Beach Towel Pull Apart Cupcake Cake Recipes

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners. Prepare the cupcakes according to the package directions. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
• In a clean mixer bowl, combine 1 1/2 tubs of the frosting and about 1/4 teaspoon blue food coloring. Beat until smooth and no streaks remain, adding more color if needed to make a light blue frosting.
• Dollop a tiny bit of blue frosting on the bottom of the liner of one of the cupcakes (this will help anchor it to the serving tray), then dollop a generous amount on top of the cupcake. Anchor the cupcake to a serving tray large enough to hold all 24 cupcakes. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes, arranging them in a 4-by-6 cupcake grid with the edges touching.
• Using an offset spatula, smooth the blue frosting across the tops of the cupcakes, adding more as necessary, so it appears as 1 layer and the individual cupcakes are no longer visible. Smooth the remaining blue frosting on the sides to cover the cupcakes but not the liners.
• Put the remaining 1 1/2 tubs white frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe the outline of a rectangle in white (about 5 by 7 inches) closer to one short edge of the cupcake grid to make the pool. Pipe around the outline of the rectangle all the way to the edges of the cupcake grid with white, leaving the inside of the pool blue. Smooth the white frosting with an offset spatula.
• For the decorations: Arrange a row of blue candy-coated chocolates on the white frosting around the perimeter of the pool, then arrange another row of blue candy-coated chocolates around the outer perimeter of the cupcake grid. Fill in between the 2 blue rows with rows of white candy-coated chocolates to make the pool deck. Chill the cake 30 minutes to set the frosting inside the pool.
• Meanwhile, bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the blue gelatin until dissolved. Combine a mixture of water and ice in a measuring cup to make 1/2 cup. Stir into the dissolved gelatin until the ice melts. Chill the gelatin mixture while the cake chills. After 30 minutes, pour the gelatin into the pool. Chill until completely set, about 2 hours.
• Cut 2 strips of sour candy belt, each slightly larger than a graham bear, to make beach towels. Lay 1 bear on each towel and arrange them to relax by the pool. Add a drink umbrella over each to shade them from the sun.
• Cut the candy necklaces open where they tie to make 2 long strips. Cut 2 strips the same size as the length of the pool and arrange them over the gelatin for lanes. Gently pull out and discard the strings, keeping the candies in straight lines. Arrange 3 bears around a jawbreaker in the pool to play a game of volleyball. Stick a bear in each gummy ring candy for floaties and add to the pool.
• Cut the chocolate chew into 4 pieces crosswise to make legs for the diving board. Cut a 1 1/2-inch piece from the white taffy and attach it to the legs to make a diving board. Set at the deep end of the pool and press a bear at the end, ready to dive in.
• Cut the green taffy into a rectangle a little larger than a bear. With the back of a paring knife, score lines in the taffy to resemble the puffy parts of a blow-up raft. Stick a bear on the raft and add him to the pool. Stick the remaining bears in the pool to hang out.

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Set the ice cream cones in the cups of in two 12-cup muffin pans so they stand upright.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil and 1 cup cold water. Beat on low speed just to combine, then increase the speed to high and beat until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide the mixture among the ice cream cones. Bake until the cupcakes rise above the edges of the cones and a tester inserted in the center of 1 comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
• Set aside about 1/4 cup vanilla frosting in a small bowl. Put the remaining frosting in a clean mixer bowl and add about 1/2 teaspoon blue food coloring. Beat and continue to add food coloring, if necessary, to get a sea blue color.
• Dollop a tiny bit of frosting on the bottom of a cone (this will help anchor it to the serving tray) and then dollop a generous amount on top. Anchor the cone to the serving tray and repeat with the remaining cones, arranging them in a 4-by-6 cone grid, with the edges touching.
• Using an offset spatula, smooth the blue frosting across the tops of the cupcakes, adding more as necessary, so it appears as 1 layer and the individual cupcakes are no longer visible. Smooth the remaining blue frosting on the sides to cover the cupcakes but not the cones.
• Pat the graham cracker crumbs onto one half of the cake, creating a wavy pattern along one edge where the water meets the sandy beach. Put the reserved white frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a large leaf tip. Pipe the white frosting along the edge where the water and sand meet to make breaking waves.
• To decorate the beach half of the cake, arrange the blue rock candy just behind the breaking waves to create the crashing surf. Stick some beach umbrellas in the sand, making sure you stick them into the cakes and not the frosted spaces between them. Cut the taffy into beach towels and arrange some cookie bears on the towels on the beach. Arrange some piles of candy rocks on the beach.
• To make palm trees, sprinkle your work surface with a little sugar and roll or flatten the lime fruit slice candies. Cut into 5 palm leaves. (If you have time, let the leaves dry and harden for 1/2 hour or so, they will stick up straighter on the finished tree). Break the pretzel rod in half and stick the leaves on top to make a palm tree. Stick the tree into one of the cupcakes on the beach.
• Attach one end of the twist tie to a gummy candy fish and wrap the other end around the remaining half of the pretzel rod to make a fishing pole. Stick the pole in the sand and add a cookie bear as a fisherman.
• To decorate the ocean half of the cake, arrange gummy candy sea creatures in the water. Stick some cookie bears into gummy candy rings and set them in the ocean to float. Press or roll the caramel candy to flatten and then crimp the edges to make a boat. Attach a square sticky note to a toothpick to make a sail. Stick it in the boat, along with a cookie bear as a sailor.

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners; fill 9 with yellow liners and 15 with blue liners. Prepare the cupcakes according to the package directions. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
• For the frosting: Color 3 cups of the frosting with blue gel food coloring until sea blue (12 to 14 drops). Color 2 cups of the frosting with yellow food coloring until pale yellow (2 to 3 drops). Keep the remaining 1 cup frosting white and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a medium petal tip.
• Arrange the cupcakes in a 4-by-6 grid on a cutting board or a flat square serving platter, keeping the yellow liners together to make the sandy beach and the blue liners together to make the water. There will be 1 yellow liner in the row where the blue and yellow meet; keep it to the far left.
• With an ice cream scoop, scoop balls of blue frosting on the blue-lined cupcakes and yellow frosting on the yellow-lined cupcakes. Smooth the frosting across the cupcakes with an offset spatula so the blue and yellow almost meet; the line where they touch should be a gradual diagonal that looks like the shoreline when a wave comes in.
• Set aside 6 teddy bears. Put the rest in a food processor and process to crumbs. Reserve about 1/4 cup or so of the crumbs to anchor the palm trees later. Sprinkle the remainder over the yellow frosting to make sand.
• Pipe waves of white frosting along the shoreline where the sand meets the surf.
• Break off one end of the pretzel rods to make two 5-inch rods; discard (or eat) the smaller pieces from each rod. Cut the spearmint leaves in half crosswise and roll them out to flatten slightly. Press 3 leaf pieces into the broken end of each pretzel rod to resemble palm tree leaves. (If you have having trouble getting the leaves to stick, you can brush with a tiny bit of water at the spot where they adhere). Press 2 chocolate-covered peanuts on top of the leaves to make coconuts.
• Stick the trees into the sand in the spaces where the cupcakes meet. Spoon the remaining graham cracker crumbs around the bottoms of the trees to anchor them. Add a chocolate-covered peanut under each as a dropped coconut.
• Cut the sour candy strip into 4 equal pieces. Arrange on the sand for beach towels and lay a bear on top of each one.
• For the surfboards, unwrap and flatten the fruit roll up rounds. Fold each into quarters and press to adhere. Cut a 2 1/2-inch oval surfboard shape from each. Cut the black licorice into strips for lines on the surfboards (2 lines per board), but don't stick them on yet.
• Place the surfboards on a piece of parchment and microwave just until warm, about 10 seconds. Press on the licorice lines and microwave just until they stick, about 5 seconds more. Press a standing bear on each for a surfer and let cool. (You can put in the freezer to hasten the process.)
• Place the surfing bears on the water. Place the sharks on the water. With the remaining white frosting, pipe waves in front of the boards and in random spots around the rest of the ocean.

Steps:

• Prepare both boxes of vanilla pudding according to the package directions, using an electric mixer. Blend the cream cheese into the pudding, mixing thoroughly to remove any lumps. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese-pudding mixture.
• Spread a third of the graham cracker crumbs into an even layer in a low-sided clear bowl. Pour half of the pudding over the crumbs and spread until it reaches the sides of the bowl using an offset spatula. Repeat this process once, setting the remaining third of the graham cracker crumbs aside. Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly against the surface of the pudding and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
• Remove and discard the plastic wrap. Following the edge of the bowl, create a 1 1/2-inch border of blue sparkle gel around the edge of of the pudding. Use a small offset spatula to gently spread the blue sparkle gel, creating the look and texture of ocean waves. Cover the remaining exposed pudding by piling the reserved graham cracker crumbs on top, mounding in the center, to resemble an island in the ocean.
• Cut the sour candy belts into small rectangles to resemble beach towels and place them around the cake with the bear crackers on top of each one. Place a few bear crackers inside peach candy rings (to look like inner tubes) and place them in the blue sparkle gel so that they appear to be bobbing in the water.
• To make the palm trees: Insert a mint stem into each wafer cookie, pushing down until the leaves meet the top of the cookie. Gently press into the center of the graham cracker crumb island.
• To make the candy crab: Use scissors to snip a small triangle out of the rounded side of a cherry slice, positioning it close to the flat side, to look like a claw. Snip a small notch out of the opposite side along the curve, to fashion the arm that the claw is attached to. Repeat this process with a second cherry slice. Insert a toothpick lengthwise into each arm and set aside. Prepare the crab body by holding the rounded sides of 2 cherry slices together back to back. Secure together using 2 toothpicks, being sure to push the toothpicks deep enough so they are only exposed on top. To make the eyes, use a dab of blue sparkle gel to attach an eyeball to the bottom of each gumdrop. Secure the gumdrops on the toothpicks sticking out of the crab body. Push the claw toothpicks into the sides of the crab body. Bury the bottom half of the crab body in the graham cracker crumb sand.
• Sprinkle the island with sanding sugars where the ocean meets the graham cracker crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12-cup standard cupcake pans with paper liners.
• Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
• Combine sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
• Mix 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined. Mix in 1/2 of the coffee and 1/2 of the sour cream until just combined. Add remaining flour mixture alternately with remaining sour cream and coffee. Do not overmix. Fill the prepared cupcake cups evenly with batter.
• Bake in the preheated oven until they spring back lightly when touched, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool completely, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Core cooled cupcakes using a knife or cupcake corer, cutting about halfway down. Save cupcake centers for another use (such as for making a batch of cake balls).
• Prepare ganache. Add white chocolate chips and heavy cream to a large, microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 50% power until chocolate is melted and smooth, in 30-second intervals, stirring after each. Mix in crushed candies and peppermint extract until thoroughly combined. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, stirring often.
• Place ganache in a piping bag or resealable plastic bag with a corner cut off. Fill each cupcake to the top with ganache. Allow them to sit until ganache firms up and doesn't "smudge" when pressed lightly with fingertips, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Prepare frosting. Cream butter until smooth in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and salt. Add heavy cream and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. If frosting is too thick, add more heavy cream--or if it is too thin, add more powdered sugar until frosting is a spreadable consistency that still holds its shape.
• Place a small amount of frosting in a separate bowl and add yellow food coloring for the ear muffs. Divide remaining frosting in half. To 1/2 of the divided frosting, add cocoa powder and red food coloring to achieve an auburn color. Divide remaining white frosting in half again. Color 1/2 peach using a very light amount of red and yellow food coloring. Color remaining frosting red. Put each into a piping bag fitted with a coupler.
• Arrange cupcakes on a large cake board or serving platter, starting from the top. Begin with 1 cupcake at the top. Follow with a row of 2 cupcakes, making sure they stay as close as possible. (If cupcakes slide around, affix a small amount of frosting to the bottom of them so they stick to the serving platter or cake board.) Follow with a row of 3 cupcakes, then a row of 5 cupcakes, a row of 4 cupcakes, another row of 5 cupcakes, and finally a last row of 4 cupcakes. Make sure the cupcakes are as close to one another as possible. If there are any large gaps, you can use large marshmallows, trimmed to fit, in order to fill them in and make a flatter, more cohesive surface to frost.
• Beginning with the top 6 cupcakes (the rows with 1 cupcake, 2 cupcakes, and 3 cupcakes in them), frost the hat portion of the cake using the red frosting and large round tip. Smooth center portion using an offset spatula, if desired. Use the peach frosting to frost the center 3 cupcakes in the row of 5 below the hat, leaving a cupcake on each side unfrosted for the ear muffs. Smooth with an offset spatula. Affix 2 dark chocolate chips upside-down for the eyes in the center of the peach frosting.
• Pipe the nose below the eyes, and then the lower lip below the nose using the peach frosting. Frost the cupcakes on each side of the face with the yellow frosting for the ear muffs. To frost the beard, use the auburn colored frosting and cover the remaining unfrosted cupcakes (that contain a row of 4, a row of 5, and final row of 4 cupcakes) with a thin layer of the auburn frosting. Smooth frosting all over the "beard-portion" of the cupcakes until mostly smooth and flat. Place a star tip on the auburn frosting piping bag, and pipe dots of frosting along the side of the face, then pipe the mustache between the nose and lip, and add some swirls on top of the beard, if desired.
• Allow cupcake cake to sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature (or place in the fridge) to allow frosting to crust. Serve.

Steps:

• Reserve about 3/4 cup white buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Color about 1 1/2 cups buttercream deep green. Color about 3 cups buttercream deep pink, with a few drops of red added to make the color of ripe watermelon.
• Arrange 19 cupcakes in a triangle shape, starting with 1 at the top and ending with 6 at the bottom, sloping the bottom sides up to resemble the curved rind of a watermelon wedge.
• Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to dollop about 1/4 cup green buttercream on each of the 6 cupcakes in the bottom row. Smooth with a small offset spatula, covering the tops and sides (but not the paper liners), to make a solid line of green for the rind.
• Wash and dry the ice cream scoop and offset spatula. Dollop about 1/4 cup pink buttercream on each of the remaining cupcakes and smooth the tops and sides with the offset spatula. Shape the frosting on the top cupcake into a point to resemble the tip of a watermelon wedge.
• Wash the offset spatula again. Pipe a curved line of white buttercream along where the pink and green buttercream meet. Smooth with the tip of the offset spatula to make the inner white part of the watermelon rind.
• Press jelly beans in a random pattern to make watermelon seeds.