked the texture created by the tip.

Next use the Wilton Color Mist Black to color the tornado.  (Make sure to place paper around the cupcakes to protect your work surface!)

I have seen some mixed reviews of the color mist spray online, but I had no issues.   It worked perfectly! 


Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more!