Sunflower cupcakes are so cute and perfect for a picnic or party!

These are great to put in a basket or vase for a gorgeous sunflower centerpiece.  Sunflower cupcakes are so easy to make with just a leaf decorating technique and chocolate covered sunflower seeds.  I will show you in this Sunflower cupcake tutorial just how easy they are!  This post has affiliate links which help to support the website.  If you make a purchase there is no extra charge for using these links.

This may age me quite a bit, but do you remember in the early 90’s when sunflowers were all the rage?  I was about 8th grade at the peak of sunflower madness and I had my mom made me a sunflower dress that I wore it ALL the time.  I am still a big fan of the glorious yellow flowers and I couldn’t be any happier about how well these cute sunflower cupcakes turned out.

Sunflower cupcakes are a sunflower lovers perfect cupcake idea.  These are perfect for any party and would be an excellent addition to a cupcake bouquet.

Sunflower Cupcakes Tutorial

What you will need for the cupcakes: 

1. 24 cupcakes baked in yellow baking liners (affiliate)
2. yellow tinted decorators icing or buttercream (if using buttercream you will need to make sure to keep them below 80 degrees F)
3. tip #366 (affiliate) and coupler (affiliate)
4. piping bag (affiliate)
5. chocolate covered sunflower seeds (affiliate)
6. Red Skittles (optional for ladybugs)
7. Black edible writing pen (for ladybugs)
8. optional: see tutorial below for basket centerpiece

I suggest using a yellow cupcake mix for cupcakes, but any flavor should work for these.  If using a darker colored cupcake just make sure to double up on the cupcake liners so you can’t see through them.  I am using white ones in this tutorial, but yellow works the best.  Use decorators icing for these cupcakes and tint it yellow with food coloring.  I am using a leaf tip here which is tip #366.

Pipe 3 rows of leaves all stacking on each other from the bottom to the top.  Leave enough space in the middle to put the sunflower seeds.  If you are having trouble with the leaves not setting right make sure that your icing is not too thick or too thin.  If it’s too thin add in more powdered sugar.  For icing that is too thick try adding in a little water to thin it out, but be careful not to add too much.  A Tbsp. at a time will be the best way to thin it out until you get the right consistency.

The next step may seem a little tedious, but it’s the best part to me.  Chocolate covered sunflower seeds are the perfect center for the sunflowers and really give the sunflowers a more realistic look.  Find brown chocolate covered sunflowers here.  I tried to find the exact sunflower seeds I used when I first made these, but I couldn’t find them.  Any brown coated candy sunflower seeds will work well.  In a pinch use mini chocolate chips.  Put the sunflower seeds on one by one and in rows starting from one side or going around in a circle.

Alternatively, you can just sprinkle them on but they won’t look as uniform that way.  Another idea is to use Oreos for the center of the cupcakes which would be the quickest way to go, but won’t be as realistic.

Ladybugs on the cupcakes add are a cute little addition!  Add a ladybug to the cupcakes (or just a few of the cupcakes if you are making a cupcake bouquet).  The sunflower cupcakes are cute on their own, but I think the little ladybugs add a nice touch.  I used a Skittle and an edible food writer to make the ladybug markings.  Make several dots separated by a line down the middle.  Add a triangle for the head and it will look like a ladybug.  They are so cute!

Add a little dot of icing on the bottom of the ladybug to make sure they don’t move off the cupcake and set the ladybug where you want it.  I like to switch up the spots that I put the ladybugs or even put 2 ladybugs on some of the cupcakes to give them some variation.  It’s fun to watch the kids pick a cupcake based on which ladybug they want.

Make your sunflower cupcakes into a beautiful sunflower basket centerpiece!

What you’ll need for the basket centerpiece: 

1. large basket I think this basket is cute here (affiliate)
2. dome-shaped piece of foam (affiliate)
3. extra foam (affiliate) for filling basket if needed
4. possible glue gun (affiliate) for securing foam (only if needed)
5. long toothpicks 
6. green tissue paper

Directions: 

Place the foam in the bottom of the basket and cover with tissue paper.  The piece of foam should be big enough to come up over the basket, but if it doesn’t use foam sheets to place in the bottom to build it up.  See if the foam moves around.  If so, put a little glue on the bottom and secure to the basket.  Place the tissue paper around the base of the foam so there are no gaps between the basket and the foam.

Place a long toothpick into the foam every 3 inches or so.  Add the cupcakes by placing one per toothpick.  Make sure when you are serving the cupcakes that no toothpicks are left in the cupcakes.  Cut small squares of tissue paper to place between the cupcakes anywhere there is enough empty-space between them.  I used green tissue paper so that it would look like leaves, but you can use any tissue paper to match the theme you are going for.

Tip: Be careful if using a basket with a handle that moves up and down.  Lift up the handle slowly or keep it lifted up while putting the cupcakes on the toothpicks.  The handle lifting up and down might ruin the icing or even smash the cupcakes (I learned this from experience).

Sunflower cupcakes are so pretty for fall table decor or a fun picnic party idea.  They are also great for gift giving like Mother’s day or really anytime someone needs a pick me up.  Sunflower cupcakes bring happiness with their cheerful color and are sure to be a mood lifter!  Plus, they are so tasty that no one will refuse a bouquet of these beauties.

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