Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes!
food, Fun August 22nd, 2009I recently discovered the coolest book called Hello, Cupcake! In it is the cutest assembly of fun and whimsical cupcakes you can make easily with regular store-bought cake, icing, cookies and candies.
Here is my first attempt at making something completely non-cupcakey — spaghetti and meatballs!
First you make regular vanilla cupcakes. Then tint vanilla icing with a bit of yellow food coloring for the pasta. Use a Ziplock bag to squeeze the "pasta" out all over the cupcakes. Go crazy!
Top with Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates dipped in low-sugar strawberry preserves for the meatballs. Finish with grated white chocolate for the parmesan cheese.
Are these not awesome?!
Hungry for a little Italian tonight?
If you have a sweet tooth, these are for you. They are scrumptious! A mess to eat, but who cares? They’re cupcakes! Or are they?
Stumble it!
August 24th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Sherry at EX Marks the Spot — Once you take care of the meatball, the rest is like a cupcake. A sloppy, pasta-covered cupcake.
Abbey R — In a way, I wished I’d only eaten what you had. I overdid it and felt a little sick by the end of the day. Too much of a good thing.
kathryn — Does it sound better knowing what’s in it? Or worse? Hey, I can’t cook either. I don’t consider this cooking, though. Baking and sculpting, but not cooking.
Modern Warfare2 — How lucky for you!
navin — Thanks, I really liked the close-up shot.
seo solutions — Yes, yes, yes! Which is why there’s only one left.
Karen — I swear, there wasn’t much fussing at all. You know me. I hate making anything with more than five ingredients. I didn’t have to go nuts and they were done in a flash!
August 24th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Wow- that’s crazy! I wonder if the brain is ready for something that looks SO MUCH like spaghetti, but yet tastes NOTHING like spaghetti.
Does it get all confused? Does the tongue expect garlic and get a jolt, because it tastes preserves? 🙂
Makes me think of when a coworker from India had brought in some lovely baked goods which looked like oatmeal cookies.
They were flat onion breads. Boy was I surprised!
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August 24th, 2009 at 9:31 am
People’s aversion to this reminds me of St. Patrick’s Day, many years ago, when our youth group had a potluck where everything was green. The lasagna was made with spinach noodles, the drinks were green, green food coloring was put into everything. And several people just couldn’t get past the look of things, even though the taste didn’t change at all.
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August 24th, 2009 at 9:40 am
hi Kathy,
They look delicious! Perhaps even better than the chocolate-covered strawberries, if that is humanly possible…
~ Steve, the HUGE-sweet-tooth trade show guru
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August 24th, 2009 at 11:57 am
How cute is that??? I love those darn Ferrero Rocher babies – so bad, but so good. Who’da thunk they’d make perfect ‘meatballs’?
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August 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Dear me Kathy, I honestly don’t know what to think. i just went back and read it over. They really are just delicious little cup cakes and you made the frosting to appear as spaghetti.
That’s actually quite clever and a wonderful idea. What a fun spoof for a pot luck dinner with friends. Thanks for the great idea.
I am glad to see you are back with EC too. I also was away for quite a while. But, so far so good this time.
Happy baking!!:-)
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August 24th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
That’s a cute idea, but I’m a lousy cook. Nice to see your blog again at Entrecard.
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August 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Do they have an entire section dedicated to cupcakes that are supposed to resemble real food? And I don’t think my mom would get it for me because we already have a cupcakes book.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
That is awesome! You must visit again and bring THOSE! Argh! (Like a good argh! Not a bad one!)
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August 24th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Super cupcakes! I’m going to try those with my grandaughter, she’ll love them! Stop by my blog if you get a minute, I have an award for you.
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August 24th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Jenn Thorson — Bummer on the cookies. I think it’s worse thinking something will be sweet, then it’s not, rather than vice versa. No fair!
Phyl — See, now that would gross me out. At least my cupcakes still looked like another food in its true color. I expect those people were told to close their eyes and just roll with it.
HUGE-sweet-tooth-trade-show-guru-Steve — It is humanly possible. They totally beat the strawberries on the sweet scale. You would have loved them!
Anne — I marveled at how perfectly the chocolates looked like meatballs. They have a nice bumpy texture. Incidentally, I thought of you when I took a thousand pictures of the food for the blog. I thought “How does Anne DO this?”
Shinade — For the record, I didn’t do as good a job with the “pasta” as I could have. Next time I have to refrigerate the icing longer so the strands stay firm. For now, I’m happy to be back with EC, but if they mess up again, I’m outta there.
Jude — So am I. Really bad. But I’m a decent baker, which I consider a world different than cooking.
Regan – Look in your mailbox in a few days.
Lisa — They’d never survive the trip. I barely got them to my sister’s in one piece and she’s only 15 minutes away from me. BUT! I’d make them with you there! It’d be a hoot!
Buggys — They’re both fun to make and very tasty. Your granddaughter will love them, guaranteed! And thank you for the nice award. Appreciate it.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Those are crazy looking! I love it!
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August 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I have to make these. I don’t think they will be as…interesting as the kitty litter cake I once made to take to work, but still, pretty cool.
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August 24th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I would LOVE to have some of these. Looks awesome!
And by the way, I responded to the BlogHer survey and totally suggested you speak on comments next year!
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August 24th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
For your “french bread”… get some Angel Food Cake and cut in to loaf slices. “Butter” them with a yellow-tinted, thinned cake frosting. Place on plate or wrap loosely in foil for “fresh out of the oven” look.
August 25th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Those are completely adorable cupcakes! I’ll have to remember those for April Fool’s Day next year, my kiddos would love them!
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August 25th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Oh. yes. Those look scrumptious…and just like spaghetti. Served up with some wine? That’s and even better idea!
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August 25th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I was pleasantly surprised to see how simple the recipe is for this neat baking project. This will be a fun treat for me and my daughter to take on this weekend.
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August 25th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Wow. That really looks like spaghetti and meatballs. I can’t wait to try it.
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August 25th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Hmmm…they do look good. I guess missed something.. Is this supposed to be a main course or dessert??
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August 25th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
That book is too freaking cute. I am going to have to buy that.
Kathy, I am impressed with your faux Italian cuisine. hey – did you see year ago on the Christopher Lowell show where a lady had a party and made the dessert food look like regular food and the regular food look like cookies and stuff? I think she’d want to invite you over right away.
.-= Chris@TheSnackHound´s last blog ..Sustain Your Party With Sustainable Cups =-.
August 25th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Momo Fali — They are. I’m so pleased how they came out. It’s the kind of thing kids would love to make. You know. Kids. Like me.
Kim — I know that cake you’re referring to. I’m curious what the reaction was to it. Did more people get grossed out than liked it?
muskrat — You would have loved them. DEE-lish! Oh, man. I hope they don’t contact me. I’d rather phone it in. Literally. I can’t get up on stage like JD did, not even in a small room. Thank you for thinking of me, though. I’m honored.
rattln’ along — PERFECT! Thank you. I’m doing that!
Henrietta — They’d make a great April Fool’s joke. It’d be fun just to watch the reactions. “Oh, we’re having pasta?!” Um. No.
Shelly — I wanted to put a bottle of red wine next to it for the picture, but we didn’t have any. White zinfandel doesn’t go with pasta, does it? Hmmm, does it matter?
Blane — Please do! It really is simple. I seriously doubted that, but I was done with everything in like 30 minutes. Cripes, the picture-taking took longer!
Christine — I’m glad they resembled the picture in the book. Of course, if they didn’t, I would have blogged about them anyway. Good for a laugh, no doubt.
Tek Todd — If you’re like me, main meal.
Chris at TheSnackHound — Do! It’s an inexpensive book and even if you didn’t make anything, it’s so fun to look at the creations. That Lowell show sounds awesome. Would have been neat to see. Sorry I missed it.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Oh my goodness i haven’t commented in forever! But i did have one of those delicous cupcakes and they were yummy!
August 25th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Doesn’t wine go with everything?
hang on let me test? hmmmm not sure again testing…some more testing… again…. testin…
I o ‘t h n i m t e s Hic!
d n t i k t a t r
August 31st, 2009 at 6:27 pm
That is certainly different and perfect for solving that salty & sweet craving.
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September 4th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Yup, Great book indeed. That book is too freaking cute. I am going to have to buy that.
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September 5th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Those look fantastic! I love when food looks like other food. I’ll have to make a vegan version.
September 24th, 2009 at 3:31 am
I usually don’t comment on blogs, but this recipe changed my opinion. I just write to say thank you!
October 7th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I have made these with my kids before and they had tons of fun making them. I set them out when my daughter had a sleep over with friends, and some of her friends didn’t even want to eat one because they really thought it was spaghetti.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:43 am
[…] Check out the Full Tutorial on how to make these meatball cupcakes at The Junk Drawer. […]
April 20th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Wow. Those look unbelievable. Beautiful presentation for cupcakes.