You might have heard of queen Chrysalis from My Little Pony, and that could be a reason you love these cupcakes. Even though my brand could be tied in with a lot of nostalgic brands like My Little Pony (or some people along my path have called me a living “Rainbow Brite), they aren’t inspired by My Little Pony. They are inspired by my journey as Amanda Cupcake. I have been Amanda Cupcake for 10 years now. In my beginning days as Amanda Cupcake, I was trying to sell my cupcakes by baking them out of a small diner. Unexpectedly a local television producer discovered my blog & they loved my work. They invited to make some guest appearances on their show. I was like.. what am I doing? I am not a TV personality. But SURPRISE! My TV appearance was a hit and it was the beginning of putting myself out there as Amanda Cupcake. I discovered that I really enjoyed baking on TV because I love sharing my art, teaching, all things beautiful, and I’ve always dreamt of being a well known fashion designer and creating my own brand. I just never knew I’d be dressing up cupcakes instead of people. I have been putting off creating my own baking video content because I haven’t felt like I have known what to do regarding the production of my videos! Also, I had a baby, who is now 4 years old.
A few weeks ago I was personally asked to create my own channel on the You42 website, under the Conscious Content network. So I thought that this was probably the push I needed to start creating my own content.
The first cupcakes that I am making on my new baking channel are called Queen Chrysalis cupcakes because I have gone through a metamorphosis the last 10 years as Amanda Cupcake. In my past 10 years I have sold my cupcakes at retailers, opened a cupcake mansion retail store of my own (it failed, but I learned of all my mistakes there), hosted amazing parties, met so many great people, and in the middle of that discovered that I love being the soothing baker who bedazzles cupcakes on local television and expresses my voice through creating. Through appearing on local television, I have discovered that my dream job (if only) would be to have my own baking show. So I am not going to wait any longer, I am “breaking out of my chrysalis” to create my own baking channel.
My goal is to put up one new video every week. Going forward, I would also like to host some decorating classes available by subscription. I am going to be focusing on my craft, and perfecting it over time with whoever wants to join me in this new path. I’m really passionate about storytelling in what I create, so everything that I make is going to tell some kind of a story, and help others. I’m hoping to have some guest “stars” on my show as well….different people in the community that do amazing things. I’ll be posting shorter video clips of my content on tiktok, YouTube, and instagram. Most of my free content will have recipes posted here on my blog,
My first Amanda Cupcake episode recipe, below! Queen Chrysalis cupcakes with a surprise butterfly inside. You can watch the episode HERE on my channel.
Queen Chrysalis Cupcakes Recipe:
First Step: Make the butterfly surprises to bake inside of the cupcakes.
Butterfly Ingredients/Tools:
1 box white cake mix (do not follow recipe on box)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 box white chocolate pudding mix
Americolor gel paste in Soft Pink (or desired color for butterfly)
Small butterfly fondant or clay cutter
Parchment paper
Buttercream Frosting
Butterfly baking instructions:
Preheat oven to 325. Grease or line a sheet cake pan with parchment paper. In stand mixer combine the oil & eggs together. Whisk dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Combine extract & buttermilk together in liquid measuring cup. Gradually alternate the addition of dry/liquid ingredients to creamed ingredients in mixer until combined. Make sure there is no batter stuck on the bottom of pan by using a spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add gel paste color until you reach desired batter color. Bake at 325 for appx 35-40 minutes or until cake springs up when touched lightly. Let cool. Do not start mixing the cupcake batter until the butterflies have cooled and are prepared to bake inside of the cupcakes.
How to make butterfly shapes:
Crumble up sheet cake into a large bowl and mix with frosting. For a sensory experience you can mix the frosting in by hand, or you can also use a mixer. Add a little bit of frosting at a time until the frosting reaches play-doh consistency (btw this makes an amazing edible play-doh)! Roll the edible play-doh out onto a parchment paper lined countertop to about 3/4″ thickness. The butterflies need to be thick so they can stand up inside of the cupcakes. This recipe will need about 15-18 little butterflies. Once your butterflies are cut out, refrigerate for about an hour so they are firm. Next, you can make your cupcake batter and bake butterflies inside of the cupcakes!
Second step: Make the cupcake batter, and place the butterflies inside of the chrysalis cupcake
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 package white chocolate pudding mix
1/2 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil
How to:
Preheat oven to 325. In stand mixer cream the oil, eggs and sugar together. Whisk dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Combine extract & milk together in liquid measuring cup. Gradually alternate the addition of dry / liquid ingredients to creamed ingredients in mixer. Scrape bowl down to incorporate all ingredients. Once mixed, line cupcake pans with cupcake wrappers. Scoop a very small amount of batter onto the bottom of cupcake wrappers (but enough to help the cake butterflies stand up strongly). Stand up butterflies in the center of each cupcake wrapper. Cover the butterflies with batter, fill cupcake wrappers about 3/4 full. **Tip: covering the butterflies with batter is easier if batter is inside of a piping bag. Mark your cupcakes in some way so that you remember what way they are facing. Since this is not a 3D butterfly shape, you’ll want to cut them in the same direction they were baked inside of the cupcake. If you cut them in the other direction, you’ll see a square instead. Bake the cupcakes at 325 on top of baking sheets in the oven for 18-22 minutes.
Step 3:
Prepare the frosting and decorate!
Decorating Ingredients/Tools:
1 lb softened butter
13 oz marshmallow cream
8 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Disposable piping bag
(2) 1M open star decorating tips
(1) large round decorating tip
Lemon extract
Gold luster dust
Small paintbrush, only used for food
Americolor gel paste: leaf green, chocolate brown, white
Crown cupcake toppers
Edible iridescent glitter
***Find supplies at my amazon link HERE
How to:
Frosting:
Cream butter, marshmallow cream, and vanilla extract together until fluffy (about 5 minutes). Gradually add powdered sugar until frosting forms stiff peaks. Separate frosting into 3 bowls. Color one bowl “chrysalis” green by adding 5 tiny drops of green and 3 small drops brown. If the color hasn’t reached your approval, you can add more little by little until you reach desired chrysalis green color. Color second bowl “green ivory” by adding a few drops of white, 1-2 tiny drops of green, a dab or 2 of brown and mix. This should be an ivory with just a tint of green.
Decorating:
Line up cupcakes, making sure the butterfly body that is baked inside of the cupcake is facing your direction, so that when you cut into the cupcake horizontally (after the frosting has been swirled on top) you will reveal a beautiful butterfly. Cut a hole in all 3 piping bags. Place a 1M open star tip at the end of 2 piping bags. Place large round tip at the end of 1 piping bag. Fill open star tip bags with chrysalis green colored frosting. Fill the round tip piping bag with the green ivory frosting. To match my photo, swirl 2 toned frosting on top of cupcakes alternating the swirls of green & green ivory side by side on top of the cupcake OR alternate the swirls of frosting on top of each other–first green ivory (using the round tip), next chrysalis green, repeat. Top with edible iridescent glitter & a gold queen crown cupcake topper.
Once cupcakes are frosted, refrigerate for about 20 minutes or until frosting hardens. In a small prep bowl, mix gold luster dust with a few drops of lemon extract until you reach a paint consistency. Since every chrysalis is lined with a little gold, paint a few gold details with small paintbrush on the edges of frosting swirls.
Last Step:
Cut into cupcakes neatly with a serrated knife before eating to reveal the butterfly that has formed inside of your queen chrysalis cupcake!
Watching my video will help a lot with learning the whole process! Fly free, butterfly.
