Star Wars Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: A Recipe

This past weekend, I made Miss M her Star Wars cupcakes as she requested for her 7th birthday.  The cupcakes themselves were from a box.  Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix, to be precise.  So that was easy enough.

Then came the frosting.  I have never made it by hand before.  I knew I wanted chocolate but it also had to require items that I already had on hand.  Oh, yeah, it also had to be super easy.  I did a search on my beloved pinterest and found it.  The one.  The best chocolate buttercream frosting that I have ever tasted.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe

as adapted from Savory Sweet Life

The Good Stuff:

• 1 cup (2 sticks!) unsalted butter (softened but not melted)
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream (or whole milk)

Where the Magic Happens:

1. Cream butter for a few minutes in mixer using paddle attachment on medium speed.  Turn off mixer.
2. Sift all of the confectioners sugar and cocoa powder into the mixing bowl.  (I sifted before I measured).
3. Turn mixer to lowest speed and add sugar and cocoa powder and mix until both are fully absorbed by the butter.
4. Increase mixer to medium speed and add vanilla extract and cream/milk and beat for 3 minutes or so.
5. Does it look alright?  If so, you have made frosting!  If it needs to be thinned out, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time.  If the frosting needs to be more stiff, add a little more sugar.

Star Wars Stencils

Miss M really wanted something to do with Star Wars on her cupcakes.  Again, on pinterest, I searched "Star Wars cupcakes" and came up with this product that Williams Sonoma makes.

For about ten bucks, you get four stencils of Darth Vader, Yoda, Storm Trooper and the Logo itself.  The stencils are quite easy to use.  You simply place them on top of the cupcake and sift some powdered sugar, cinnamon, etc over the stencil.

Here are some helpful tips:

• make sure you refrigerate your frosted cupcakes overnight or a suitable length of time so that the frosting will not automatically absorb your design.
• if you are traveling with your cupcakes, do the decorating once you get to your destination.  This is what we did and it took a whole five minutes for us to decorate about 24 cupcakes.  Quick and Easy.

Overall, I was quite pleased on how the cupcakes turned out this year.  We had some leftovers but they have since been eaten up.  If that isn't a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is.