Chicky Cupcakes

By msippigrl

Vanilla cupcakes come alive when frosted and decorated with tinted coconut, orange and lemon gumdrops, and semi-sweet chocolate chips! Cutest chicks ever!

Ingredients

• Prepared yellow or vanilla cupcakes, baked in paper liners (cake mix or scratch)
• Vanilla frosting (store bought or homemade)
• Yellow tinted flaked coconut (I used a few drops of liquid)
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 for each cupcake)
• Sugar-coated orange gumdrops (for the beaks, 1 for each cupcake)
• Sugar-coated lemon gumdrops (for the wings, 2 for each cupcake)
• Toothpicks (for wing supports)

Preparation

Step 1

Bake cupcakes; remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tint coconut to desired shade of yellow. (I used 5 liquid drops in 1 cup of small cut coconut flakes.) Set aside.

Slit orange gumdrops in the center but not all the way through. Sprinkle a little sugar in the slit so the "beak" won't seal back up. Set aside.

Flatten and shape the yellow gumdrops into wing shapes. You will need a right and a left "wing" for each cupcake. (I paired them up as I went along.) Set aside.

ASSEMBLY:
Working on one cupcake at a time, generously frost a cupcake. Pile on a thick layer of the yellow coconut. Use 2 upside down chocolate chips for the eyes. (You may need to move a little of the coconut out of the way first with a toothpick then dab a bit of frosting on the chip.)

For the beak, center a split orange gumdrop just below the eyes. For the wings, I used a dab of frosting on the bottom side of the edge that joins onto the cupcake then inserted 2 toothpicks into the cupcake for support until set. Allow several hours to set.