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Love Bug Cupcakes

love bug cupcakes

Details

Timing
Timing
Total:
2 Hr.
Bake:
20 Min.
Prep:
1 Hr. 10 Min.
Skill Level:
Intermediate
Yields:
30 cupcakes

Need a sweet idea for a Valentine's Day treat to make the people in your life feel extra-special? Grab your little ones and make this Love Bug Cupcakes recipe! Decorate them with pink, white and red frosting, then top with HERSHEY'S KISSES Candies and JOLLY RANCHER Heart Shaped Lollipops. Get creative and decorate your love bugs however you please, with whatever sweets you have on hand! Best of all, these Love Bug Cupcakes are kid-friendly and great for classroom parties.

For more Valentine's Day kitchen inspiration, discover more Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes to Adore.

Ingredients & Directions

Prep Time
1 hour 10 minutes
Bake Time
20 minutes
Cool Time
30 minutes

Ingredients

  • HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Hearts or REESE'S Peanut Butter Filled Hearts
  • JOLLY RANCHER Heart-Shaped Lollipops
  • 1 can
    ready-to-spread vanilla frosting or your favorite homemade frosting (about 16 oz)
  • HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
  • HERSHEY'S HUGS Brand Candies
  • HERSHEY'S Red Velvet Cupcakes
  • 1/2 cup
    butter or margarine, (1 stick) softened
  • 1-1/2 cups
    sugar
  • 2
    eggs
  • 1 tsp
    vanilla extract
  • 1 cup
    buttermilk or sour milk*
  • 2 Tbsps
    red food color (one 1 oz bottle)
  • 2 cups
    all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup
    HERSHEY'S Cocoa
  • 1 tsp
    salt
  • 1-1/2 tsp
    baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp
    white vinegar
READY TO MAKE THIS?

Directions

Equipment Needed 
2-1/2 inch muffin cup tin 2-1/2 Inch Muffin Cup Tin
muffin cups Muffin Cups
oven Oven
mixing bowl Mixing Bowl
mixer Mixer
wire rack Wire Rack
bowls Bowls
pastry bag with tip Pastry Bag with Tip
1

Prepare and bake cupcakes according to recipe directions; cool completely.

2

Prepare Royal Icing. Remove wrappers from desired number of chocolate hearts (faces) and lollipops (antennae and tails). Decorate chocolate hearts with facial features and draw hearts on lollipops. Allow frosting to harden. (If you don't like the design, wait until the icing has hardened and then you can remove without damaging the surface of the heart).

3

Frost the cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Assemble "Love Bugs" by placing "face" and "antennae" on each cupcake or make a "Love Bug Catepillar" by using one "Love Bug Cupcake" and adding desired number of frosted cupcakes to form body. Decorate catepillar with alternating unwrapped HUGS and KISSES that form a stripe down the back of the catepillar. Place additional lollipop on last cupcake to make the tail.

Tip

To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup.

HERSHEY'S Red Velvet Cupcakes:

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper or foil baking cups.
  2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl; add eggs and vanilla, beating well. Stir together buttermilk and food color. Stir together flour, cocoa and salt; add alternately to butter mixture with buttermilk mixture, mixing well. Stir in baking soda and vinegar. Fill muffin cups about 1/2 full with batter.
  3. Bake about 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost as desired.
Royal Icing: Stir together 2-1/4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons warm water and 1 tablespoon pasteurized dried egg whites (meringue powder). Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until spreadable. Add additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time, to get desired consistency. Divide icing into small bowls for each color desired and tint with food colorings. Transfer icing to pastry bags with desired tip. Cover icings and tips of pastry bags with damp paper towels to keep icing from drying out. (Some icing garnishes may need a firmer icing to hold their shape. Stir in small amounts of additional powdered sugar to get the desired consistency). About 1 cup icing.
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