Happy Friday! Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear premieres today and so I’m excited to share these Lightyear Cupcakes! Inspired by Buzz and his robotic cat Sox, these vanilla cupcakes are topped with colorful marshmallow frosting, sprinkles, and cat shaped fondant!
In Lightyear, space ranger Buzz Lightyear embarks on an adventure with his companions and his robotic cat Sox. For these cupcakes, I decided to decorate half of them for Buzz and half of them for Sox. Sox was so cute that I just couldn’t resist!
I decided to make these Lightyear Cupcakes as vanilla cupcakes, but the marshmallow frosting will also pair well with chocolate cake, if you’re a chocolate lover! If you’re looking for a chocolate cupcake recipe, be sure to check out mine!
To make these cupcakes, first combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the egg, egg white, and vanilla and beat until blended.
On low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture, one third at a time, alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour.
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Divide the batter among a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners. For these cupcakes, I used my favorite parchment paper cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the fondant decorations. For this, you can either use orange fondant or you can dye white fondant orange using a few drops of orange gel food coloring.
Roll the fondant out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure to pick it up and turn it as you’re rolling to prevent it from sticking. You can also lightly dust your work surface with powdered sugar to help prevent it from sticking.
Next, cut out the cat shapes using a small cat face shaped cookie cutter. For this, I used one from a set that I bought at Target. Place the cut out fondant on a piece of wax paper and set aside until you’re ready to decorate the cupcakes.
Finally, make the marshmallow frosting. On medium speed, beat the butter and until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in the marshmallow fluff until just combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla and then beat the frosting on medium speed until fluffy.
Separate the frosting into four bowls. Add a few drops of green gel food coloring to one bowl and a few drops of purple gel food coloring to another bowl. For these, I used the purple from Wilton’s Neon Gel Food Color Set and the Leaf Green from AmeriColor’s Student Kit. Stir until will combined. Keep the other two bowls of frosting white.
Transfer the the green, purple, and one of the white icings into piping bags. Cut off the tips and place them all together into a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip. For this, you can also use a special 3-color piping bag set from Wilton, but either method will work! Place the remaining white frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
To decorate the Buzz cupcakes, pipe a swirl of the green, purple, and white frosting onto half of the cupcakes. Gently press 2-3 star sprinkles into the frosting. I used white candy star sprinkles that I had from a set of Christmas sprinkles, but there are similar options available online.
For the Sox cupcakes, pipe a swirl of white frosting onto the tops of the remaining cupcakes. Gently press one of the cat fondant pieces into the frosting.
Enjoy these Lightyear Cupcakes! To Infinity and Beyond!
Lightyear Cupcakes
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk
Marshmallow Frosting
- 1 ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 7.5 oz jar marshmallow fluff or creme
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- green gel food coloring
- purple gel food coloring
Decorations
- orange fondant
- white candy star sprinkles
Equipment
- piping bags
- large star piping tip
- cat face cookie cutter
Instructions
Vanilla Cupcakes
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Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Depending on how thick they are, use two cupcake liners in each cup.
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In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
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Add in egg, egg white, and vanilla; beat until blended.
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On low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture, one third at a time, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour.
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Divide batter among liners and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Marshmallow Frosting
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On medium speed, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
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On low speed, beat in the marshmallow fluff until just combined, about 30 seconds.
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Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla, then beat on medium speed until fluffy.
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Separate the frosting into four bowls. Add a few drops of green gel food coloring to one bowl and a few drops of purple gel food coloring to another bowl. Stir until will combined. Keep the other two bowls of frosting white.
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Add the green, purple, and one of the white icings to piping bags. Cut off the tips and place them all together into a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
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Place the remaining white frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
Fondant Decoration
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Roll the orange fondant out to about ¼ inch thickness.
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Cut the fondant out into cat shapes using a small cat shaped cookie cutter.
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Place the cut out pieces onto a piece of wax paper until you’re ready to decorate.
Assembly
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Pipe the green, purple, and white frosting mix onto the tops of half of the cupcakes.
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Gently press two to three candy sprinkle stars into the frosting swirl.
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Pipe the white frosting onto the tops of the remaining half of the cupcakes.
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Gently press a fondant cat onto each of the white frosted cupcakes.