Graduation Cap Cupcakes
Ingredients
- cupcakes
- buttercream frosting
- decorating gel black or brown
- Ghirardelli chocolate squares unwrapped
- miniature Reese's peanut butter cups unwrapped
- mini m & m candies
- 1 pkg Airheads Extreme Rainbow candy
Instructions
- Using a piping bag, pipe frosting evenly onto all the cupcakes. Then transfer them to the serving plate or platter of your choice.
- Cut the candy apart into individual ropes, sort the strands by color, and then chop them into 2-3" strands for the tassels.
- Add one peanut butter cup to the top of each frosted cupcake, setting it down upside down and making sure it's centered as best as possible. Gently press, just barely pressing, it in to make sure it's glued in place.
- Squeeze a dab of the decorating gel/frosting onto the top of each peanut butter cup bottom. Then set a chocolate square (again upside down) on top, centering it as best as possible. This will finish creating the actual cap.
- Add another dab of the decorating gel/frosting to the center of the chocolate square, then place both one piece of candy tassel and a coordinating m & m candy gently into it to 'glue' it to the top of the cap.
- Refrigerate the cupcakes for 5-10 minutes to allow the 'glue' on the decorative toppers to set.
- Serve, and enjoy!
Notes
- Use a 2a sized piping tip in the shape of your choice to pipe the icing.
- Not a fan of piping icing? No worries! You can also buy pre-frosted cupcakes from the store.
- Feel free to sub Mini Reese's pieces for the M&M's. For added festivity, color coordinate them to match school colors.
- Twizzlers pull and peel candy will also work in place of the Airhead rainbow candy if you prefer something less sweet, sour and sugar coated.
- We used the caramel filled Ghirardelli squares here, but any of their varieties other than dark chocolate or white chocolate will work.
- You can make the caps ahead of time to make prep easier. Just put them on the cupcakes right before before serving, which is especially handy if traveling for a party.
- If you've refrigerated these cupcakes, do not plan on setting them out for long before serving. Inside and acclimated they should be ok on a dessert table, but heat will make chilled cupcakes sweat and this could cause your frosting to run and the decorative chocolate caps to slide off.