DIY Baby Groot Cupcakes

Only a superhero from Guardians of the Galaxy could become the subject of a viral video about cupcakes.

In case you haven’t seen Marvel’s latest and funniest superhero movie—or in case you’re like me and can’t get enough of dancing Baby Groot—here is the Guardians clip that inspired it all:

As most people do with things that go viral, I got sucked in. I believed the bloggers who said these cupcakes were surprisingly easy to make. (Note to self: Never believe anyone who says something is easy until you’re sure that person has done the thing he or she says is easy.)

With that said, I made them, and two cookie recipes and half a dozen broken cookies later, I succeeded. The good news? I’ve done the hard part for you. All YOU have to do is set aside a few hours and follow my advice to the T, and you’ll have the cutest Baby Groot cupcakes in your hands in no time.

What You’ll Need:

• 3-4 hours
• Any cupcake and icing recipe and ingredients (I made vanilla cupcakes and vanilla buttercream icing using this recipe.)
• Food coloring (green, brown, and black)
• Ingredients for sugar cookies:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 stick butter (softened)
  • 1/3 cup Crisco
  • 1 egg,
  • 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Note: I do NOT suggest using the shortbread cookie recipe provided with the video. I used the shortbread cookie recipe initially, and every single one of my cookies broke when I took them out of the oven. Stick with the ingredients above, and you won’t end up throwing spatulas across your kitchen like I did.
• Baking mat
• Confectioner’s sugar
• Wax paper
• Rolling pin
• Scissors
• Baby Groot stencil, printed on copy paper
• Cooking spray
• Teaspoon
• Paring knife
• Cupcake icing kit (with tips to make grass and fine lines)

How to Make Dancing Baby Groot Cupcakes:

1. Mix cupcake dough according to the recipe you picked. Before baking, add small amounts of brown food coloring until dough is light brown. Place the dough in green or neutral-color baking cups and bake in cupcake pan according to recipe. Remove from oven and let cool.

2. While cupcakes are baking, mix all sugar cookie ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until fully blended. (I suggest using an electric mixer for this.) Add small amounts of brown food coloring to mixture and stir until fully blended and light brown.

3. Spread baking mat on table and lightly sprinkle mat with confectioner’s sugar, using more sugar at the center. (The sugar helps prevent the dough from sticking to the mat.) Use your hands to shape the dough mixture into a ball and place at the center of the mat.

4. Lightly sprinkle more confectioner’s on top of dough to prevent sticking. Place a large sheet of wax paper on top of dough, and use rolling pin to spread dough evenly to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Once even, remove wax paper.

5. Use scissors to cut out Baby Groot stencil. Once cut, place stencil on top of dough and press down lightly until paper is moist and sticks to dough. Use paring knife to cut dough along edge of stencil. (Tip: Be sure to hold the knife vertically/at a 90 degree-angle from the dough to ensure a clean cut. Once a large section is cut, use the knife’s edge to scrape excess dough away from the stencil.) Do not remove the stencil after cutting.

6. Once all excess dough is removed, grease baking sheet with cooking spray, and use a spatula to quickly scoop up Baby Groot starting at his feet. Place Baby Groot on baking sheet and remove stencil. Note: Dough may scrunch and/or break, but don’t worry. Simply reshape Baby Groot on the baking sheet with your hands, being sure to press any broken pieces together, before baking.

7. Repeat steps 5-6 until no more Baby Groots can be cut, then use your hands to shape remaining dough into a ball. Place dough at the center of the mat and repeat steps 4-6. Note: You should be able to make about 8 Baby Groots using this recipe.

8. Once all Groots are on baking sheet, using a teaspoon to give each cookie a mouth by lightly pressing the edge of the spoon into the dough. Use your pointer finger, pressing lightly, to give each cookie eyes.

9. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes until cookies are firm and lightly brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing cookies from baking sheet. (Note: If you don’t let the cookies cool completely before you remove them, they could break.)

10. Prepare icing according to chosen recipe. Place half of icing mixture into a small bowl, and split the other half between two more bowls. Add green food coloring to largest amount of icing mixture (the first bowl) until icing is the color of grass. Add brown food coloring to second bowl until icing matches the color of the cookies. Add black food coloring to third bowl until icing is rich in color.

11. Fully cover top of cupcakes in green icing using a star-shaped tip from your decorating kit. Tip: Stop the flow of icing and pull away from the cupcake simultaneously to make icing look stringy like grass.

12. Use smallest round tip from decorating kit to draw twisting trunk (with brown icing) and eyes (with black icing). Set Baby Groots aside.

13. Use a knife to make a 1/2-inch cut into the center of all iced cupcakes.

14. Once cool, remove Baby Groots from baking sheet with spatula and press them feet-first into center of cupcakes just before serving. Note: If you make these days, or even hours, before you plan to serve them, you’ll want to wait to do this final step. Otherwise, the moisture from the cupcakes might cause the cookies to break.

And there you have it, folks! Baby Groot cupcakes.

 

Comment below or tweet us @LitDarling to let us know how they turn out!