Gender Reveal Cupcakes
I have another gender reveal goodie for you today!
But if you read Monday's cookie post, then you know that I am not quite giving away any secrets just yet. You will have to come back later this week for the actual gender reveal.
In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to go through some of those old wives' tales to "predict" the baby's gender. We'll see which ones are right and which ones are wrong at the end of the week.
If you don't care about any of that, just skip down to "Recipes and Supplies" to see how to make the cupcakes.
Wives' Tales
Sweet vs. Salty. Sweet cravings mean you are having a girl; salty cravings means you are having a boy. Verdict: Boy.
Morning sickness. Extreme morning sickness (i.e vomiting) means you are having a girl; mild morning sickness means a boy. Verdict: Boy
Moody vs. Mellow. If you are moodier than usual, you are having a girl; less moody and more mellow then you are having a boy. Verdict: Boy
Baby's heart rate. It's said that if the baby's heart rate is faster than 140 BPM then it's a girl. Last ultrasound had it clocking in at 145. Verdict: Girl
Cold feet. Colder feet means you are having a boy. Warm feet means you are carrying a girl. Verdict: Girl
The Skin Test. Oilier skin that is breaking out more than usual means it's a girl. Dry skin means it's a boy. Verdict: Boy
Chinese Gender Calendar. This fun little calendar predicts gender by finding the intersection of the lunar age of mom at the time of conception and the month of conception. My lunar age is 27 (I am liking this lunar age thing) and the baby was conceived in March. Verdict: Boy
Clumsiness. If you are clumsier than normal, then you are having a girl. If you are just are sure-footed then it's a girl. Verdict: Girl
Weight Gain. Gaining weight all over means you are having a girl. If the weight seems to be just in the tummy, it's a boy. Verdict: Boy
Foot Size. Growing feet indicate a boy, while feet that stay the same size indicate a girl. Verdict: Girl.
Sleep Position. Falling asleep (naturally) on your left side means it's a boy. On the right side means it's a girl. Verdict: Girl
Carrying High vs. Low. Carrying hight means it's a girl; carrying low means it's a boy. Verdict: Boy? (Not really sure where I am carrying this baby)
Ramzi Method. During an early (transvaginal) ultrasound you can see which side of the uterus the baby is forming. If it's forming on the right side, it's a boy. On the left side, it's a girl. Flip the results if the ultrasound is done abdominally. Verdict: Girl
Mayan Gender System. The Mayan's used mom's age at conception and year of conception to predict gender. If both are even or both are odd, then it's a girl. If one is even and the other is odd, then it's a boy. My age at conception was even (although my birthday was probably the next week) and the year was even. Verdict: Girl. But if we use my lunar age, then it's a boy.
Boy - 7
Girl - 7
I swear I didn't plan it to come out 50/50! If you want to throw out the Mayan method because it's somewhat inconclusive, then the remaining 13 wive's tales favor a boy. But barely!
There were several other wives tales that I didn't test. Most of them involved taking urine samples or eating lots of garlic. No thank you! If you want to see a full list of these wives tales, I highly recommend this post. It's where I initially got this idea.
There was one "wives tale" that I did use to predict baby's gender. Actually, I predicted this baby's gender years ago using this method. I will wait to tell you what that one is on Friday when I reveal the actual gender.
Alright, enough about this baby...let's get onto the cupcakes!
Recipes and Supplies
The beauty with these cupcakes is you can make just about any cupcake flavor you'd like!
Sure, there are some exceptions like making a strawberry cake or anything tinted one color or another. But as long as the cake is a fairly neutral color (even chocolate would work) then it should work perfectly.
One note on chocolate: if you do decide to go this route, you will want to make a small batch of vanilla just for the centers so that they can be dyed one color or another. Of course, if it's a girl you can make strawberry or red velvet for the centers. For a boy, blue velvet would also work.
I have several recipes that can help you out in this respect:
My favorite vanilla cupcake recipe
Red velvet cupcake recipe that doesn't contain any unnatural food coloring
Or, if you want to go the boxed cake mix route, here are some tips to make it taste amazing!
For the frosting, I'd recommend sticking with something simple so that you can tint it various colors. Here are a couple options that will work well:
The absolute best buttercream frosting recipe (IMO)
An easy 7-minute frosting that is delicious
A classic cream cheese frosting (if you want to do lots of detail, CC frosting isn't as stiff and thus doesn't hold details as well)
To assemble the cupcakes you will need:
Food coloring
Cookie Cutter
Cupcake Tin
Cupcake Liners
Large Piping Bags
Piping Tips: #1A, 1M, and 2D (or any large round and star piping tips)
Sprinkles
How to Make Them
Start by making your cupcake batter.
From the main batch of batter remove about 1 cup of batter and tint it the desired color.
Pour the dyed batter into some sort of baking dish. It can be a small cake pan, sheet pan, or even several cupcake tins. You at least want whatever you are baking to be 1/2 inch thick. Bake the small batch of cake for 15-20 minutes, depending on size of the baking dish, or until the cake is fully baked.
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely. To make cutting out the shape even easier, chill the cake for about 30 minutes.
If the cake was baked in one flat layer, then just use a small cookie cutter in your preferred shape to cut out the centers. If you make cupcakes, slice the cupcake horizontally into 2-3 slices, then cut into shape.
To assemble the rest of the cupcake, spoon a small amount of batter into the bottom of a lined cupcake tray. It should be enough to cover the bottom. Place the cut out cake into the batter, then spoon more batter on top so that it is covered. You don't want to overfill your cupcake tin (like I did). So try to keep it about 2/3rds of the way full.
Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden and a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
While the cupcakes cool, make your frosting.
You can make your favorite frosting recipe, but if you don't have one, here's mine! It's a delicious Swiss Meringue Buttercream that is light, airy, and not too sweet.
To top these cupcakes, you will want both pink and blue frosting. Remove about 2 cups of frosting from the main batch and place 1 cup in two separate bowls. Tint one blue and one pink.
To get that swirled effect in the frosting, lay out a sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface. Spread a thick layer of pink, white, and blue in a line. Then roll up the plastic wrap in a tube and twist the ends. Snip off one end and place the whole tube into a piping bag fitted with your desired piping tip.
Place the extra frosting into separate bags fitted with different styles of tips.
To create a fun frosting decoration, I like to pipe the multicolored frosting in a spiral on top of the cupcake. Then I use the other colors to pipe little stars or dots around one side.
Add some extra decoration by adding some multicolored sprinkles on top.
Have fun with the decoration. There isn't any rhyme reason to it. I just tried to get each cupcake to be equally blue and pink. But you could also keep them stark white if you wanted!
These cupcakes are just as easy to make two of as it would be to make a full dozen (or more), so I think these would be the perfect way to announce the gender to friends and family. Everyone can have their own cupcake and when they bite in they will get to see what color's inside!
What do you think? Totally doable, right? I think they would be a great addition to any baby shower or gender reveal party!