Gender Reveal Cupcakes

I was up until midnight last night. Baking cupcakes.

Surprised?

I thought not.

Normally, I’d be put out that something- anything- kept me up past my bedtime (I like my sleep). But I was excited. I had my very first paying customer! It seems that all the cupcakes I pushed my mom to take to work paid off…literally (pun intended). A pregnant coworker of hers wanted me to make some gender reveal cupcakes for a dinner party she is throwing. For those of you who have no idea what this means (men), I’ll tell you. It’s a new trend in pregnancy. It’s not enough anymore for people to tell other people what they’re having. Now the “cool” thing to do is to throw some elaborate party and tell them the gender of your child in a grand way. Sounds alright to me. Kinda wish I’d thought of it. The fun thing about this particular party, though, is that the parents-to-be don’t even know what it is, so everyone finds out all at once! I love it. Want to know what I love more? The fact that I knew a secret before someone else did. The fact that I knew the gender before the parents knew. Judge me all you want.

So what’s a gender reveal cupcake, you ask? Well, obviously, when you bite into the cupcake there is either pink or blue frosting on the inside to tell you the sex of the baby. Duh.

Luckily, Pinterest has everything. Want to know how to make your own bed frame with a million cubbyholes for storage? Check. Have a strong urge to know what uses there are for vinegar? Got that covered, too. Need a recipe for gender reveal cupcakes for your mom’s coworker’s party? Done.

What is it?! Boy? Girl? I KNOW!!

The recipe was adapted from this blog, which is an amazing source for all kinds of yummy cupcakes, most of which I will be making eventually. I made a few changes, obviously. I had to tint the icing in the middle, and I used leftover frosting from this recipe for the question marks (I made both cupcakes in one night, and couldn’t bear to throw away the champagne frosting).

Gender Reveal Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes  *warning: this recipe did not double well for me! If you need more than 12, mix it twice or tweak the amounts, if you are a kitchen chemist, which I am not*

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, room temperature
3/4 cup milk

Filling Ingredients:
1 stick butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of almond extract
Food coloring of your choice (red or blue, obviously. Amounts are up to you, depending on desired color)

Ganache Ingredients:
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup whipping cream

Directions:
To make the cupcakes: Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the vanilla and egg. While mixer is going, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour into a lined cupcake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out almost clean.

To make the filling: Beat the butter until smooth. Add sugar, milk, vanilla, and almond. Beat until spreadable. Add the food coloring and mix well. When cupcakes have completely cooled, core them with either a paring knife or apple corer (which is what I used), careful not to go all the way to the bottom. Save the cake crumbs, and once you have filled the cupcakes with the filling, top with some crumbs and press down gently. This will keep the filling from mixing with the ganache (thus ruining the surprise).

To make the ganache: Place a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering (not boiling) water. Add the chocolate chips and the heavy cream and stir (hold the bowl with a towel or potholder- it will get hot!) constantly until mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and top the cupcakes. You can do this two ways: dip or frost. For this recipe, since the filling is covered with crumbs, the “dip method” is not ideal. I frosted them with the back of a spoon.

To make the question mark on top, use a standard vanilla frosting or the one I used (I will be blogging that recipe next- I’m a little behind!). Or, you can sprinkle both pink and blue sprinkles on top. I think the “?” adds a little more drama to the whole experience. And it’s fun. But maybe that’s just me.

I should mention (or maybe you already figured it out), that these don’t have to be “gender reveal” cupcakes. They’re pretty tasty as-is. And you should make them. For any occasion. Like, Saturday. Saturday’s an occasion, right?

It's a....

 

...BOY!!

Congratulations to Katie and Parker! Boys are the best (I’m a little biased).