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Shark Week Cupcakes Recipe

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4.3 from 2 reviews

Celebrate Shark Week with these delightful Shark Week Cupcakes featuring moist orange-infused cupcakes swirled with blue coloring, filled with a tangy raspberry orange sauce, and topped with tri-colored cream cheese frosting waves and shark fin cake picks for a fun, thematic treat.

  • Author: Chef
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 21 minutes
  • Total Time: 36 minutes
  • Yield: 24 servings
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Cupcake Batter

  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 6 egg whites
  • 4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • blue gel food coloring, for swirling

Raspberry Orange Sauce

  • 8 ounces seedless raspberry preserves
  • 1-2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • blue gel food coloring
  • purple gel food coloring

Decoration

  • Shark fin cake picks

Instructions

  1. Prepare dry ingredients and batter: Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C) and line muffin tins with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat for 2 minutes. Incorporate the egg whites, vanilla extract, sour cream, fresh orange juice, and orange zest until evenly combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the milk gently.
  2. Add blue swirls and bake: Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with the batter. Add a few small drops of blue gel food coloring over the batter in each liner and use a knife or chopstick to lightly swirl the color, creating blue ribbons. Bake in the preheated oven for 19-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes and let cool completely on a wire rack.
  3. Make the raspberry orange sauce: In a bowl, combine the seedless raspberry preserves with 1 to 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice. Stir well to break up any large dollops and create a pourable sauce that falls off a spoon in sheets rather than clumps.
  4. Fill the cupcakes: Once cupcakes are fully cooled, use a small knife to cut out a cone-shaped section from the top of each cupcake. Spoon the raspberry orange sauce into each hollowed-out section, filling about three-quarters full. Gently replace the cone-shaped cutout back onto each cupcake.
  5. Prepare the cream cheese frosting: In a large bowl, beat together softened cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract, beating until the frosting is fluffy and well combined. Divide the frosting evenly into three bowls. Color one bowl with blue gel, another with a mixture of purple and blue gels, and leave the last bowl white.
  6. Decorate the cupcakes: Place the blue and purple frostings together in a two-color piping bag with a star tip on one side and the white frosting in another section of the bag. Pipe frosting onto each cupcake by pushing out a bit of frosting and pulling straight up to form wave-like swirls. Finish by placing shark fin cake picks atop each cupcake for a whimsical Shark Week theme.

Notes

  • Make sure cupcakes are completely cool before filling with sauce to prevent melting the frosting later.
  • Use a gentle swirling motion when adding blue gel to avoid blending the color too much and losing the swirl effect.
  • Adjust the amount of powdered sugar in frosting to get your preferred consistency – more sugar for stiffer frosting, less for creamier frosting.
  • For a stronger orange flavor, add a bit more orange zest or juice in the batter.
  • If you don’t have purple gel food coloring, mix red and blue gels to create it.

Find it online: https://cheftinaskitchen.com/shark-week-cupcakes-recipe/