Ant Hill Cup Cakes
Ingredients List
Equipment and Decorating Supplies:
- 4 dozen standard 2 ½-inch muffin liners (we used gold)
- toothpicks
- Miniature marshmallows
- 1 package (14 oz) Dark Chocolate Candies for Melting, available where cake decorating supplies are sold
- Styrofoam or empty Styrofoam egg carton, for drying Chocolate Ants
- Silver Decorating Candies, for Ant’s eyes
- 2 Pastry Tubes or Zipper-Style Freezer Bags
- Large Star Tip # 4B
- Grass Tip # 233
- Green Food Coloring
For the Cake:
- 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp. - all-purpose flour
- 3 cups - Domino® Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. - dry unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp. - baking powder
- 2 tsp. - baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp. - salt
- 3 - large eggs
- 1 ½ cups - sour cream
- ¾ cup - vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp. - vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups - water
For the Chocolate Icing:
- 12 oz - cream cheese (1 ½ - 8 oz packages), softened
- ¾ cup - butter, softened
- 6 tbsp. - dry unsweetened cocoa
- 1 ½ lbs. - Domino® Confectioners Sugar (6 cups)
- 1 ½ tsp. - vanilla extract
For the Green Icing:
- 1/2 cup - butter, softened
- 1/2 cup - vegetable shortening
- 1 lb. - Domino® Confectioners Sugar (4 cups)
- 2 tbsp. - cake flour
- 1 tsp. - vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. - milk
- Green Food Coloring
Instructions
For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350° F and arrange racks near the oven’s center. Line muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.
Place flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to evenly blend. Add eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil and vanilla extract directly on top of the dry mixture.
Place water in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high in your microwave for 2 minutes, or until boiling. While the water is heating, beat cake mixture with an electric mixture on a medium speed setting for 2 minutes, until thoroughly mixed. The microwave can time your beating for you!
Gradually beat the hot water into batter. Batter will be thin. Fill muffin cups (no more than 2/3’s full) with batter, then bake 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cup cake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes over a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pans. Cool thoroughly before icing.
For the Chocolate Icing:
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Stir in cocoa and blend well. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth and creamy with each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
For the Green Icing:
Beat butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Whisk confectioners' sugar with flour until evenly blended, then gradually beat into butter mixture. Add vanilla extract and milk, beating to a good piping consistency. Tint with green food coloring.
To Make Chocolate Ants:
Skewer three miniature marshmallows onto each toothpick, covering the tip of the toothpick and leaving some handling room at the base of the toothpick (you will need 48 ants in all). Melt dark chocolate candy coating according to package directions. Dip skewered marshmallows into the melted chocolate and swirl to coat well. Tap toothpick gently on side of bowl to remove excess chocolate. Stand toothpicks at a slight angle into Styrofoam (we used an inverted egg carton) to dry. Standing the picks at an angle will allow some of the chocolate to drip slightly, forming little ant legs. Place Silver Decorating Candies onto wet chocolate to form eyes. Then allow chocolate to dry until set, about 15-20 minutes. Ants can be made several days in advance, if desired. Store loosely covered at room temperature.
To Create Ant Hill Cup Cakes:
Spoon Chocolate Icing into a large pastry tube fitted with a large star tip (we used # 4B) or into a large zipper-style freezer bag fitted with the large star tip through a snipped corner. Reinforce the edge of your snip by securing the tip to the bag with a piece of tape! Begin at the center of each cup cake and pipe a high-standing, spiraled swirl of chocolate to form a “Hill” .
Fit a large pastry bag or large zipper-style freezer bag with a snipped corner with grass tip # 233 and fill with green icing. Pipe grass generously around each Hill, changing directions of “blades” to give a realistic look. Insert Ants into cup cakes, pressing against sides of Hills to make them look as though they are climbing the Hill!