totoro cupcakes

Totoro cupcakes ^^ These are cupcakes inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, a really amazing and cute Japanese animated film. If you haven't watched it yet, you should :3

The cupcakes in this recipe are apple and maple cupcakes, but you can make the totoro cupcakes with any kind you want :D Enjoy :D

(recipe credits down below)

Apple and Maple Cupcakes (makes twelve cupcakes)

Ingredients:

(I also put in the conversions into cups to make it more convenient for people who live in the US, but if you want to be EXACT, use the exact amounts)

~60 grams butter (equal to about 0.253 cups, about 1/4 cup)

~240 ml flour (equal to about 1.014 cups, about 1 cup)

~1 1/2 tsp baking powder

~1 tsp cinnamon

~100 ml firmly packed brown sugar (equal to about 0.422 cups, about 1/2 cup)

~50 ml maple syrup (equal to about 0.211, about 1/4 cup)

~2 eggs

~300 ml peeled and coarsely grated tart apples (equal to about 1.268 cups, about 3 small apples)

(i think it asks for tart apples because tart apples are better to use in baking, but i guess if you dont have that specific type, any type of apple is fine)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius (338 degrees fahrenheit).

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer. Add maple syrup, beat a little more. Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat.

3. Add in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and grated apples. Mix well.

4. Prepare cupcake pan with the wrappers, and fill each 2/3 full with the batter. Bake for 15 minutes, and when done, set to cool.

Maple Frosting

Ingredients:

~90 grams butter (equal to about .38 cups, about 1/3 cup)

~240 ml icing sugar (equal to about 1.014 cups, about 1 cup)

~4 tsp maple syrup

Directions:

1. Beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy. Done! :)

Now, spread frosting on the cooled cupcakes.

Totoro Fondant Work

Sugar fondant/paste is easier to just buy, but here is the recipe to make it if you want to make it yourself :D

Ingredients:

~3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

~1/3 cup hot water

~1/3 cup corn syrup

Directions:

1. Simply mix everything together, and you get uncooked fondant. Make as much as needed.

When making the fondant totoro, mix amounts of fondant with food coloring (i reccomend either blue or gray for the totoro) to get your desired colors.

Fondant is kind of like playdough... (btw, i dont really reccommend eating too much of this stuff. i dont think it will taste that great, but its edible :P)

Use it lke clay, and for small details, use a toothpick dipped in food coloring. You can use the pictures above as examples for the totoro.

Or you can use these: