Every year, I try to think up something special for my hunny’s birthday. This is really not all that easy and before I know it, I have got my knickers in a knot, stressing out about what to do. There have been coconut macaroon strawberry shortcakes, chocolate pavlovas, vanilla sponge cakes, pavlovas sandwiched between sponge cakes. In case you are interested, the how-to is here. While that last one was a show-stopper both in looks and taste, it was high-time for something completely different. Because every day is National Pick-on-Coco Day, Shawn often runs out of ideas for teasing me. Turning into a redneck, though, never gets old. In fact, he got digital camo seat covers for his truck just to mess with me. That is two counts of redneck right there – camo + truck. While many would imagine this would terrify me, I actually find it amusing, because I secretly admire rednecks. Maybe I am more redneck than he is – Shawn refuses to grow a Duck-Dynasty beard. I checked. While neither military nor hunter, I LOVE army-green camouflage as a fashion statement, as home décor, even dessert, specifically Camouflage Cupcakes with Camouflage Swirl Frosting. Martha Stewart would not approve, but I gave up impressing her long ago. The only person I needed to impress was Shawn and these little cuties were a sure-fire guarantee to win me a smile, maybe even a kiss, on his birthday.
I did two test runs before making the final batch for Shawn’s birthday. The cupcakes came out cute and
delicious every time. For the green batter, food colouring is easy to find, but I used pandan extract. Pandan is a green leafy plant native to tropical Asian countries. It has a beautifully sweet, nutty taste close to pistachio and a vibrant green colour. The frosting was another story. First, buttercream turned out to be too heavy and rich for the light, spongy cupcakes. Next, whipped cream was light and airy, but melted away. Cream cheese frosting won the contest both in form and flavour. The frosting does get pretty messy. I suggest you stop by your local craft store and invest in some disposable pastry bags, a few stainless steel icing tips and couplers. Couplers are white plastic rings that secure the tip against the pastry bag. They cost next to nothing and make you boss of the frosting.
Camo Cupcakes with Camo Swirl Frosting
Makes 2 dozen
WHAT TO GET
Cupcakes
cupcake liners
cupcake pan (s)
1 box white cake mix
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 tsp pandan extract or 2 drops green food colouring
2 cups water
6 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
Frosting
4 piping bags
1 large star frosting tip
2 8oz bricks cream cheese, @ room temp
1 stick butter, @ room temp
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
3 Tb real cocoa powder
1 tsp pandan extract or 1 drop green food colouring
1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp extract
2 tsp instant coffee (optional)
WHAT TO DO
Prepare chocolate and white cake batter per box instructions:
3 eggs + 1 cup water + 1/2 cup vegetable oil for each box of cake mix.
Divide the cake batter between 4 bowls like so:
#1 = White batter
#2 = White batter + 1 tsp pandan extract (or 2 drops green food coloring) + 1 Tb chocolate batter
#3 = white batter + 4 Tb chocolate batter
#4 = chocolate batter
Preheat oven to 350*F.
Drop paper cupcake liners into each well of a cupcake pan.
Drop spoonfuls of each batter into each well.
Bake 5- 7 minutes.
Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting.
Mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and salt until smooth.
Divide into 3 bowls and flavour as follows:
#1 = white + vanilla
#2 = white + cocoa powder
#3 = white + pandan or green food colouring
Mix each until the colour is uniform.
Place 3 piping bags into tall drinking glasses and fold the tops around the rim of the glasses.
Spoon the 3 frostings, each into its own bag.
Snip the tip of another piping bag and place a star frosting tip. Secure the tip with a coupler.
Snip the tip of each of the 3 piping bags filled with frosting and carefully place
all 3 into the bag with the tip.
Pipe a bit of frosting onto a plate until all 3 colours appear.
Decorate cupcakes by squeezing a bit of frosting over the top center of the cupcake
and moving in a circle toward the outermost edge.
Sprinkle a bit of instant coffee on top, if desired. Cover the cupcakes and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
These camo cupcakes do take a bit of time to make, but the process is so much fun, definitely one to include the kids. Every batch is Kid-tested, kid-approved, because you know they won’t lie about cupcakes.
Our niece, nephew and Daisy were so excited when they saw the cupcakes and Shawn was sporting a big birthday smile. These little sweeties are going to make a comeback to celebrate President’s Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Veteran’s Day. But first, there will be some serious work in the test kitchen on a PINK version for my little sweetheart’s birthday which is coming up very soon. Hold onto your hats, because that one is going to be a screamer, too!
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Gorgeous family you have, Coco! The camo-cupcakes look brilliant!
What a brilliant idea, I have never seen camo cupcakes before 😀
You have pulled it off so well!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
These are a hoot, Colette! Happy Birthday to Shawn!
Hi Coco,
You are so sweet and thoughtful, always thinking to bake something special for Shawn. These cupcakes are awesome!
Zoe
HI Voco, I was one of the recipients of the group email about Kelly’s wrong payment. Thought I would pop in and say hi to fellow food bloggers. These cupcakes look amazing! I am so going to try making the colours work for me 🙂
Actually I think Martha would be impressed. Maybe even jealous. GREG
My kids would totally love this.
DUDE FOOD!! My very manly 6 year old nephew will love these. 🙂