Eclipse Cupcakes are fun and easy cupcakes, decorated to look like the stages of the solar eclipse!  They’re simple enough for kids to help with, and are perfect for eclipse viewing parties! Science has never tasted so sweet.

Eclipse Cupcakes - fun and easy cupcakes, decorated to look like the stages of a solar eclipse! | From SugarHero.com

I probably don’t need to tell you this, but there is a MAJOR solar eclipse happening in just a few days! And in typical SugarHero style, what better way to celebrate such an awesome phenomenon than with dessert?!

Eclipse Cupcakes - fun and easy cupcakes, decorated to look like the stages of a solar eclipse! | From SugarHero.com

These Eclipse Cupcakes are so cute and easy, easy, easy! They’re chocolate cupcakes, topped with a smooth circle of orange-yellow frosting, and covered with a series of fondant pieces in various sizes to mimic the stages of a solar eclipse. When you display them all together, they are really striking, eye catching, and honestly just super cool. It’s like an edible astronomy lesson!

Eclipse Cupcakes - fun and easy cupcakes, decorated to look like the stages of a solar eclipse! | From SugarHero.com

I’ve provided a full recipe down below, if you want to go the homemade route and make your own cupcakes and frosting. But if you want to keep things really simple, you can use store-bought cupcake mix, or frosting (or both!) and whip these up in under an hour, start to finish. I do prefer a homemade frosting for this, so you can get the super-smooth circles on top, but in a pinch, canned frosting, tinted yellow, will work just fine.

Eclipse Cupcakes - fun and easy cupcakes, decorated to look like the stages of a solar eclipse! | From SugarHero.com

To get the orange “solar flare” effect around the edges, I used Wilton Color Mist, which is food coloring in an aerosol spray can. It gives a nice airbrush effect and really adds to the eclipse vibes! If you can’t find it, you have a few other options: you can just use yellow buttercream, or try swirling some orange and yellow frosting together in the piping bag, or maybe chill the cupcakes and then brush orange food coloring or orange luster dust along the outer edges.

The black fondant was purchased (I usually purchase black fondant since it’s hard to get a “true black” color at home) and then I used a circle cutter the approximate size of the cupcake top to make ovals of various sizes. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes, so you can do one loooooong series of eclipse cupcakes, or do several smaller groupings.

Eclipse Cupcakes with a bite taken out of it | From SugarHero.com

Full solar eclipses are a pretty rare phenomenon, and I definitely think they’re worthy of a cupcake celebration. Enjoy!

Eclipse Cupcakes | From SugarHero.com

Eclipse Cupcakes

5 from 2 votes
Eclipse Cupcakes are fun and easy cupcakes, decorated to look like the stages of the solar eclipse! They’re simple enough for kids to help with, and are perfect for eclipse viewing parties! The appeal of these cupcakes is definitely the decorations, so don’t hesitate to use a store-bought cupcake mix if you’d like. I do recommend a homemade frosting, if possible, since that will give a nice smooth top to the cupcakes, but in a pinch, canned frosting will work too!
Prep30 minutes
Cook22 minutes
Total52 minutes
Yields24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:

  • 6 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 4.75 oz granulated sugar, (2/3 cup)
  • 5 oz brown sugar, (2/3 cup)
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 8 oz buttermilk, (1 cup), at room temperature
  • 4 oz sour cream, (1/2 cup ), at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp water or brewed coffee
  • 7.8 oz all-purpose flour, (1¾ cups )
  • 3 oz unsweetened cocoa powder, (1 cup, sifted)
  • tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt

For the Buttercream:

  • 4 fl oz pasteurized liquid egg whites, (1/2 cup)
  • 16 oz powdered sugar, (4 cups)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 16 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature (4 sticks, or 2 cups)
  • 1 TBSP vanilla extract
  • Yellow gel food coloring, (I used Americolor Egg Yellow)

To Decorate:

Instructions 

To Make the Chocolate Cupcakes:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line cupcake pans with 24 paper wrappers.
  • Add the butter and both sugars to the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat them together on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix it in.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and water (or coffee, if using). In a different bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, add a quarter of the sifted flour mixture. When the flour streaks have almost all disappeared, add a third of the liquid to the mixing bowl. When that’s incorporated, continue to add the drys and wets in an alternating pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.
  • When the dry ingredients are nearly incorporated, stop the mixer. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and finish mixing the cake by hand. Scoop the batter into the cupcake pans. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Cool completely before decorating.

To Make the Buttercream:

  • Combine the whites, powdered sugar, and salt in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix everything together on low speed, until the sugar is moistened and no dry patches remain. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, then turn the mixer to medium speed. Beat on medium for 5 minutes.
  • After 5 minutes, turn the mixer to medium-low and start adding the softened room temperature butter, 1-2 tablespoons at a time. Once all of the butter is incorporated, add the vanilla extract and mix it in. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides once more. Turn the speed to medium and beat the buttercream for 10 minutes. At the end, you’ll have a frosting with a wonderfully light and creamy texture. Add the yellow food coloring to get a deep yellow color.
  • The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or the freezer for up to two months. If you have chilled the frosting, let it come to room temperature and then beat it for several minutes to smooth it out and restore its texture before using it.

To Decorate:

  • Place the yellow frosting in a piping bag fitted with a coupler. Hold the bag perpendicular to the top of a cupcake, about 1 inch above the surface. Squeeze the bag until the frosting comes out and starts forming a round blob on top of the cupcake. Continue to apply even pressure, making the blob grow bigger, until it almost reaches the edges of the cupcake.
  • Place a metal spatula in a pitcher of very hot water, to heat the metal, and dry it off so it’s hot but not wet. Press the spatula on top of the buttercream and gently slide it back and forth, using even pressure, so that you flatten out the top of the frosting, creating a round and completely flat frosting surface. Repeat with all of the cupcakes.
  • Put on plastic gloves (optional but highly recommended!) and spray the edges of each cupcake with orange color mist—this will give them a nice airbrushed effect and make them look more like a sun.
  • Sprinkle your work surface with cocoa powder, and roll out the fondant into several long, thin strips, each about 2.5-3 inches wide.
  • Use a round cutter to cut out circles from the fondant that are about the same size as the frosting circles on top of the cupcakes. Keep one circle whole, to be the full eclipse, and for the rest of the circles, use the cutter to trim off different amounts of the edges, so that you’re left with ovals of varying sizes, ranging from very small to very large. Make sure you make 2 of each size, to represent both the waxing and waning eclipse. Since this makes 24 cupcakes, you can either make one looooong set of eclipse cupcakes, or do 2 or 3 smaller sets showing fewer stages of the eclipse—it’s up to you!
  • After all the fondant pieces are cut out, gently place them on the cupcakes. For the best taste and texture, serve these cupcakes at room temperature.

Video

Measuring Tips

Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.

Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?

Nutrition

Calories: 365kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 224mg | Potassium: 97mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 700IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg
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Hi, I’m Elizabeth — a trained pastry chef, cookbook author, video instructor, and your new Baking BFF! I’m going to teach you everything you need to know to be a sugar hero. ❤️

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2 Comments

  1. HAPPY ECLIPSE DAY! I wish we had glasses so the kids can go out and see. So afraid of the whole blind thing though.And these cupcakes! They look so perfect. And the solar flare look with the mist is a great touch. If I were throwing an eclipse party, I would totality make these 😉