Introduction: Nyan Cat Cupcakes

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I made these cupcakes based off Nyan Cat. Don't know who Nyan Cat is? Go to the website (nyan.cat - Thanks to cowscankill for the URL!) or see video below:



They're white cupcakes with a cookie, frosting, sprinkles, and fondant on top.

TIME
A looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnngggggg time. I think it took me about 4 hours to complete.

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

You need recipes for white cake, sugar cookie, and frosting. To save on time, you can easily just buy the box mixes and/or pre-made frosting.

You need all of this:
  • flour
  • baking soda
  • baking powder
  • butter
  • white sugar
  • eggs and egg whites
  • vanilla extract
  • confectioner's sugar
  • milk
  • food coloring (red, blue, yellow, green, pink, black)
  • salt
  • fondant
  • red sprinkles
  • baking cups
You will also need these:
  • cupcake pan
  • square dessert bar pan
  • mixing bowls
  • mixer

Step 2: Create Rainbow Cupcakes

Mix the batter for your cupcakes. I used this white cake recipe and this rainbow cupcake recipe as a basis and I've copied/pasted it below and tweaked it a bit.

INGREDIENTS
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)
  • Baking cups

DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
     
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
     
  3. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
     
  4. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract.
     
  5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often.
     
  6. Divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.

         Purple = 14 red and 11 blue drops
         Blue = 17 drops
         Green = 17 drops
         Yellow = 12 drops
         Orange = 12 yellow and 4 red drops
         Red = 18 drops
     
  7. Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups.
     
  8. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order of a rainbow. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.
     
  9. Bake cupcakes about 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
     
  10. Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and let cool completely.

Step 3: Create Cookie 'Poptart'

Mix batter for a sugar cookie. I followed this recipe but you don't need the entire quantity. I'd suggest going for about half the amounts required in the recipe. I'm pretty sure you'll still have plenty left over.

INGREDIENTS
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
     
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
     
  3. Grease the square dessert pan and put enough cookie dough to create a somewhat thin layer at the bottom of each well.
     
  4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
Make pink frosting. I used this recipe as a basis and tweaked it.

INGREDIENTS
  • 5 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter (softened)
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pink food coloring
DIRECTIONS
  1. In a large bowl, whip the butter until fluffy. This is important because this determines your frosting's consistency.
     
  2. Mix in the vanilla with an electric mixer.
     
  3. Alternate between adding a cup of confectioner's sugar and a tablespoon of milk until the desired consistency is reached.
     
  4. Add food coloring. About 5 drops of pink food coloring is enough.
NOTE: You should also separate a small portion of the frosting for black frosting that will be used to draw in Nyan Cat's face.

Now, you have everything to make the 'poptart.' I flipped the cookies over and frosted the bottoms of the cookies because it was a lot more flat and even. Then, add the red sprinkles.

You'll have extra frosting left over, but don't get rid of it yet! You'll be using some more of it later on.

Step 4: Prepare Fondant Pieces

I bought Duff Fondant from Michael's. If you can create your own fondant, go ahead, but this was my first time playing with this stuff so I decided to go ahead and buy it pre-made.

To make the fondant easier to handle, microwave it for about 10 seconds per pound. Be careful not to overheat it otherwise it starts to melt.

I added a VERY small amount of black gel coloring to the fondant and folded it in. Keep kneading it until the fondant is one solid color.

Make small rounded balls with the diameter of a dime. Flatten them with the back of a spoon. This is Nyan Cat's head.

Flatten out some of the fondant with a roller. If it starts to stick, sprinkle some powdered sugar on your workspace area. Cut out a long rectangle and create as many squares as there are cupcakes. Then divide these in half diagonally. These are the ears. Separate them and position them above the head so that it looks like the silhouette of a cat.

Make more even smaller rounded balls. Make double the amount of cupcakes, so if you have 12 cupcakes, make 24 small round balls of fondant. These are the paws.

Roll out longer tubes of fondant. Make the same amount of tubes as there are cupcakes.These are the tails.

Step 5: Assemble Nyan Cat

Now you have all the pieces to assemble Nyan Cat!

Place the cat head you created in the previous step on the lower right corner of the poptart cookie. Using black frosting, draw a cat's face on the head.

Spread some of the frosting you made for the cookies on top of the cupcakes. You don't need to cover the entire top, you just need enough that it will allow the poptart cookie to stick and stay on top of the cupcake.

Position the paws and tail onto the cupcake. Place two of the smaller round balls next to each other and on the lower part of the cupcake. You may dip part of them in the frosting to help them stay on the cupcake. Take the long tube of fondant and position it on the left side of the cupcake and slightly curved. (See the 4th picture)

Squish the poptart cookie on top of the cupcake to make it stay. Make sure to only squish half of the paws and the lower part of the tail so that you can still see the paws sticking out from underneath the poptart cookie and the tail off to the side. Then, re-position the tip of the tail on top of the poptart.

Step 6: Enjoy!

Peel off the paper and stuff your face! You're done! :)

I'd also recommend playing the video as you munch.