Easy to Make Sunflower Cupcakes

I love sunflowers.  I like them so much that my husband grows them for me every year.

We just recently harvested them for their seeds and now I'm missing them. So we made some Easy to Make Sunflower Cupcakes.

These sunflower cupcakes are beautiful and easy to make.

Easy to Make Sunflower Cupcakes

Yields: 24 Cupcakes

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix (plus required ingredients listed on the box, i.e. eggs, oil & water)

24 Mini Oreos

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners’ sugar (I actually use half.)

4 tablespoons milk

Yellow Food Coloring for Sunflower Petals (Optional Green for Leaves)

Directions:

1. Prepare cake batter according to box directions and bake in cupcake pan using liners.

2. While cupcakes cool, make frosting. Start by using an electric mixer to beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract. Pour in milk and beat for an additional 3 minutes.

3. Place two cups of white frosting in a piping bag and add a single layer of frosting to each cupcake. This will be the base for the sunflower.

4. Place one Oreo in the center of each frosted cupcake – pressing down slightly.

5. Mix yellow food coloring in remaining frosting until you reach desired shade. Optional: Omit a few tablespoons of white frosting and add green food coloring to create leaves on the sunflowers.

6. Place yellow frosting in a piping bag. I used Wilson’s Leaf Tip #67 for the petals and leaves. Turning the cupcake as you go, create a single layer of yellow flower petals surrounding the Oreo. Start again with a second layer of yellowflower petals to fill in the spaces between the petals on the first layer.

7. Optional: place the green frosting in a piping bag and use the same tip to add a couple of leaves to each sunflower.

These will certainly be a hit!