Have you guys seen a pull-apart cupcake cake before?? They’re the coolest!! It lets you create fun shaped cakes without actually having to carve a cake. BAM! And it’s super fun for parties as everyone can just grab a cupcake and run! With cacti on the brain this month we made a cactus pull-apart cupcake cake, inspired by our cactus clutch and pin!!!
Pull-Apart Cactus Cupcake Cake
Yield: 1 Cake
Ingredients
- 23 cupcakes, any flavor
- 4-6 cups vanilla buttercream
- Pink, Yellow and Green Food Dye
- Large Cake Board
Directions
- Using a sharp knife, cut 2 of your cupcakes into quarters. Arrange the rest of the cupcakes onto a cake board in the cactus shape per the sketch above. Place a little buttercream frosting under each cupcake and gently press into place to adhere. Use the quartered cupcakes to till in the large gaps down the center of the cactus.
- Tint the majority of your buttercream a cactus green color. Tint about ¾ cup light yellow and about ½ cup pink for the spikes and cactus flowers.
- Place some of the the green buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large round tip like a Wilton 1A. Begin by outlining the cactus shape in icing, and then filling in the center portion of the cupcakes. Using an offset spatula, smooth out the buttercream into an even layer. Use the spatula to straighten all the sides and round the 3 tops of the cactus.
- Place the remaining green buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 352 leaf tip. Pipe parallel vertical lines from the top of the cake all the way down to the bottom for the center of the cactus, and curved parallel lines for the cactus arms.
- Pipe pink buttercream flowers onto parchment paper using a medium round tip. Using a fine round tip, pipe the yellow buttercream in thin vertical lines in the center of each flower. Place into freezer for about 10 minutes, or until firm. You can then easily peel the flowers off the parchment paper and place them right onto the cactus cake.
- Using the remaining yellow buttercream, pipe little dots along the vertical lines all over the cactus to make the cactus spikes.
Photos by Jeff Mindell | Recipe by Theresa Rountree
Have you ever made one!? What shape?? In my brain I’m already all “Hmmm… how can I incorporate a cupcake cake into Arlo’s second birthday?” Hahaha! (Yes, I may or may not already have a theme in mind, feel free to judge!)
9 comments
Amy April 9, 2018
My mom bought a guitar shaped cupcake cake for my birthday when I was in the 8th grade. About 10 years have passed now, but that was always one of my favorite birthday cakes. It was the COOLEST!!
Kelly April 9, 2018
omg so fun!!!!
Michelle April 9, 2018
What a fun idea, and it looks so good! All the possibilities of this technique!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
Chelsey G April 9, 2018
Ollie turns two in December and we’ve already picked his birthday theme! No judgement here! This cupcake cake is stinking adorable!!!
Kelly April 9, 2018
I love it!!!! Can’t wait to see!
Carly Grose April 9, 2018
Could you post photos of the process of how to line up the cupcakes and how your frost them to make it look all connected? I’m a bit confused after reading the directions but would love to try and make this weekend for a friend’s birthday.
Kelly April 9, 2018
I just re-uploaded the template. Let me know if it still isn’t showing!!
Indya | The Small Adventurer April 10, 2018
I recently made my first pull apart cupcake cake and it was SO much fun!! I love that you can make any shape you want without needing a specific pan, plus you don’t have to cut it up! I’m certainly not a party thrower, but I can imagine these types of cakes would make throwing parties a lot easier!
Leslie Soto April 10, 2018
This is the cutest pull apart cake ever! I am obsessed. I kinda want to make it just for the ‘gram opps! You’re so stinkin’ talented and creative!