Scavenger/Treasure Hunt cupcakes for a Birthday Party (chocolate marshmallow flavour)

Wow…I’ve had a full week of baking this week so had a pick of things to blog about today. But I have to choose the cupcakes I made for my good friends 30th birthday celebrations.

My friend loves playing games so for her 30th she decided to arrange a scavenger hunt all around Bournemouth. We had 5 teams of 5/6 and we all had a long list of (odd) things we had to photograph or take back. In the evening we had more games and a buffet where we were all asked to bring specific things. We were asked to take sweet baked goods so I settled on chocolate marshmallow cupcakes and carried on her theme with the decorations.

This was the invitation…

Cupcake and buttercream icing was taken form the Hummingbird bakery cupcakes and muffins book. The marshmallow filling was taken from a great blog – American cupcake abroad.

[callout title=Ingredients for the Chocolate cupcakes:]

• 100g self raising flour – sifted
• 2 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 40g unsalted butter – at room temperature
• 120ml milk (Full fat if you’ve got it, semi skimmed if you haven’t and skimmed if you’re mad)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

[/callout]

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 170°C
• Put the cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on a slow speen until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.
• Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a jug, then slowly pour half of the mixture into the flour mix.
• Beat to combine and turn the mixer up to a high speed to get rid of any lumps.
• Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture.
• Continue mixing for a couple of minutes until the mixture is smooth (be careful not to overmix)
• Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25mins

While the cupcakes are cooling make the marshmallow filling:

[callout title=Ingredients for the filling:]

• 125g marshmallow fluff (I got mine from Sainsburys but it is also sold in Waitrose and Asda)
• 50g unsalted butter – at room temperature
• 50g icing sugar – sifted
• 1 tsp milk

[/callout]

Method for making the filling:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the marshmallow fluff and butter together
• Add in the icing sugar and milk and beat until fluffy
• Once the cupcakes are cooled cut a cone shape out of the centre
• Fill the hole with the marshmallow filling
• Place the cut out piece of cake back over the top to hide the filling

[callout title=Ingredients for the vanilla buttercream:]

• 250g icing sugar – sifted
• 80g unsalted butter – at room temperature
• 2 tbsp milk
• A couple of drops of vanilla extract
• Green food colouring (this is just for my design)

[/callout]

Method for making the buttercream:

• Beat the icing sugar and butter in a freestanding electric mixer on a medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together.
• Turn the mixer down to a slow speed.
• Combine the milk and vanilla extract together in a jug then add to the butter mixture a little at a time.
• Once all the milk has been incorporated add colouring (if using) and turn the mixer to a high speed.
• Beat until light and fluffy – this will take at least 5 minutes! (The longer it’s beaten, the lighter and fluffier it becomes)

Method for decorating:

Obviously you can decorate these however you want to, but this is how I did mine –

ROADS – I used a dark brown sugar paste to create the roads. I rolled it quite thin and cut a long strip out. Then I placed this on the cupcakes to make a round road. A lighter brown was then used for the markings.

GRASS: I used a Grass nozzle to create the grass with the vanilla buttercream.

PEOPLE: I bought some miniature figures from ebay and placed them on the cakes. They stand well in the grass.

BLUE CIRCLES: These were made using blue sugarpaste. I rolled it out and cut it using a cookie cutter. Then I wrote on it using edible icing pens.

And that’s that! HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY JODI!!!

(Our team came second if you were wondering!)