Angry Birds Cupcakes

My baby just turned four years old and requested an Angry Birds birthday.  I have to say that it was a fun theme to plan a party around, and these angry birds cupcakes were the best part!  They were fun and easy to make, although a tad time consuming to decorate.  Those talented girls over at The Crafting Chicks did a great post on how to make these so I followed their step by step directions (leaving out a couple things to simplify).  It seems that Angry Birds are for all ages so these cupcakes are perfect for your next party or just for fun.  I used my go-to cake recipe Wacky Cake for these chocolate cupcakes.  I love this recipe because it is delicious, and egg and nut free so I don't have worry about my food allergy son being left out.

Make sure your cupcakes are completely cooled before you frost and decorate.

Okay, first make your frosting.  I love this buttercream frosting recipe.  It is slightly adapted from a recipe submitted by Sharon Gerstman on allrecipes. com.  Here it is:
Buttercream Icing
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened at room temperature (do not soften in the microwave!)
1 teaspoon good quality pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons milk
Directions:
Using an electric stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, blend together the butter and vanilla. Blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, and continue mixing until light and fluffy.

Divide your frosting into three bowls.

Add enough food coloring to get the desired color.

You have to add quite a bit of red food coloring and it will still seem a little pink.  That's okay.  The yellow and blue require a much smaller amount of food coloring.

 For the toppings you need black licorice strips, orange slices...

 large and mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips.

 Frost the cupcake.

 Slice an orange slice into thirds, and just one of those pieces for your peak.

Add two mini marshmallows for the eyes.

Use a toothpick to make a hole in the middle of the mini marshmallow, and place a mini chocolate chip into the hole.  I found that the eyes were easier to make before placing the marshmallow on the cupcake.

 Last, add two small slices of black licorice strings for the eye brows.

 Now continue with the other colors.  Frost first.

Add a beak, eyes, and a belly.  Cut a large marshmallow into thirds and use one of the pieces for the belly.

Add the licorice for the eye brows.

 Here is the red bird cupcake.

 Same steps as the blue.

I ended up adding two red jelly beans for hair on the red bird cupcakes, but I actually think they looked better without them.

How cute are these?  They really were fun to make and my birthday boy was so excited to have these for his big day.
Enjoy!