Drop of Disney

Happy 70th Anniversary Cinderella! Cinderella is one of my favorite princesses and I’m so excited to celebrate with these copycat Gus Gus cupcakes! Just like the ones at Disney World, these chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting are filled with marshmallow fluff and topped with fondant ears and a piece of white chocolate cheese! 

I love Cinderella’s ability to keep dreaming and be kind in the face of adversity. I also really love her dedication to her animal friends, especially the mice. When I saw Disney had made an adorable Gus Gus inspired cupcake, I knew I had to re-create it at home! I’m so happy with how they turned out!

The original Gus Gus cupcakes can be found at the All-Star Resorts at Disney World, but if you’re not near the parks these homemade ones are just as cute and tasty! There are a lot of moving pieces to these cupcakes, so make sure to give yourself a couple hours to make and assemble everything. I started by making the chocolate cupcakes so that they had time to cool while I was making the frostings and decorations.

To match the look of the Disney cupcakes, I wanted a solid yellow cupcake liner or wrapper with a scalloped edge. I used a cupcake wrapper as I had a hard time finding a self-standing cupcake liner that wasn’t polka dot. The exact one I used is out of stock on Amazon, but this one looks identical. The way a wrapper works is that you bake your cupcakes in a muffin pan using regular cupcake liners (I love these ones by PaperChef) and then attach the wrapper around the cupcake after they’ve cooled.

If you can find self-standing yellow cups, that’s great too! No need to use a muffin pan with those, just place them on a baking sheet. If you can’t find either of those, you can also use regular yellow cupcake liners. They might look a little different than the ones at Disney, but the taste will still be great!

To make the cupcakes, combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and beat until combined. Stir in the boiling water at the very end. Unlike a lot of cake batters, this batter is very runny and almost looks like hot chocolate. Don’t worry, that’s how it’s supposed to look! Bake for 15 minutes and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cupcakes are cooling make the fondant ears and the cheese decorations.

To make the fondant ears, start with about 2 ounces of regular white fondant. I really like Wilton’s Fondant, which comes in 4 oz packages so you don’t have to waste a lot. The ears are a light pink and so I added a couple drops of deep pink gel food coloring from AmeriColor. Using your hands, work the color into the fondant until it is evenly distributed (If you don’t want to get the color on your fingers, just use a pair of disposable gloves).

Roll out the now pink fondant on a flat surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar. This will help keep the fondant from sticking. Roll it so that it’s about 1/4 inch thickness and then use a 1 1/4 inch round cutter to cut the ears. After you’ve cut the circles out, pinch part of the circle together to make a small fold that will be the bottom of the ear. Place ears on wax paper and let rest until you’re ready to decorate.

Move on to the candy cheese decorations. To make these, start by melting about a half cup of Wilton’s yellow candy melts. If you can’t find yellow, you can also dye white candy melts using any oil based candy coloring. Just melt and stir in the color.

After you’ve melted the candy melts, spread them onto a flat, wax paper lined surface. Aim for abut 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Let the candy set at room temperature, about 15 minutes. To make the cheese holes, press a medium round piping tip into the candy to make little round notches. As you press in, twist the tip and pull out a little bit of the candy in the hole. Be careful not to press too hard so you don’t go all the way through. Brush off the candy shavings and then cut into small triangle pieces.

With the decorations made, head back to the cupcakes. Now that they’re cool, use an apple corer to cut out the centers. If you’re using the cupcake wrappers, go ahead and assemble them and wrap the cupcakes now too. Place cupcakes on a baking sheet so they can be moved around easily.

Next, fill the centers with marshmallow fluff. For these cupcakes, I used a store bought marshmallow fluff (if you’re interested in making your own, check out my chocolate pixie dust cookie recipe). Transfer the marshmallow to a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip and pipe into the centers of the cupcakes. Set cupcakes aside while you make the frosting.

There are two different kinds of frosting in this recipe. The main frosting is peanut butter. The teal frosting, Gus Gus’ hat, is regular vanilla buttercream. To make the peanut butter frosting, combine butter and peanut butter. It’s best to use a natural peanut butter for this as it’s easier to combine and has more peanut flavor. I used Smuckers’ Natural Peanut Butter. Once combined, add in the sugar and milk and beat until fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag with a large round tip.

To make the vanilla buttercream, beat the butter until smooth and then add the vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar. Beat until combined and then turn up the speed and beat until fluffy. Take a scoop of frosting out and dye it red using gel food coloring. This will be for Gus’ nose. Transfer to a piping bag with a small round piping tip.

Add a few drops of teal gel food coloring to the remaining frosting and stir until the color is fully distributed. I used the teal from this Wilton neon gel food coloring set. Transfer to a piping bag with a medium round tip.

Now it’s time to assemble! First, pipe a large swirl of peanut butter frosting onto the top of each cupcake. Then, pipe a small swirl on top of the peanut butter swirl using the teal frosting. Add a drop of red frosting to the front center of each cupcake to make a nose. Add one fondant ear to each side of the cupcake and then add a piece of candy cheese.

And that’s it! Enjoy your very own Gus Gus cupcakes!

Disclaimer: Links in this post are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Gus Gus Cupcakes

Happy 70th Anniversary Cinderella! Celebrate with these copycat Gus Gus cupcakes! Just like the ones at Disney World, these chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting are filled with marshmallow fluff and topped with fondant ears and a piece of white chocolate cheese!

Course Dessert

Keyword Chocolate Cupcakes, Gus Gus, Peanut Butter

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup + 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup boiling water

Peanut Butter Frosting

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup natural peanut butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk

Buttercream Frosting

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk

Filling & Decoration

• 1 7.5 oz jar of marshmallow fluff or creme
• 2 oz white fondant
• pink gel food coloring
• teal gel food coloring
• red gel food coloring
• ½ cup yellow candy melts

Equipment

• 3 piping bags
• 1 large round piping tip
• 1 medium round piping tip
• 1 small round piping tip
• 1 ¼ inch round cookie cutter
• yellow scalloped cupcake wrappers or free standing cupcake liners

Instructions

Chocolate Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners or place self-standing cupcake liners on a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
3. Add egg, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until fully combined, about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin and runny).
5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Once cupcakes have cooled, use an apple corer to remove the center of each cupcake.
8. Transfer marshmallow fluff to a piping bag fitted with a medium round piping tip.
9. Pipe marshmallow fluff into the center of each cupcake. Set aside until ready to assemble.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1. In a medium bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until fully combined.
2. Add powdered sugar and milk and beat until fluffy. Add more milk if needed.
3. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip.

Buttercream Frosting

1. Beat butter and vanilla until smooth.
2. Add the powdered sugar and milk and beat until combined.
3. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
4. Take a scoop of frosting and place it into a small bowl. Stir in red food coloring and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
5. Stir teal gel food coloring into the remaining frosting and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a medium round piping tip.

Fondant Ears

1. Wearing disposable gloves, add a couple drops of gel food coloring to the white fondant. Aim for a light pink color.
2. Knead the fondant until the color is evenly distributed.
3. Place onto a flat surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Roll out to about ¼ inch thickness.
4. Cut out circles using a 1 ¼ inch round cutter. Gently pinch one side of the circle to make the edge of the ear.
5. Place ears on a sheet of wax paper until ready to assemble.

Candy Cheese

1. Place a sheet of wax paper on a flat surface.
2. Place candy melts in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.
3. Spread the melted candy melts onto the wax paper. Aim for a square shape about ¼ inch thick. Leave to set, about 15 minutes.
4. Once the candy has set, use a medium piping tip to press circles into the candy. Try not to make a complete hole.
5. Brush off candy shavings and cut into small triangles. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Assembly

1. If using yellow cupcake wrappers, assemble them and place cupcakes inside.
2. Pipe a large swirl of peanut butter frosting onto each marshmallow filled cupcake.
3. Pipe a small swirl of teal buttercream frosting on the top of the peanut butter swirl to make Gus’ hat.
4. Pipe a small dot of red buttercream frosting on top of the peanut butter frosting on one side of the cupcake.
5. Place a fondant ear on each side of the cupcake and a small piece of candy cheese on the right side.