Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcake

OK...how cute are these???

I made them last week for "family movie" night. My husband brought home Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for my son and us to watch. I immediately knew these adorable spaghetti and meatball cupcakes would be perfect. And they were...my son loved them!!

The idea comes from the book Hello Cupcake and they are really easy to make. In fact, my son helped me with most of the steps. So fun, so cute!





Ingredients

12 vanilla cupcakes baked in white paper liners

vanilla buttercream frosting
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
yellow food coloring
12 hazelnut chocolates (Ferrero Rocher), unwrapped
3/4 cup low-sugar strawberry preserves (low-sugar has the best color)
2 tablespoons grated white chocolate

1. Tint the vanilla frosting with the cocoa powder and a very small amount yellow food coloring and spread a thin layer on top of the cupcakes. Arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter so that they are touching.

2. Spoon the remaining frosting into a Ziploc bag. Press out the excess air and seal the bag. Snip a 1/8-inch corner from the bag. Pipe the frosting all over the cupcakes to make the spaghetti, piling it high and allowing some of the spaghetti to hang over the edges.

3. Warm the strawberry perserves in the microwave. Then, place the hazelnut chocolates and the strawberry preserves in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Spoon some of the preserves on top of the cupcakes. Place 1 hazelnut chocolate on each cupcake and 1 on the platter. Top the cupcakes with the remaining strawberry preserves. Sprinkle with the grated white chocolate.

This can be made a day in advance.

Source: Hello Cupcake cookbook