Chocolate and Vanilla Shark Cupcakes

You may have read in one of my previous posts that my son turned 8 on New Year’s Day. He and two of his friends who have also have birthdays in January had a joint party and invited all the boys from their year. They are not anti-girls (much!), there are just too many children to invite them all.

The party was a “Water Walkers” one, and I have mentioned these before in my Dolphin Birthday Cake post. Our friend Antonia had her 10th birthday party at the same place and requested a dolphin cake to fit in with the water theme. So I thought I was sorted for Linus, Benjamin and Archie’s party; dolphin cupcakes would be perfect for the kids to take home as party cake.

Until I suggested this idea to Linus and was told that dolphins were too “girly”. Even if I did them grey or black, still too girly. But sharks would be acceptable.

So I found a shark cutter on the internet and it turns out that sharks are far better for cupcakes than dolphins because the pectoral fin (yes, I did have to look that up) is perfect for sticking the shark into the cake, and it looks like it’s swimming.

So I decided to do half chocolate and half vanilla cupcakes, partly so that all tastes are catered for and partly because I really like making “sets” of cupcakes in contrasting colours! I decided on blue cases for the chocolate ones and white with blue spots for the vanilla ones to keep with the theme of the sea.

I used black and bright blue sugarpaste for the sharks. I sometimes colour the icing myself but with the brighter and darker colours it’s much easier to buy it ready coloured. I made the sharks a few days in advance so that they had time to dry out properly. I used silver balls for the beady eyes and a paintbrush to add blue glitter for a bit of sparkle.

I made my usual cupcake recipe and some chocolate and vanilla buttercream icing. I had a great time colouring the vanilla icing to a sea(ish) blue colour. I stopped with the food colouring when Linus pronounced it suitable.

Vanilla Shark Cupcake

I didn’t think the icing needed piping as I thought spreading it roughly would give an impression of waves in the sea. I added bright blue sugar spinkles to both the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and they were ready.

When it came to singing happy birthday to the boys we also used the cupcakes: we had 24 children at the party and the boys were celebrating their 8th birthday. So they were presented with 8 cupcakes each for the blowing out of candles and then a cupcake went home with each child.

Chocolate Shark Cupcake

The sharks also turned out to be perfectly positioned for the candles. So if it’s a water theme you’re looking for, sharks are surprisingly versatile!

Categories: Baking, Birthday cakes, Cakes, Cupcakes

Tags: baking, birthday, birthday cake, cake, cake decorating, chocolate, cupcakes, frosting, icing, parties, sharks, sugarpaste, swimming party, vanilla