Plant Cupcakes for Earth Day with Crumbled Chocolate Cake “Soil”!
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These Plant Cupcakes for Earth Day are brilliantly creative and effective! The design is versatile, ideal not only for celebrating Earth Day, but also springtime or treating that special gardener in your life! They are ridiculously quick and simple, even the kiddos could make ’em!
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Plant Cupcakes for Earth Day
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions, to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required and understand the steps and timings involved.
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The theme for 2022 is Invest in Our Planet.
Wikipedia
Earth Day is a great time to discuss environmental issues with your children, like deforestation, pollution, and climate change. Talk about ways you can help – maybe picking up litter in your neighborhood, planting a tree, recycling at home, or simply going for a walk in nature.
In honor of Earth Day, we’re going to show you how to make plant cupcakes that use crushed chocolate cake as “soil.” It’s a fun way to teach kids about how our food grows (just make sure they understand that cupcakes don’t come from plants!!)
Not only will these look adorable and taste delicious, but they are also really easy to make – you just need a batch of chocolate cupcakes (from a box mix, or even ready-made), a can of chocolate frosting, and some mint sprigs!
>> Read Next: Free Earth Day Printables – Activities & Games for Earth Day!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed to make these cupcakes have been listed below and linked to Amazon or other stores if available online. Standard ingredients such as flour or sugar are not listed, as you are likely to have those in your kitchen. The full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
Cupcakes & Decorating Ingredients
- Box of Chocolate Cake Mix – plus the ingredients to make the cake mix, usually eggs, oil, and water.
- Chocolate Frosting
- Fresh Mint
Cupcake Decorating Equipment
- Large Piping Bag – you can use disposable or reuseable, your choice.
- Large Round Piping Tip – for example, Wilton 1A, optional, you can snip the end off the disposable piping bag instead.
Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, litres, etc.,).
Plant Cupcakes Recipe Tips
Cupcake Making Tips
- These cupcakes are made using a box of cake mix, but you can prepare your favorite cupcake recipe if you prefer.
- Use your choice of cupcake liners – themed to the cupcakes, plain white or black, or a complimentary color.
- Use an ice cream scoop to equally divide the cupcake mixture between the cupcake liners. Fill them about three-quarters full.
- The cupcakes should be ready in about 20 minutes – test their doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes. It should come out clean when the cupcakes are cooked all the way through. Bake for an extra 2 minutes and check again.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Use a piping bag with a large round piping tip attached, or with the end snipped off if you don’t have piping tips.
More Cupcake Recipes
Looking for more cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:
- Blue & Green Earth Day Cupcakes
- Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes with Strawberries & Cream Filling!
- Coconut Pineapple Cupcakes with Rum
- Make These Tropical Fish Cupcakes For An Under The Sea Party!
How Do I Make Plant Cupcakes for Earth Day?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, and instructions. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Plant Cupcakes for Earth Day
These Plant Cupcakes for Earth Day are brilliantly creative and effective! And they are SO simple to make!
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 (15.25oz) box of chocolate cake mix + ingredients listed on box to make it
- Can of chocolate frosting
- Fresh mint sprigs
Instructions
- To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 (or according to box instructions). Line cupcake pans with 24 cupcake liners and set them aside.
- Using an electric handheld or stand mixer, place the cake mix and other ingredients listed on the box to make it into a large bowl and mix until combined and smooth.
- Use an ice cream scoop to divide the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. Bake cupcakes per recipe and cool completely.
- Take four cupcakes and crumble them into a bowl to create "soil".
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip such as Wilton #1A with chocolate frosting.
- Pipe some frosting onto each cooked and cooled cupcake.
- Cover the frosting with the cupcake "soil".
- Insert a mint sprig into each cake to create a plant seedling.
- Enjoy and Happy Earth Day!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 57Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 26mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 1g
This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal for a dinner party or special occasion:
- Appetizer: This Classic Caprese Salad with Balsamic Glaze is Perfect for Sharing!
- Soup: Comforting & Low Carb Bacon Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
- Salad: Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Basil, Kalamata Olives, and Feta
- Main Dish: How To Make Pizza Margherita (On A Cast-Iron Griddle)
- Side Dish: Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread Recipe
- Beverage: Frozen Strawberry Margaritas Are Perfect For Summer!
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!