Gender Reveal Cupcakes
These Gender Reveal Cupcakes have pink, blue, and white swirled frosting on top that hides the secret colored heart in the center of the cupcake revealing the baby’s gender when you bite into it!
If you follow me on instagram then you saw this post 2 months ago announcing the fact that I am pregnant with our 3rd baby. If you don’t follow me, SURPRISE!!! And, why aren’t you following me?! You better get on that!
So today’s post is a fun one because I get to tell you that I’m having a healthy baby…..
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BOY!!! I have one boy and one girl already, so we are just super happy to have a healthy looking baby, but I wanted to do something fun this time around to announce the gender. This is most likely our last baby, so I wanted to be creative and decided to do these cupcakes. These Gender Reveal Cupcakes have pink, blue, and white swirled frosting on top that hides the secret colored heart in the center of the cupcake revealing the baby’s gender when you bite into it! You can’t really tell it’s a heart in the middle unless you cut it in half with a knife, but it’s still cute nonetheless! 🙂
Let me show you how I did it! I used a homemade butter cake recipe (available at the bottom of this post), and colored and baked 1/3 to 1/2 of the batter in a 13×9-inch pan. Then I cut out hearts with a small heart cookie cutter and scooped the hearts out of the pan with a serving spatula.
Then I filled the cupcake liners with some white batter and placed a heart directly in the center of the batter.
Then I scooped some more white batter on top of the hearts, and baked them a second time.
Meanwhile, I fixed up 2 batches of my favorite cream cheese frosting, and drew a thin line of pink food coloring and a thin line of blue food coloring on either side of a disposable piping bag using a toothpick. Get as close to the tip as you can. Gently fill the bag with frosting, being careful not to touch the food coloring with your spatula. (The food color lines will thicken after you insert the frosting.) Twist the end of the bag and squeeze until both colors are coming out the tip. You will need two bags, or wash, dry, and reuse one bag because you can’t add fresh frosting and get the same effect. The colors get mixed after most of the frosting has been squeezed out.
Pipe a swirl on top of the cupcake from the outside in towards the center, covering the secret colored heart. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes and have fun revealing to your family and friends the gender of your baby!
Gender Reveal Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour, (Stir flour before measuring, then scoop and level each cup carefully. You don't want dense cupcakes.)
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, (2 sticks) cut into Tablespoons
- 1 cup (237 ml) milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 x the recipe for The BEST Cream Cheese Frosting, (link in instructions below) [I did almond extract instead of vanilla for these cupcakes, but vanilla is fine.]
- Blue & Pink Food Coloring Gel
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Turn on the machine and add the butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until the butter breaks down and the mixture crumbles, scraping the sides as needed.
- In a large glass measuring cup, measure the milk and then whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Pour egg mixture into the dry ingredients, while the machine is running, until a batter forms. Do not overmix.
- Pour roughly ⅓ to ½ the batter into a bowl. (If you need a lot of cupcakes, only do ⅓ of the batter.) Mix in blue or pink food coloring until desired color is achieved. Pour batter into a greased 13×9-inch baking dish and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a good 15 minutes.
- Press a small heart shaped cookie cutter in the colored cake and gently scoop out the heart with a serving spatula. Cut enough hearts for the amount of cupcakes you need, or until the cake runs out.
- Fill a cupcake pan with paper liners and fill ¼ to ½ full of batter. Stick colored hearts in the center of the batter. Scoop additional cake batter over the colored heart to fill the cups about ⅔ to ¾ full. Be careful not to overfill.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 14 to 18 minutes until cake is baked and bounces back when touched. Allow cupcakes to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make 2 batches of The BEST Cream Cheese Frosting and fit 2 plastic piping bags with large decorating tips (or wash, dry, and re-use one bag). Draw one thin line of pink food coloring and one thin line of blue food coloring on either side of the plastic bag(s) (I put mine in the folds of the bag to make it easier) with a toothpick. Get as close to the tip as you can. (The food color lines will thicken after you insert the frosting.) Gently fill the bag(s) with frosting, being careful not to touch the food coloring with your spatula. Twist the end and squeeze until both colors are coming out the tip.
- Pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake, from the outside in towards the center, covering the secret colored heart. Repeat with other cupcakes and have fun revealing to your family and friends the gender of your baby!
Notes
Did you make this?
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I made these twice and they were great! So fun, easy, and taste great too! The first time I made the heart shape which as mentioned can only be seen if you slice it specifically. So the second time I just used big blobs and that was easier and more colorful 🙂 either way- really happy I used this recipe! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe enough to make it twice Rae. Thanks for sharing your experience!
So cute, I cannot seem to locate your frosting recipe though?
So sorry about that. I switched recipe plugins recently and it didn’t convert properly. I have added the link to the recipe card, but here it is for easy reference. Enjoy! https://www.dessertnowdinnerlater.com/best-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/
I’m browsing on Pinterest for gender reveal ideas & found these. SO cute. We did cupcakes last time but the heart is adorable. Might have to use it 😉
Thanks Melissa! We had fun announcing our baby’s gender with these cupcakes. Good luck deciding what you want to do!
How the heck do you put pink AND blue frosting in the tube to make the multicolored swirl though???
Hi Serenity,
If you look at this picture (https://www.dessertnowdinnerlater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Gender-Reveal-Cupcakes8.jpg) you can see that I used colored gel and white frosting. You have to be careful, but you draw a stripe with a toothpick (or wooden skewer) on opposite sides of the bag, and then carefully fill it with white frosting. Then as you pipe the frosting, it gives it the swirled color. This method is a little bit tricky for a beginning baker, so if you want to try doing an easier double bag method like this http://ourbestbites.com/2011/08/tutorial-how-to-swirl-colored-icing-for-cupcakes/, you may have better success. Good luck!
Love this! Question- I don’t have a stand mixer, could I use a hand held mixer? We are finding out at the end of December! It’s so exciting!
Absolutely Tawny! Such a fun way to announce gender! Congrats and have fun with the cupcakes!
Love your idea! I included your post in my round up of fun gender reveal baby shower ideas here: http://printabelle.com/gender-reveal-baby-shower-ideas
Thanks for including me Michelle! Great roundup!
These were fun to make – they took a while but were pretty easy! If anyone has trouble figuring out how to use a toothpick to put the food coloring in – I used wooden kebab skewers and they were much easier (and less messy) than trying to use toothpicks!
Smart idea! Thanks for sharing what worked best for you!
These are really cute! But I wonder…doesn’t the blue heart get overdone?
It really doesn’t taste any different from the rest of the cupcake. It’s weird, but awesome!
Amber, I am SO very happy for you and your family! Congrats! These cupcakes are such a fun way to tell the great news! Seriously loving the idea and they’re totally gorgeous!
Thank you Sarah! We are happy to know it’s a little boy coming and need to start thinking names! Time flies and he’ll be here before we know it!