Safari Party Theme Leopard Print Cupcakes

A Safari party theme needs a fabulous treat! How about some delicious spotted leopard print cupcakes!? I served these for our “Into the WILD” New years Party and they were so fun! I know, you're looking at these thinking, “I don't have time to make fancy cupcakes”.

But guess what? YOU DO. These are deceptively easy. They take just a little extra time to put the batter in the tins but that's it. If I can do it, I promise, you can too.

Safari Party Cupcake Ingredients

• Yellow or white cake mix made according to box
• Cocoa powder – dutch processed recommended
• 1/2 capsule activated charcoal or Black food coloring gel
• Baking Cups or Muffin tins with cupcake liners
• Plastic piping bags

Mixing Up Batter Colors

After you mix your cake batter scoop 2 cups light cake mix in a separate bowl. Add 3 tsp cocoa powder, dutch processed cocoa is more red in color and will give you the results seen here. This color is the for the main spot. Adjust quantity of cocoa as desired being careful to not get too dark.

Next scoop 3/4 cup of cocoa tinted batter into a separate bowl and stir in 1/2 capsule of activated charcoal, or a toothpick dip of black food coloring gel and mix well. You want this color, the spot outline, to be almost black.

Safari Party Cupcake How To

Now let's get down to the business of creating these fun little leopard print cupcakes! Fill the bottom of each liner with a few spoonfuls of yellow cake batter. You will be doing THREE layers and don't want to overfill so start off with small amounts.

Add Leopard Print Spots

Fill one piping bag with the light chocolate batter and another with the black/brown batter. Snip the end off the light chocolate bag, twist the top to prevent leakage and squeeze dots onto the yellow cake batter layer. 3 larger dots are better than the 4 smaller ones from my first batch.

Then snip the black chocolate piping bag and draw a “C” shape outline on the sides of each light chocolate spot. Your spots are now complete.

Repeat Two More Times

Now that your first layer is done and spotted, you're ready to try it again. And then again. After that 3rd layer has spots, you're ready to go in the oven.

You can use either baking Cups or cupcake liners in a tin but I wanted to show how fun and easy the baking cups are. They really make baked goods look SO much more professional.

Pro Tip: Do you see how full these baking cups are? They totally overflowed! Make sure to keep liners about 2/3 full to allow for rising of the cake. Luckily these were my test cupcakes and I learned my lesson real quick!

Pro Tip #2: When making party food, it's a really good idea to have a small test batch! Just in case!

Display Safari Party Themed Cupcake

I think these are gorgeous without frosting and a simple New Years party pick.

The baking cups don't fade as the cupcake cooks and are ready to place on the party food table as soon as they come out of the oven! Grease spots no more!

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

BUT if you have kiddos like mine that prefer their cupcakes with frosting you can use our easy chocolate buttercream recipe as well. After making frosting, add to another piping bag and snip a large hole for easier, more uniform frosting.

The frosting hides the leopard print cupcake and gives your guests a fun surprise!

Enjoy Your Safari Party Cupcakes

Now that these leopard print cupcakes are done I dare you to eat just one! I'm not a huge yellow cake fan but these were SO good with their chocolate spots. Wild cupcakes perfect for your Safari party theme!

If you make some cheetah or leopard cupcakes, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. And if you share photos, I want to see it too! Please tag us @partieswithacause on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. We love celebrating all your hard work! 

More Safari Party Theme Ideas

• Safari Glam Baby Shower Ideas
• Safari Lion Baby Tag Toy DIY Tutorial
• “Party Animals” Jungle Themed Birthday – Featured Party
• Cheetah Corn Cones – Popcorn with Chocolate Drizzle

Into the WILD New Years Eve Party Ideas

• New Years Eve Party – Into the WILD
• Cheetah Corn Cones – Popcorn with Chocolate Drizzle
• Sherbet Pineapple Sunset Punch
• Blackberry Banana Yogurt Parfait Cups
• Non-Alcoholic Blackberry Mint Spritzer Mocktail Recipe