How To Make Your Cupcakes Look Like Pigs
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Learn how to decorate cupcakes to look like pigs without fondant. No special skills are needed. These cute pig cupcakes are easy to make and perfect for parties!
Table of Contents
(click the links below to skip to each section)
- Things You Need
- Step by Step Tutorial
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Contact Me with Questions
- Similar Recipes
If you’re a member of the Fondant Hate subreddit, then you, like me, hate fondant. This recipe is basically made for you. All of the pig’s features are made without the use of fondant. In fact, the secret ingredient is Dandies mini vegan marshmallows.
I decorated these piggie cupcakes for a vegan bake sale where I made strawberry stuffed cupcakes. In addition to vegan and animal lover events, I think they would be perfect for a child’s birthday party. These are very easy and are great for anyone who lacks piping skills that are usually used in decorated cupcakes.
Things Needed to Make Cupcakes that Look Like Pigs
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a dozen cupcakes (I used my strawberry filled cupcakes)
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a batch of vegan buttercream frosting
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large round vegan sprinkles or candy eyes
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one corn dog stick (or anything pointy like a pencil)
How to Decorate Cupcakes to Look Like Pigs
Color your frosting pink. You can use any kind of vegan food coloring you want for this. I was decorating strawberry cupcakes, so I decided to color my frosting by adding freeze dried strawberry powder. Strawberry powder doesn’t blend as evenly as food coloring, so keep that in mind. You can tell from my pictures that there are red flecks in the frosting.
Frost the cupcakes. I started by adding a small scoop of pink frosting to the tops of all the cupcakes. I used a number 100 (2 teaspoon) scoop to make it go a little faster, but you can also use a piping bag.
Flip the cupcakes upside down onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Press each cupcake down so that the frosting flattens out and reaches the edges of the cupcakes.
Chill the tray of upside down cupcakes in the fridge while you make the pig facial features.
Sprinkle organic powdered sugar on your work surface before you start making the pig’s facial features. Dipping the cut side of marshmallows into powdered sugar keeps them from sticking to you and other things.
Cut 6 mini marshmallows in half using kitchen scissors (see the picture below for the direction to cut them). These marshmallow halves will be 12 pig snouts for your pig cupcakes.
Poke 2 nostrils in each pig nose. I used a corn dog stick. Use anything that’s shaped like that with a pointy end like a pencil. A chopstick might work.
Cut the remaining 12 mini marshmallows diagonally in half to make 24 ears.
Remove the cupcakes from the fridge.
Peel them gently off of the parchment paper or silicone mat.
Add the noses to each pig cupcake.
Add the ears to each cupcake pig.
Add sprinkle eyes or candy eyes. I used large nonpareils and applied them with my sprinkle tool.
Tips and Questions and Answers
Can I use chocolate chips for the pig’s eyes?
Using vegan chocolate chips for the eyes is a great alternative if you don’t have vegan sprinkles. If you want to be true to the small size of a pig’s eyes, you could use mini chocolate chips.
Why don’t these look like the piggie cupcakes from Pretty Little Liars?
I never watched the show Pretty Little Liars, but Izzy used to watch it when she was a teenager, so I’m familiar with how toxic that show is. I do not condone having shame or guilt around eating. There’s nothing wrong with eating as many cupcakes as your body feels like having. I eat a balanced diet of healthy food and fun food, and I’m happier because of it. Life is too short to police what we eat.
So, what animal cupcakes should I make next? Email me and let me know.
Comments or Questions?
If you make these pig cupcakes, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!
Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.
Similar Recipes
If you like these pig cupcakes, you might also like their friends: the koala cupcakes, the squirrel brownies, and the bunny tartlets.
Sidenote: I’m currently watching the show St Denis Medical. In one of the episodes, they discover that most animals have chlamydia, so now I can’t stop thinking about that. And now I might have ruined animals for you too. Don’t blame me. Blame TV! Luckily, animal cupcakes are STD-free, haha.
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