The Minion Cupcakes

I have a tradition of having a little bit of of fun with cupcakes for birthdays. For years, Alexis has shared seemingly (and sometimes truly) intricate creations designed for little hands to enjoy.

MILA'S TURN!

These rank really high on the simple scale. They also rank really high on the not perfect scale because hockey was on while I was making them. I can't be trusted to draw nice black lines when there is stress to be had.

Small people don't care about perfection. They care about marshmallows and frosting and banana cupcakes.

I'm good at pleasing small people.

Mini Minion Cupcakes (Makes aapproximately 36 mini cupcakes)

Marshmallow Minions
36 large marshmallows
Yellow candy melts
White candy melts
Black frosting (I used the cream cheese frosting linked below and a whole lot of black gel food dye, but you could use one of the little tubes of black gel icing that is easy to find at craft and grocery stores)

Banana Cupcakes
2 small bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (room temperature)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cups buttermilk

Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe here)

 1. Let's start by making a bunch of minions, okay? Melt the yellow candy melts according to the instructions on the bag. then dip the marshmallows in the melted yellow goop and set them somewhere safe to firm up. (I stuck my marshmallows on lollipop sticks, dipped them, then stuck the lollipop sticks in a piece of floral foam. You do whatever works for you, though. If you set the dipped marshmallows on wax paper or something similar, the down side will stay your down side. It won't need to be perfect.)

2. While the yellow is still melty, stick a white candy melt on there for the eye. The flat side should go against the marshmallow. You may need to hold it in place for a second to get it to stay.

3. Outline the eye with black frosting, put a dot in the center for the pupil (on top of the swirly point of the white candy melt), and draw the strap.

Tah-dah! You have minions! Set them in the fridge so they can firm up. Now it's time to make cupcakes.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place blue liners in a few mini cupcake pans.

2. Mash the bananas in a small bowl. Add the lemon juice and stir to mix well. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to mix well. Add the vanilla and mix a little more.

5. Beat in the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating between the two as you slowly add them.

6. Stir in the bananas.

7. Place the cake mix in the cupcake liners. Fill them about 2/3 full.

8. Bake at 325 degrees for about 24-28 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took 25 minutes. Set the cupcakes on a cooling rack while you work on the frosting.

9. Make your frosting. Here's the link again, just for fun. Dye it using a blue gel food coloring that reminds you of Minion pants.

10. Frost those cupcakes. You don't need to do anything special or fancy since you're sticking a Minion on top.

11. Stick a Minion on top.

13. Blow a kid's mind with your magical Minion powers.