Hoot Owl Cupcakes Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Line 21 muffin cups and 6 mini-muffin cups with paper liners., In a large bowl, combine cake mix, water, oil, coffee and eggs; beat on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill prepared cups two-thirds full. Bake 18-22 minutes for regular-sized cupcakes and 10-12 minutes for mini-cupcakes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely., Place 1-1/3 cups chocolate frosting in a small bowl. Tint black with food coloring. Cut a small hole in the tip of a pastry bag or in a corner of a food-safe plastic bag; insert #125 or other large petal or flat pastry tip. Fill bag with black frosting and set aside., Frost mini cupcakes with some of the remaining chocolate frosting. Separate Oreo cookies, leaving cream filling on one side of the cookies. Place filling sides of cookies on frosted cupcakes for eyes, cream side up; attach brown M&M's with chocolate frosting., Trim plain sides of cookies into triangles for ears; place above eyes. Insert #16 or other star pastry tip into another pastry bag. Fill bag with remaining chocolate frosting. Pipe feathers on ears and around eyes. Place yellow M&M's between eyes for beaks., In a large bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, shortening and enough water to reach spreading consistency; frost large cupcakes. Arrange cupcakes side by side on a covered cake board., Pipe black frosting across tops of cupcakes for tree trunk and branches. Place owl cupcakes on branches.

Steps:

• For the eyes: Place the malt balls cut side up on the work surface. Attach a white sprinkle to each ball using a skewer dipped in the buttercream to adhere. Add a mini chocolate chip as a pupil to each white sprinkle using more buttercream. Set aside.
• For the ears: Unwrap the caramels and press with fingers to flatten. Warm the candies in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds if they are too hard to flatten at room temperature. Cut each caramel into 2 little triangles with scissors. Coat each triangle with frosting on one side and cover with chocolate sprinkles. Set aside.
• For the beaks: Place the small yellow gumdrops on the work surface standing upright. Snip each gumdrop with scissors straight down three-quarters of the way through the candy to make the open mouth. Snip to narrow the overall size and shape into a tapered beak.
• To assemble: Frost each cupcake with about 2 tablespoons buttercream. Place the chocolate sprinkles in a small bowl. Invert each cupcake into the sprinkles and press gently to adhere. Attach the eyes and beak by applying small dollops of additional frosting and pressing gently. Push the ears into the edges of the cupcake. Repeat steps for all cupcakes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners.
• Combine 2 cups sugar, flour, 1 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
• Whisk buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add flour mixture; mix until well-combined. Pour in hot water; stir until batter is smooth. Divide batter evenly among muffin tins.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely, about 20 minutes.
• Whip 3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoon heavy cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold in 1 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese, 7 tablespoons cocoa powder, and 1/4 cup sugar gently to make frosting.
• Spread 1 tablespoon frosting over each cooled cupcake.
• Twist chocolate sandwich cookies open, leaving all cream filling on 1 side. Place 2 cookies, cream filling-side up, on each cupcake to make owl eyes. Place a brown milk chocolate piece on each cookie to create pupils. Insert an orange or yellow milk chocolate piece in the center to make a beak.

Steps:

• Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting., Split the sandwich cookies in half, keeping the cream side whole (microwaving a few cookies at a time for several seconds helps to keep the cream side solid). Place the cookies, cream side up, on the cupcakes for eyes. Cut remaining cookie pieces crosswise into thirds; discard the center third and set the rest aside., With the vanilla frosting, attach the chocolate-covered mints for eyes; pipe pupils., Place reserved cookie pieces above eyes for the ears. Pipe chocolate frosting on ears and around eyes. For beaks, press yellow candies between eyes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Divide half of batter evenly among lined muffin tin cups (about a heaping tablespoon per cup). Press 2 cookie halves without frosting into each cup, then divide remaining batter evenly atop cookies. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
• Divide frosting evenly among cupcakes. Place 2 cookie halves with filling side-by-side in center of cupcakes, pressing to adhere to frosting. Press 1 button-shaped chocolate into center of each frosted cookie to mimic pupils. Press another chocolate into frosting perpendicular to the other candies and centered, just below cookies to mimic a beak. Press almonds, if using, into frosting above cookie-eyes in rows to mimic feathers, or scrape frosting with the tip of a paring knife in short, upward strokes to create a feathery look.