Food Friday-Tow Mater Cupcakes

Tow Mater Cupcakes

Cooking Fun With Kids

Ka-chow! What better way to spend an afternoon with your kids or grandkids than to recreate these these tow-tally fabulous cupcakes as featured on Disney's Family Fun site. Get ready to be floored-they really were surprisingly easy!

Here's what you'll need to make 6 Tow Mater Cupcakes:

     1  Box Cake Mix (we used chocolate but any flavor works)

     2 16 oz. cans Milk Chocolate Frosting

     1 16 oz. can Vanilla Frosting

     1  6 cup large muffin baking pan 

     1  12 cup regular size cupcake baking pan

     Non stick spray for pans

     2 boxes Keebler 100 calorie Rite Bite cookies (Family Fun  

       suggested Grasshopper cookies but any cookie that resembles a wheel will work)

     1   Go-Pack of Mini Oreo Bite Size ( tires)

     12 White M&M's candies (headlights)

     12 Green M&M's candies (eyes)  

     6   pieces Eclipse gum (teeth)

     8" cardboard cake boards (paper plates also work great)

     Black edible ink pen or black decorating gel

     Ziploc bag

Now we're ready to begin:

1)  Coat both pans with non stick spray.  Prepare cake mix according to the directions given on the box.  Fill both pans 2/3's of the way full.  Bake as directed.  Allow to cool. 

2) While the cupcakes are cooling, count out 12 of the Keebler cookies and set aside.  Place the remaining cookies in a Ziploc bag and finely crush them with a rolling pin or one of the frosting cans.

3) Set aside 12 green and 12 white M&M's ( if you can't easily find white, yellow ones will work)

4)  For Mater's teeth, cut each piece of gum in two so that one piece is larger than the other.  If you are cooking with very young children, you can use marshmallows or jelly beans instead of the gum.  

5)  Once cupcakes are cool, cut the top off of 6 of the small cupcakes. The bottom portion of the cupcake will be placed upside down to make the truck bed (my granddaughters ate the tops as we were decorating).  Place the cupcake toward the back of your 8" board , cut side down.  Using the chocolate frosting, cover the sides and the top and sprinkle with cookie crumbs.  Putting a little bit of frosting on the bottom will help to hold the cupcake in place.

6)  With the chocolate frosting, frost the sides of the larger muffin-size cupcakes. Sprinkle some of the crushed cookie crumbs on the sides and then place them on the cake board right in front of the smaller cupcake.  Frost the top and sprinkle with more cookie crumbs.  Attach one of the cookies to the front of each muffin-size cupcake for Mater's mouth.  

7)  Mater's  tires are made by attaching an Oreo Cookie Bite on either side of the large cupcake in the front, and on either side of the smaller cupcake in the back.  

8)  Place one of the Keebler cookies on the top of the large cupcake for the tire on Mater's hood.  Attach the teeth to Mater's mouth using a small bit of vanilla frosting. 

9)  For the top of the truck, first frost the fronts of the remaining small cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  Place these in the freezer for a few minutes to harden thus making it much easier to frost over the vanilla edges with the chocolate frosting to finish Mater's face. When the vanilla frosting is firm,  place it on top of the large muffin-size cupcake.  Frost the sides and top with chocolate and sprinkle with cookie crumbs.

10)  Attach two green M&M's in place for the eyes and two white M&M's in place for the headlights.  Use a black edible pen to draw in the pupils.  We found that Whitton makes adorable premade edible eyes which can also be used.  

11) Sit back, and prepare to be floored as you tow-tally enjoy your creation!  

I must admit I had my doubts that these would ever work, especially being that try as I might, craftiness is not one of my strong suits but not only were they relatively easy to do, Lyssie , age 4, made one entirely on her own.  I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon !