Cup Cake Ideas For Themed Children's Parties (Guest-Post)

Putting together a themed children's party? You can make the day more special by using some imaginatively designed cupcakes. Quick and easy to make (with a little bit of practice), cupcakes can be matched up to different themes, from basic colours to sports and magic. In addition, it’s possible to make cupcakes more distinctive by adding in toppers and fondant faces and shapes. Doing so can result in a great complement to a birthday cake and other party foods.

In terms of making up basic cupcakes for a themed party that uses a few simple colours, one idea is to match up a pink colour scheme with pink cupcakes. To do so, you’ll need to have the following ingredients: one cup of butter, a quarter cup of sugar, 1/8 of a teaspoon of pink paste colouring, three eggs, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, two and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of buttermilk.

Begin by creaming the butter, sugar, and food colouring together, before adding and beating the eggs and the vanilla extract into the mixture. Then, separately mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and add to the mixture with the buttermilk. Fill up muffin cups with the mixture, and bake at 180°C in the oven for about 25 minutes. You can then add in extra decorations to the pink cupcakes after leaving them to cool.

Alternatively, you can experiment with different variations on a single theme, which might involve football or sports. In this context, you can make up basic cupcake recipes, but use green icing and colouring for mini pitches. You can also arrange a set of cupcakes to spell out a favourite team’s name, or make fondant footballs to go on top of cakes. Ready made flags and marzipan football boots and other decorations can be found to add to cupcakes.

Another idea could be to extend a magical theme for a children's party into cupcakes decorated with edible cake images like rabbits coming out of hats. Rounded paper toppers for cupcakes can also be decorated with dice and other items. Edible fondant magic wands and dice can similarly be layered on top of cupcakes.

If you’re feeling extra creative, then creating animal faces and cartoon characters using fondant toppings can be a good idea. While more elaborate designs like Dora the Explorer or Disney princesses take time to master, a good place to start is with basic animal faces; these might be combined with an animal-themed party. You’ll need a few different colours of fondant mix, as well as round cutters, fine brushes and edible markers, and a small knife.

To make an animal face using fondant, in this case a puppy, you’ll need to roll fondant and create a round, thick ball using white fondant to make a face. Brown fondant can be broken off and shaped into ears for adding to the side of the head. More fondant can be used to create eyes, and a nose, using pink fondant for a tongue. Edible food markers can be used to draw in smiles and freckles. Once completed, a fondant face can be added to the top of a cupcake using frosting.