Father’s Day is right around the corner, June 19th to be exact, & this year make Dad something he’ll love! Homemade gifts are always extremely thoughtful as you have to put more time & effort into them. Of course, store bought ones are great & sometimes necessary depending on the occasion but in our experience we’ve noticed there’s nothing a parent loves more than a gift from the heart.
These adorable cupcakes are the perfect gift for Dad: they taste incredible, are super fun to make (maybe even give Dad the gift of baking with you & dedicate a day for you two to create these together!), & mimic one of our favorite summer activities to do with Dad: grill! The full recipe for the chocolate cupcakes as well as step by step tips for decorating them can be found below.
For the cupcake toppers you’ll need: Hot Tamales (to resemble hot dogs), Milk Duds (to resemble steak), & Gummy Bears (to resemble skewers). Additionally, you’ll need toothpicks for the skewers & an edible black market to draw “grill” lines on the hot dogs & steak. For the grills themselves we topped our cupcakes with crushed red sprinkles (simple pour some out onto a cutting board & with the back of a spoon press down onto them until they are crushed) to resemble the fire under the grill. Next, we melted chocolate chips (roughly 1/2 cup) & stirred until smooth. Once smooth, we put them in a Ziploc bag & cut a very tiny hole in one bottom corner of the bag (a piping bag will work too!). From there we used the bag of chocolate as a frosting bag & drew out a circle with lines across it to resemble the grill. Make sure the lines across are connected to the ends of the circle. We placed the parchment paper with chocolate on it in the fridge for 1 hour & then carefully popped them off the paper & topped them on the sprinkled cupcakes. The final step is the draw lines on the steak & hot dogs & cut the gummy bears in half & place them on skewers. Top all of those on your grills & you’re all set!
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup melted milk chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line muffin/cupcake tray with liners.
- Melt chocolate chips.
- In mixing bowl, mix together all ingredients until smooth consistency. Do not over mix.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners & bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
whisk
measuring cup
muffin/cupcake tray
cupcake liners
Leah says
Those are the cutest thing ever! Thanks for sharing!!
xx Leah / http://www.eatpraywearlove.com
Caitlin says
Yay so glad you love them, Leah!! Enjoy! xo
Amy Arnold says
These are too fun! And totally perfect for Father’s Day. Again, your creativity inspires me.
Amy Ann
Straight A Style
Caitlin says
Your kindness inspires us, Amy Ann!! Thanks for reading along! xo
MC says
Love this – cutest idea ever! SO perfect for Father’s Day! Thanks so much for sharing!
xMC
http://mc2squared.blogspot.com
Caitlin says
Yay, so glad you love them, MC!! Enjoy! xo
Mademoiselle Coconath says
This looks delicious!
xx
Mademoiselle Coconath
http://mllecoconath.com
Caitlin says
They’re awesome, Mademoiselle Coconath!! Enjoy! xo
Heidi says
OMG these are the cutest things ever! Totally make these for our 4th of July party!
Heidi || Wishes & Reality
Caitlin says
Thanks so much, Heidi!! So glad to hear you’re recreating them!! Enjoy! xo
Sophie says
Wow really well done Caitlin. The spatula next to it made me think you literally made it on the BBQ. You are so creative I will be back for more.
Caitlin says
Thanks so much for stopping by, Sophie!! Glad you enjoyed! xo