Cutest Pokemon Cupcakes

I have another themed cupcake for you guys! I made these Pokemon cupcakes around the time the Detective Pikachu movie came out – please tell me you’ve seen it. If you haven’t, I have the best idea: make these cupcakes, get comfy, and stream the movie. You could totally host a Pokemon-themed party, while you’re at it! 

I‘ve been obsessed with Pokemon for as long as I can remember, so this recipe is my childhood coming full circle! 

I wish I could make ALL of the Pokemons but I had to narrow it down to six for this first batch. Maybe there will be a part two? Let me know if you have any other ideas! For this batch, I made one of each: Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Jigglypuff, and a (very easy) Pokeball. 

To make this Pokemon cupcake recipe, I started with my go-to vanilla cake batter – the airiness and the rich, buttery vanilla flavor in each bite sends me straight to heaven. Then, I made a decadent vanilla buttercream dyed with food coloring for the Pokemon art. 

There are also the cutest 3D details on some of them, like Bulbasaur’s bulb, Jigglypuff’s swirl, and Pikachu’s ears (the ears will require freezing time, so please do so at least an hour in advance). 

I highly recommend watching the video at the bottom of this post before you start. It will require some planning on your side: Do you want to skip any of the Pokemon characters or double up on others? This will help you decide how much of each color you’ll need, and if you decide to skip any of the Pokemon characters, you won’t need that food coloring at all. 

Recipe Ingredients

First, we will start with the vanilla cake batter: 

• Unsalted butter – Bring to room temperature.
• Vanilla – The vanilla flavor is the star of this recipe, so I highly recommend vanilla beans if you can get your hands on them. Otherwise, vanilla extract also works. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract is the same as the seeds of 1 vanilla pod. 
• Baking soda – Baking soda is crucial in making sure the cake batter rises in the oven. 
• Sour cream – For a moist and rich cake batter, sour cream is the key. It’s thicker and denser than milk, making the cupcake a slice of heaven!  
• Sugar 
• Large eggs 
• All-purpose flour
• Salt 

For the Pokemon decorations: 

• Unsalted butter – Bring to room temperature.
• Vanilla – See note above on vanilla. 
• Confectioner’s sugar – The only acceptable sugar for buttercream! 
• Candy melts – These round chocolate coins will go on Jigglypuff’s eyes and on the Pokeballs. It’s also okay to just pipe a circle with white buttercream! 
• Food coloring – We’ll use a small portion of white buttercream for the Pokeballs and for piping the sparkles in the eyes. We also need black buttercream for details like the eyes and mouths.
  
  Aside from black and white, these are the other food colors you will need:

• Pikachu – Yellow and red
• Charmander – Orange, red, and yellow
• Jigglypuff – Pink and sky blue
• Bulbasaur – Blue-green, dark green, and light green
• Squirtle – Sky blue 
• Pokeball – Red

How to Make Pokemon Cupcakes

Make the vanilla cream cupcake:

1. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the eggs, mixing with each addition.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add it to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream, mixing with each addition.
3. And there you have it – vanilla cake batter! Spoon the mixture into 6 cupcake tins that have been greased and lined with cupcake liners. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
   

Make the buttercream: 

1. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time, beating with each addition until fluffy.
2. Dye with food coloring according to the ingredients list.

Tip: When beating the butter and confectioner’s sugar, you want to make it fluffy and airy for the best buttercream. We don’t want it to be too thick and dense, like icing. So once you can see air bubbles in the mixture, that’s when it’s good to go! 

Decorate the Pokemon cupcakes:

Scoop each buttercream into piping bags. You will need small and medium round piping tips. You’ll also need a butter knife or spoon to smoothen out the buttercream.

Pikachu & Pokeball

Jigglypuff, Charmander & Squirtle

Bulbasaur

Please watch the video below to see how I decorate the Pokemon cupcakes! It’s much easier to watch and follow along. Most importantly, have fun!

Storage Instructions

These cupcakes keep well at room temperature for up to 2 days. Store in a cool and dry place. Alternatively, refrigerate for up to 3 days. 

I kept my Pokemon cupcakes in individual containers, but you can also put all of them in one large container. Just make sure their frosting doesn’t rub against each other! That would be one large mess.

Cutest Pokemon Cupcakes

Whether you’re having a Pokemon movie marathon or a Pokemon-themed party, add to the fun by having these cute, lovable Pokemon cupcakes!

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Course dessert

Cuisine american

Servings 6 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 6 cupcakes
• vanilla buttercream base
• piping bags
• small, round piping tips

Pikachu

• yellow buttercream
• black buttercream
• red buttercream
• white buttercream
• small square of parchment paper

Jigglypuff

• pink buttercream
• 2 white candy melts unmelted
• blue buttercream
• white buttercream
• black buttercream

Pokeball

• red buttercream
• white buttercream
• black buttercream
• 1 white candy melt unmelted

Bulbasaur

• light green buttercream
• blue-green buttercream
• dark green buttercream
• black buttercream
• white buttercream

Charmander

• orange buttercream
• black buttercream
• white buttercream
• yellow buttercream
• red buttercream

Squirtle

• blue buttercream
• black buttercream
• white buttercream

Instructions

• NOTE: To make all characters, just make one batch of buttercream and evenly divide it into 9 bowls. Dye the buttercream yellow, orange, light green, dark green, blue-green, blue, pink, red, white and black.

To make Pikachu:

• Spread yellow buttercream onto the entire surface of the cupcake.
  
• Placethe yellow, black and red buttercream into piping bags and snip off the ends tocreate a small-medium sized hole. Pipe Pikachu’s eyes with the black buttercream and cheeks with the red buttercream.
• Placesome extra black buttercream and the white buttercream into piping bags fitted with small piping tips. Pipe Pikachu’s nose and mouth with the black buttercream and eye highlights with the white buttercream.
• Place the parchment paper on a flat tray and pipe Pikachu’s ears with the yellow and black buttercream. Place the tray in the freezer for20 minutes, or until the ears have frozen solid. Stick the ears onto the cupcake and enjoy! NOTE: The ears will soften at room temperature, so attach the ears just before serving.
  

To make Jigglypuff:

• Spread pink buttercream onto the entire surface of the cupcake. Place the 2 candy melts onto the cupcake as eyes.
  
• Place the blue, white, black and remaining pink buttercream into piping bags. Snip the ends of the blue and pink piping bags to create small-medium sized holes. Attach small piping tips to the white and black buttercream.
• Pipe blue dollops onto the candy melts and then smaller white dollops on top.
• Create Jigglypuff’s mouth with the black buttercream. Pipe the ears and large swirl on the forehead with the pink buttercream.

To make the pokeball:

• Spread red buttercream onto half of the cupcake. Spread white buttercream onto the other half of the cupcake.
  
• Place the black buttercream into a piping bag and snip the end to create a small-medium sized hole. Pipe a stripe along the border of the red and white buttercream, then a large dollop in the center.
• Place the white candy melt on top of the black dollop, so that it spreads and creates a border around the candy melt, looking like the button.

To make Squirtle:

• Spread the blue buttercream onto the entire surface of the cupcake.
  
• Place the remaining blue buttercream into a piping bag and snip off the end to create a small-medium hole. Place the black buttercream into a piping bag with a small piping tip, and a small amount of buttercream into a bag with a small-medium sized hole.
• Pipe Squirtle’s eyes with the black buttercream with the small-medium sized hole. Use the black buttercream with the small piping tip to create Squirtle’s eyebrows, nose and mouth.
• Place the white buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small piping tip. Pipe a dollop onto each eye. Pipe Squirtle’s tail with the blue buttercream.

To make Charmander:

• Spread the orange buttercream onto the entire surface of the cupcake.
  
• Place the black buttercream into a piping bag and snip the end of the bag to create a small-medium hole. Use the black buttercream to create Charmander’s eyes. Place the rest of the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small piping tip.
• Pipe the eyebrows, nose and mouth. Place the white buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small piping tip and pipe a sparkle on Charmander’s eyes.
• Place red and yellow buttercream into piping bags and snip off the ends to create small-medium sized tips. Use these colors to create Charmander’s flame tail.

To make Bulbasaur:

• Spread the blue-green buttercream onto the entire surface of the cupcake.
  
• Place the light green buttercream, dark green buttercream and black buttercream into piping bags and snip the ends to create small-medium sized tips. Create the bulb with the light green buttercream and the eyes with the black buttercream.
• Place the remaining blue-green buttercream into a piping bag and snip to ends to create a small-medium sized tip. Use this to create the ears.
• Place the remaining black buttercream and white buttercream into piping bags fitted with small piping tips. Use the black buttercream to create the eyebrows, nose and mouth. Pipe highlights on the eyes with white buttercream and spots with the dark green buttercream.
  

Video

Notes

To make all characters, just make one batch of buttercream and evenly divide it into 9 bowls. Dye the buttercream yellow, orange, light green, dark green, blue-green, blue, pink, red, white and black.

Keyword Cake

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