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  • Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

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    Home » Cupcake Recipes

    Popcorn Cupcakes

    Published: Jul 26, 2013 · Modified: Aug 2, 2022 by Vicky · This post contains affiliate links.

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    My twins turned 5 this week and we are having a carnival themed birthday party for them this weekend. After all our work making rainbow cupcakes for their fourth birthday, I was in the mood for something a little more simple this year. I have seen "popcorn cupcakes" all over pinterest and they looked easy enough, so I enlisted one of the birthday girls to help me in the kitchen. These cupcakes are not only adorable, but they are simple enough to make that a child can help.

    Popcorn cupcakes are easy to make a perfect for a circus themed party or movie night.

    You will need:

    • Cupcakes
    • Frosting
    • Yellow food coloring and water
    • Small paint brush
    • Bowl
    • Mini Marshmallows
    frosted cupcake, food coloring and marshmallows

    Use you favorite cupcake recipe and bake up a batch of cupcakes. After the cupcakes cool, add some frosting. Start twisting mini marshmallows to make your pieces of "popcorn." This is a great fine motor activity for little hands.

    child twisting a marshmallow

     Place the twisted marshmallows on top of the frosting.

    cupcake with marshmallows on it

    Be sure to cover the entire top of the cupcake with the marshmallows.

    cupcake with marshmallows on it

    Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to a bowl and thin it out with some water. The more water you add the fainter the yellow color will be. You will need to experiment with this on some loose marshmallows. At first our yellow was too bright, so we kept adding drops of water until we got the perfect yellow color.

    Give your child a small paint brush and the bowl with the thinned food coloring and let them paint the cupcakes!

    My daughter was concentrating so hard as she worked on her masterpiece.

    coloring a marshmallow cupcake

    We printed out these adorable cup holders from In Place of Her Crown. How cute is that?

    If you are making these ahead of time you can loosely wrap each cupcake in saran wrap and the marshmallows will stay nice and soft for a day.

    Yummy popcorn cupcakes

    📖 Recipe

    Popcorn Cupcakes

    Popcorn cupcakes are easy to make a perfect for a circus themed party or movie night.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Cupcakes
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    assembling time: 30 minutes
    Total Time: 35 minutes
    Servings: 12
    Calories: 314kcal
    Author: Vicky

    Equipment

    • Small paint brush
    • bowl

    Ingredients

    • 12 Vanilla cupcakes
    • 1 container Vanilla frosting
    • Yellow food coloring and water
    • Mini Marshmallows

    Instructions

    • Use you favorite cupcake recipe and bake up a batch of cupcakes. After the cupcakes cool, add some frosting. Start twisting mini marshmallows to make your pieces of "popcorn."
    • Place the twisted marshmallows on top of the frosting.
    • Be sure to cover the entire top of the cupcake with the marshmallows.
    • Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to a bowl and thin it out with some water. The more water you add the fainter the yellow color will be.
    • Give your child a small paint brush and the bowl with the thinned food coloring and let them paint the cupcakes!

    Video

    Nutrition

    Calories: 314kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 211mg | Potassium: 54mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 22IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1mg
    Try this Recipe! Pin it for Later.Mention @vickycat or tag #messforless!

    For more fun ideas check out Painting Popcorn.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jodi Durr

      August 01, 2013 at 11:56 pm

      Oh my goodness. This is such an adorable idea. I'm pinning it!

    2. PlainVanillaMom

      August 01, 2013 at 1:54 am

      Those are adorable! We did a carnival theme for my oldest last year. I may just have to find an excuse to make these sometime though. So cute!

    3. Mary Catherine

      July 30, 2013 at 6:11 pm

      I've just pinned these! They look delicious -- what a cool idea to decorate the marshmallows to look like popcorn!! 🙂 We're going to try these out the next time we have a movie night.

    4. Kate Grono

      July 27, 2013 at 11:37 am

      Wow they look great! Pinning

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    Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

    Easter Activities and Recipes

    • Stained Glass Easter Cookie Recipe
    • How to Make Spotted Easter Eggs
    • M&M Easter Cookies
    • Shaving Cream Easter Eggs

    Spring Activities

    • How to Make a Mother's Day Card
    • DIY Seed Starter for Kids
    • Flower Craft Idea
    • How to Make a Paper Butterfly - Easy Craft for Kids

    Popular Recipes

    • Crack Chicken Casserole
    • Overnight Egg Casserole
    • Toasted Italian Sandwich - Food Fun Friday
    • Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bake

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