There’s nothing cuter than a cupcake, except of course the cupcake looks just like the planet Earth. A blue and green cookie sits on top of a colored cupcake layered to look like the inner core layers of our planet. It’s a fun way to celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd!
We’re taking some help from the store to make these cupcakes even easier. Let’s start by making the boxed cake mix, according to the directions on the box.
We used gel food coloring, which you can find in most craft stores or online! The normal watery food coloring never gets bright or vibrant enough and it’s too wet for most recipes. Line a cupcake pan with liners and add a spoonful of red batter on the bottom of each. Then top with an orange spoonful and finally a yellow spoonful. Each cupcake should have three layers, red, orange and yellow.
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 18 to 20 minutes. Next, dye the sugar cookie dough.
To make the earth cookies, grab a small portion of blue dough and a smaller portion of green dough and roll them into a ball. Place them on a baking sheet.
Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown on the edges. Allow both the cupcakes and the cookies to cool completely before decorating and assembling.
Dye some vanilla frosting with brown food coloring and frost each cupcake. Then top with an earth cookie!
These are a great treat to bring to your kid’s school so that everyone can celebrate Earth Day.
You can keep them at room temperature, covered, for up to 2 days or store them in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- 1 box white cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 package sugar cookie dough
- 1 container vanilla frosting
- red gel food coloring
- orange gel food coloring
- yellow gel food coloring
- green gel food coloring
- blue gel food coloring
- brown gel food coloring
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, water and oil until smooth. Divide the batter into three bowls. Add a few dots of yellow food coloring to one bowl, orange food coloring to the second bowl and red food coloring to the third bowl. Mix each bowl until the color is fully combined.
- Add in a spoonful of red food coloring to each cupcake. Then add a spoonful of orange food coloring and lastly, a spoonful of yellow. Each cupcake should be made up of a layer of red batter, orange and then yellow. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Divide the sugar cookie dough between two bowls and dye one bowl green and one bowl blue. To shape the cookie, grab a small amount of blue dough and a small amount of green. Roll both into one ball so you end up with a swirled pattern. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Dye the frosting with brown food coloring and frost the tops of each cupcake. Top with a cookie and serve.
