Snowman topped fudge chip muffins (cooking with kids recipe)

I mentioned the other day that we’ve been experimenting with sugarpaste (mouldable icing). Well after our Panda cake experiment, and inspired by my visit to Cake International, we made these cute snowmen to adorn our latest deliciously light and sweet fudge chip muffin recipe.

These little snowmen are a little rough around the edges, but I think that works for this particular subject matter – they’re meant to be in old, beat up clothes with uneven coal eyes and reject carrots for noses anyway, right? The lovely thing is that with the exception of a little bit of knife work that needs a grownup, most of this was done by my six year old, so it’s a great activity to do with kids.

Here’s what to do to make these snowman cupcakes.

Ingredients

For the muffins:

• 12 hole muffin tray
• 12 muffin cases
• 200 g margarine
• 200 g (7 oz) caster sugar
• 3 free range medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 200 g (7 oz) self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40 g (1.5 oz) fudge chips

To decorate:

• Cornflour for dusting (you can use icing sugar if you don’t have any)
• A selection of Ready to Roll Icing colours
• A large rolling pin
• A sharp knife
• A clean paint brush

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/390F (180C/355F fan)
2. Line the tray with the muffin cases
3. In a bowl, cream the sugar and margarine together until fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla
4. Fold in the flour and baking powder until fully combined, then spoon into the cases evenly and level off
5. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown and springy in the centre
6. Leave to cool until firm enough to handle, then remove from the tin and stand them all on a wire rack to cool completely
7. To make the snowmen’s bodies, roll a ball about 1 inch wide, and a second ball about half the size to go on top – repeat to make all 12
8. For the eyes, simply roll 24 tiny balls of black sugarpaste, deliberately misshapen, and stick on with sparing dabs of water
9. For the carrot noses, roll a little sausage of orange sugarpaste and then squeeze one end to create a cone shape, letting your nails misshape them here and there. Then attach with another dab of water. Repeat for the other 11
10. For the scarves, roll out the purple sugarpaste on a dusted surface to get a thin sheet and then use a sharp knife to cut 12 lengths of around 8cm. Wrap them around the snowmen’s necks, then cut some tassel details into the ends with the knife
11. For the hats, roll out the black sugar paste to give a thin sheet, then cut out 12 smallish circles – I used the back of a piping nozzle. Use a dab of water to attach the discs at a jaunty angle on top of each snowman’s head. Next roll out a sausage about 1cm diameter and cut 12 1/2cm discs – these are the tops of your hats. Attach them to the centre of your black discs and the snowmen’s hats are complete!

Here’s that snowman cupcakes recipe again in a printable format:

Snowman topped fudge chip muffins (cooking with kids recipe)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Servings: 12

Author: Emily Leary

Moist and light fudge muffins with super cute edible snowmen on top.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Metric - Ounces

Ingredients

For the muffins

• 12 hole muffin tray
• 12 muffin cases
• 200 g margarine
• 200 g caster sugar
• 3 free range medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 200 g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40 g fudge chips

For the decoration

• Cornflour for dusting you can use icing sugar if you don't have any
• A selection of Ready to Roll Icing colours
• A large rolling pin
• A sharp knife
• A clean paint brush

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 200C/390F (180C/355F fan)
• Line the tray with the muffin cases
• In a bowl, cream the sugar and margarine together until fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla
• Fold in the flour and baking powder until fully combined, then spoon into the cases evenly and level off
• Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown and springy in the centre
• Leave to cool until firm enough to handle, then remove from the tin and stand them all on a wire rack to cool completely
• To make the snowmen's bodies, roll a ball about 1 inch wide, and a second ball about half the size to go on top - repeat to make all 12
• For the eyes, simply roll 24 tiny balls of black sugarpaste, deliberately misshapen, and stick on with sparing dabs of water
• For the carrot noses, roll a little sausage of orange sugarpaste and then squeeze one end to create a cone shape, letting your nails misshape them here and there. Then attach with another dab of water. Repeat for the other 11
• For the scarves, roll out the purple sugarpaste on a dusted surface to get a thin sheet and then use a sharp knife to cut 12 lengths of around 8cm. Wrap them around the snowmen's necks, then cut some tassel details into the ends with the knife
• For the hats, roll out the black sugar paste to give a thin sheet, then cut out 12 smallish circles - I used the back of a piping nozzle. Use a dab of water to attach the discs at a jaunty angle on top of each snowman's head. Next roll out a sausage about 1cm diameter and cut 12 1/2cm discs - these are the tops of your hats. Attach them to the centre of your black discs and the snowmen's hats are complete!

* Note: nutritional information is estimated, based on publicly available data. Nutrient values may vary from those published.

Course: Festive makes

Keywords: cakes, Christmas, cupcakes, festive, muffins

Tried this recipe?Snap a pic and tag @amummytoo on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. I can't wait to see your posts!

You can have so much fun with sugarpaste once you get started. What creations have you made recently?

For more festive baking, why not try this easy Christmas cake?