Leopard Print Cupcakes~Free Blog Tutorial!
In this quick & easy tutorial, I'm going to show you how to make CUTE Leopard Print Cupcakes by creating leopard print buttercream and cupcake toppers!
Who doesn't love a good animal print? These leopard print cupcakes are so cute and surprisingly easy to make in buttercream! We'll also show you how to make cute little fondant leopard print cake toppers as well.
In this post you will find our step-by-step leopard print buttercream blog tutorial, as well as a quick minute video tutorial. (We made the blog tutorial first and recently decided to update with a quick video.)
Table of Contents
Why We Love Them
- These leopard print cupcakes are so cute and colorful- what's not to love? Here are just a few of our favorite things about this design!
- Perfect for fashion themes, "Wild About You" themes, or "Born to be Wild" baby shower themes!
- The leopard print buttercream pattern looks great as a textured design as well as with a smooth finish (thanks to the Viva Paper Towel Method of Smoothing)
- Cute painted leopard print fondant toppers add instant personality and can be made in minutes!
How to Make Leopard Print Cupcakes
First, I started with various shades crusting vanilla buttercream. Our Classic Vanilla Buttercream and Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream(which contains shortening), are both great options as develop a very thin "crust". (If you plan to smooth your design with a paper towel, you'll want a crusting frosting.)
I piped a quick spiral of crusting vanilla buttercream onto my cupcakes using a Wilton tip 12.
Next, I let it sit for 3-5 minutes or until the frosting can be lightly touched. Because of this waiting period, you can work on decorating several cupcakes at a time.
Once the surface of the frosting has crusted, it's time to smooth! We like to use Viva brand paper towels because they do not have any quilting or impressions. Just lightly press a piece of paper towel over the top of the frosting and lightly rub back and forth to smooth.
Next, apply some pink spots of buttercream to your cupcakes with a small round piping tip. (I'm using a Wilton 4)
Follow that with a darker shade of pink, piped from a small round piping tip.
Next, add a few black buttercream accents. You can see that I outlined the spots almost entirely, but not quite. Then, I added a few random black markings here and there. This cupcake is getting it's leopard spots before our very eyes ;0) -
If you are working with a non-crusting buttercream, or if you don't want a smooth finish on your cupcakes, this leopard pattern still looks great with texture also.
Since I'm working with a crusting buttercream, I'm going with a smooth look but both options work perfectly.
As you work on spotting all of your cupcakes, you can circle back with a Viva paper towel as the first cupcakes begin to crust.
Ahhhh...I love this smooth leopard buttercream finish!
Next, I did the same but with a different color scheme.
Here's a look at the difference between using three accent colors vs. two accent colors. I like both designs! Just go with what works best for you.
Making the Fondant Leopard Print Cake Toppers
Sometimes I like to add fondant cupcake toppers. These painted leopard accents are so simple to make! For my paint, I mixed a bit of coloring gel with vodka and applied as if working with watercolor paints. The vodka allows the paint to dry very quickly.
(You can knead a little tylose or cmc powder into your fondant to make them dry firmer if you'd like! I prefer to add them just before the event.)
Aren't these leopard print cupcake toppers the cutest?!
And finally....here's the entire platter! I love these cupcakes. They are so much fun to make, and would be perfect for jungle or safari themed parties, fashion themes, "Wild About You" themes or even "Born to Be Wild" baby showers!
Isn't it nice when we can find a pattern that kids and adults will love?! Make sure to scroll below for a few notes about our favorite crusting buttercream recipes. Thanks for stopping by!
Crusting Vanilla Buttercream Options
In this tutorial, we used our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, which is a great option when you need a crusting buttercream.
The recipe is lighter in color than our Classic Vanilla Buttercream (which we also love). The reason for the difference in brightness is that the Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream recipe contains shortening in addition to butter.
Another option for a crusting vanilla buttercream is our High Ratio Frosting recipe. This recipe is the brightest white of all because it is shortening based.
This is a good choice for times when the weather is very warm and you need a frosting that can hold up a bit better in warmer temperatures.
All three of these crusting vanilla frostings are great to have in your recipe box. They all taste great, pipe beautifully and smooth very easily!
More Animal Print Cake and Cupcake Fun!
Looking for even more animal print cupcake cuteness? Don't miss these fun, free tutorials!:
"Wild About You" Cupcake Tutorial
How to Make a Zebra Print Cake (on the inside)
Leopard Print (on the Inside) Cake- Free Video Tutorial
More Animal Cake Designs
IN additiHere are a few more animal themed cakes for you to try!
You must use the category name, not a URL, in the category field.Cupcake Recipes
You could use this buttercream technique on any of our cupcakes! Some of our most popular are Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes, Lemon Cupcakes, and Snickerdoodle Cupcakes!
Make sure to check out our cupcake recipes section for our ever-growing listing of recipes!
Minute Video!
Check Out Recipes & Tutorials
Leopard Print Cupcakes-Free Blog Tutorial!
Learn how to make CUTE buttercream Leopard Print Cupcakes and Leopard Print Cake Toppers in this free cake decorating tutorial!
Ingredients
- Cupcakes
- Vanilla Buttercream (We used our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Recipe)
- Fondant (if creating toppers)
- Piping Tip 12 or tips of choice
- Coloring Gels: Americolor Deep Pink, Black, Chocolate Brown (or colors of choice)
- Tylose Powder (Optional-I like to knead a little into the fondant for quicker drying)
- Small paintbrushes
- Vodka or lemon extract for combining with coloring gel to create paint
- Disposable Piping bags
- Plate or Palette for mixing colors for painting
Instructions
FOR THE LEOPARD PRINT BUTTERCREAM
- Start by creating a base layer of frosting onto your cupcake. I pipe on a flat spiral using a piping tip 12. (This is the background color that you will be piping leopard spots onto)
- Smooth. (For an extra smooth finish, allow to crust for a few minutes and then smooth over the surface of the frosting with a Viva Paper Towel (Viva brand has no impressions)
- Pipe on the leopard spots. I used a piping tip 3 (small round tip) to pipe on the pink or brown spots, followed by black.
- You can smooth over the spots once they've crusted for a few minutes or so using a Viva paper towel, OR you can skip the smoothing and leave the leopard design with a raised look which also looks nice.
FOR THE CUPCAKE TOPPERS
- Add a little tylose powder to your fondant if you have any for faster drying. Roll the fondant to about ⅛ inch thickness and cut out your shapes. You can use the round end of a large piping tip for circles if you'd like.
- Paint on the leopard pattern using coloring gel or foodwriter pens. For coloring gel, create an edible paint by putting a dot of coloring gel onto a plate or palette and then mix with a touch of vodka. I usually just apply the vodka to the coloring gel with a small paintbrush. This will give you something similar to a fast-drying watercolor paint.
- Allow the toppers to dry and add to the cupcakes. If you are using a non-crusting buttercream, apply the toppers close to the time of the event. Toppers will soften if placed in an airtight container.
These are adorable (and probably delicious)! I'm going to repost a link to this on my blog!
These are amazing! The instructions were so clear ad easy to follow! Thanks!!!
My cousin is having a survival themed birthday party and wants camo cupcakes. I'm going to use a forest green icing instead of white as the base and use the 2 color print with brown and black. Hoping it looks camouflage!
These are simply gorgeous....and so easy to make! I always wondered how they were made. :)
can you do the cupcake trick on a cake as well? my sixteenth birthday is coming up and i hate fondant. so could i just use the butercream icing and do the design and smooth it like you did?
Yes you can! ;0) --Hope you have a great birthday~
How to you get the Buttercream to Crust??? do u let it simply dry out??? at room-temp.?
Hi Kimberly, buttercream will crust in just 5 to 10 minutes depending on your humidity. When you touch the buttercream with your finger and the frosting does not stick to it, you should be ok to smooth with your Viva paper towel. You will need to be using a crusting buttercream recipe.
Hi,
Just wanted to know if I could paint the leopard spots on a buttercreamed cake instead of piping the dots on. I have to make a graduation cake themed with jaguar. Could you kindly please email me on the details. Thank you and your work is absolutely beautiful :)
This so cute! If I were making a leopard print fondant bow for a cake, would you suggest painting it, prior to making the bow or afterwards? Also, how long in advance can one make fondant? So new to this :0) Thanks!
@Geet--I'm sorry, I don't know if you asked this question anywhere else (it sounds familiar) but just in case, painting doesn't work well on buttercream. The only alternative that I can think of would be to create "press on" fondant spots. You could paint those if you'd like.
@Kirst-- I would probably paint on the spots after drying the bow. (I actually prefer to use gum paste or fondant with a good amount of tylose kneaded in, rather than straight fondant.) -- I use pre-made fondant these days...but if I were making it from scratch, I would make the fondant the week that I need it, to be on the safe side. Some people would say it lasts a few weeks as long as it is tightly wrapped and sealed in an airtight container. My experience though is making it closer to the event. You want to make sure that you allow several days for the bow to dry. Good luck!
@Geet--I'm sorry, I don't know if you asked this question anywhere else (it sounds familiar) but just in case, painting doesn't work well on buttercream. The only alternative that I can think of would be to create "press on" fondant spots. You could paint those if you'd like.
@Kirst-- I would probably paint on the spots after drying the bow. (I actually prefer to use gum paste or fondant with a good amount of tylose kneaded in, rather than straight fondant.) -- I use pre-made fondant these days...but if I were making it from scratch, I would make the fondant the week that I need it, to be on the safe side. Some people would say it lasts a few weeks as long as it is tightly wrapped and sealed in an airtight container. My experience though is making it closer to the event. You want to make sure that you allow several days for the bow to dry. Good luck!