These cute allergen-friendly sheep cupcakes will be the hit of your little one’s party. Perfect for littles that love farm animals, Shaun the Sheep, or Timmy Time.
In my busy life as a blogger, food writer, business owner, hearthkeeper and soul seeker, there is still one thing that makes me feel more accomplished than anything else in life and that is a smile from my little girl!
Recently as we were nearing her second birthday, I of course wanted to plan something special for her to mark the occasion. Even though she doesn’t exactly “get” the concept of birthdays yet, she does know what she likes and this year, the thing she has loved the most is sheep (kind of like her Mamma!): the sheep in her front yard, her sheep toys, sheep socks, Shaun and Timmy the sheep.
My original plan for her birthday party cake was to make a couple of sponge sheet cakes and get a sheep cookie cutter to cut out the sheep shapes. Then the kids could decorate their own sheep with whipped cream, chocolate chips and fruit.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find any large sheep cookie cutters, so Plan B was formed. Last year we made really cute owl cupcakes and so decided to make sheep cupcakes. A few minutes on Pinterest (my favorite social media site for food related things) and I had a great idea for decorating cupcakes using mini vegan marshmallows, organic “tootsie roll”-like candies, icing and mini chocolate chips. I wanted to make these cupcakes allergen friendly.
The candies are like molding clay, that when warmed by your body heat can be formed into various shapes. We used those to make the heads and ears. Using a cake decorating kit, I created eyes and then used mini chocolate chips for the irises. I used the same icing to ice the entire top of the cupcakes that I could use as glue to stick the mini marshmallows to as well as the heads.
I used King Arthur Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
Plan B turned out great! Her party was a success and we had a really wonderful afternoon. I definitely love to plan things well in advance, but I learned a lesson about Plan B, sometimes they are even better than Plan A and often it is less stressful to just go with the flow. I am keeping this lesson I learned from the party close to my heart and I have found many other ways to incorporate this lesson into my everyday life!
- 1 box King Arthur Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix (you’ll also need eggs, vegetable oil – I used coconut and water to make the cake)
- 1 box Dr. Oetker Organics Organic Icing Mix Vanilla
- 2 bags of Dandies Vegan Marshmallows Vanilla Minis, 10 Ounce
- 40 Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips
- 1 bag of TruJoy Sweets Organic Vegan Choco Chews Candy 2.3 oz
- Bake cupcakes and prepare icing according to package directions. When cupcakes have cooled, ice them.
- Then immediately stick the mini marshmallows to the icing, all over the cupcake, leaving a small hole for the head.
- Form the heads and ears by cutting each chocolate chew in half. You will need one half of a chocolate chew per head. Then cut ⅓ of the half off. That ⅓ will be used for the ears.
- Shape the head by rolling the chew in between you hands to make a ball, then flatten it a bit for the face.
- Then roll the ⅓ into two small tear-like shapes for the ears.
- Poke two holes in the face with a toothpick to make nostrils.
- Then with a cake decorating tip, use some icing to create the eyes, then immediately stick the mini chocolate chip on top for the iris.
- Use a little more icing to stick the heads on the cupcake.
- Voila!
Infuse Your Life with (more) YUM. YUM is the stuff that feeds not just our bodies but also our spirits. Offering simple recipes and tips, life hacks and tools and little pleasures to infuse life with more of the Good Stuff, the YUM.
It was a big hit and everyone like them including the adults. fun to do too.
They were so much fun to make – and tasty for all!
How cute are these! And allergen-friendly! Happy birthday to your little one – she’s a very lucky girl to have such crafty mom!
Thank you so much!