Marvel Studios can say so very much with so few words. Why, just three little words in fact can move even the stiffest of hearts. No, I’m not talking about, “I love you.” I’m referring to the tree-like alien Groot, who’s famous for his extremely limited vocabulary that consists almost entirely of, “I am Groot.”
We just saw Guardians of the Galaxy 2 this weekend to celebrate my son’s 14th birthday and the movie was unbelievably amazing. I think I may’ve liked it even better than the first, and I really loved the first! But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about being hooked on a feeling. And that feeling is the sweet sugary rush of a birthday cake. Or in this case, a birthday cupcake. More specifically, a Baby Groot cupcake!
Y’see my wife Allison makes the most amazing birthday cakes for all of us. We’ve had everything from Disney’s Goofy to Beaker from The Muppets! She took a few pastry classes at a local Michael’s store years ago, and hasn’t let up since. Not only has her speed increased with piping frosting onto a cake, but her creativity and skill has vastly improved!
For Jason’s birthday, since we were taking him and his friends to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in theaters, we thought a Groot cake would be perfect this year! After doing some research, Allie stumbled upon the most amazing and adorable Groot cupcakes courtesy of JK Denim from Koalapops. There’s even a nice step-by-step video to walk you through it and a downloadable stencil!
It couldn’t be easier, right? Right!
Allie dove right in and followed the directions to create an army of Baby Groot Cupcakes! Follow along and I’ll show you how the magic unfolded in our very own kitchen:
The first thing she did was print out and cut the Baby Groot stencil onto wax paper. This would be basis of all Groots to follow. The original seedling, if you will.
Next, we took those big ol’ tubes of Pillsbury sugar cookies (though, obviously you can use your mom’s favorite sugar cookie recipe if you like) and added enough food coloring to it to turn the dough brown. This is about the only place (other than eating!) that I helped out. Kneading the dough with a few drops of food coloring was a really neat process. It didn’t take long before the dough took on a familiar brownish hue.
Next, we rolled the dough out and with the help of the stencil (and a sharp knife), she cut out the shapes of Baby Groot, placing each one on a greased cookie sheet.
After cooking a few trays full of Baby Groot Sugar Cookies, she let them cool and very carefully placed them on wax paper, layering a set of four per row. Then it was off to the freezer to chill.
Meanwhile, it was time for the cupcakes! Again, feel free to use your favorite cupcake recipe, but Allie went with Jason’s favorite Pillsbury Yellow Cake, and added green food coloring to give it a lime green look for the cupcakes themselves. After baking them, she let them cool and froze them as well. It’s always easier to apply frosting to frozen cakes, which is why she does it that way.
Next up is the frosting, Allie’s speciality! She’s truly a purist when it comes to frosting. No easy-to-mold fondant. No already-colored frosting. (They often have a funny taste.) Nope, if you know my wife, you know there is one, and only one type of frosting that is allowed in this house: Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting!
She added the perfect amount of green food coloring to get the right color of grass and then used a Wilton Tip #233 to pipe out the cutest little grass-covered cupcakes I’ve ever seen.
Again, when finished, these bad boys were sent to chill in the freezer!
Next up, are the Baby Groot Sugar Cookies! Totally chill at this point, she took them out and very carefully piped in black dots for the eyes, a brown half circle for a smiling mouth, and then streams of brown up and down the body to simulate Groot’s bark.
Only one step remained: The assembly! After taking the frozen cupcakes out, she let them thaw a bit and then gently pushed the frozen cookies into each cupcake, being sure to tuck li’l Baby Groot in to his grassy bed.
For the birthday boy, we arranged the cupcakes and added a bunch o’ candles for grand presentation.
Jason was shocked, impressed and floored by his little army of Baby Groot Cupcakes! I just love this pic of them basking in the glow of the candlelight.
Here’s my beautiful wife showing off her masterpiece! Also notice the super-cool necklace she’s wearing in honor of the Marvel-ous movie we saw!
My li’l buddy Groot was almost too darn adorable to eat! Almost.
And there you have it! A pretty easy way to fill your freezer with an army of Baby Groot Cupcakes! They were as delicious as they were adorable!
Now be sure to go see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in theaters now! And if you’re really sneaky, you can slip a few of these in your pockets to enjoy during the movie!
What do you think of our Baby Groot Cupcakes?
#GOTG2
These are so awesome!!! I’m a disaster in the kitchen but I can enlist the help of my niece who is in culinary school. Definitely going to give them a try soon.
How fun! Nothing beats being homemade….and did I mention, fun?
These are adorable! Groot is my favorite from the movies.
Wow, they turned out amazing! Good job! I am not sure I am brave enough to venture it but perhaps…
These are absolutely adorable! I just loved baby Groot in the movie.
These are pretty neat. Nice idea for a birthday party.
These are so cute! I really like how the grass looks like grass.
My daughter’s birthday is the month and she LOVES Baby Groot!
Those are the cutest cupcakes. We will be making those.
What a cute idea! I wish I was so creative. I’m sure your son loved them!
Love these ! What a great ideal
These Baby Groot cupcakes are so very cute! They are very impressive.
I LIKE THOSE COOKIES,WHAT A FUN THING TO DO WITH YOUR CHILDREN.
These are really clever. I know what my next baking project is!
They look great!
Great work! This was a nice way to make your son’s birthday special. Baby Groot might just be the most adorable thing ever thought of.
This is a great idea they are super cute and look so easy to make thanks for sharing
Those Baby Groot cupcakes looked quite delicious and something I would love to give a try some time either for a party or maybe just myself 🙂
I so need to try and make these for my son’s birthday! He LOVES groot!
Extremely inventive. You did a great job and looks like they were well recieved.
Oh my gosh these are adorable! You did a wonderful job! My kids would enjoy making these!
I think the baby groot cupcakes was an awesome idea. You did a great job
I love Guardians of the Galaxy and also cookies. This is Marvel-ous! HB, Jason!
These are so cute and yummy looking!
Great idea…these look amazing. I love cupcakes… I am groot.
Wish I have such cool birthday! Happy Birthday to Jason!
This was definitely pin worthy! This has review has everything in it! Step by step instructions, pictures, a testimony and one very happy teenager! Your wife did a wonderful labor of love! Happy Birthday!
Those are cute! I Am Groot!
Omg!!!! These are super cute!!! Great idea for the hubbys b-day coming up in September..
Thanks for sharing this…
These cupcakes are a great theme for a boy’s birthday, it seems like there are a ton of things available for girls but not much out there for the guys but these definitely put a “cool” Factor on the table for a young man.
These are so cute! I would love to try and make these!
These are too CUTE! I’d feel bad eating them…temporarily…
Love them.
The glowing birthday circle of Groots was impressive!
These are really cute!
They are so freaking cute!! I would not have the patience to make these at all, your wife did such a great job!
What a great idea 😀
I love it! Very cool recipe idea, Andrew! Thanks for sharing!
Baby Groot cupcakes – what’s not to love!! I think it would be fun to surprise my kids with these for our family reunion on Labor Day.
If you kneaded some oats/ granola into the dough, they could have had a barkier texture… but they came out cute either way.
Those are too cute. I can never get my cupcakes to look that pretty though. My Baby Groots would probably fall over.
These turned out so cute!!!
What a cute idea to make theses cupcakes
Baby Groot is still growing and now we’re going to eat him?!
As I was reading the post, I couldn’t help not smiling. These cupcakes are so cute! I want to give it a try and make some myself. I really liked the picture of your son sitting down next to his Groot cupcakes. It’s as if all the baby Groots are cheering him for his birthday.
Looks delicious!!
My son is turning 14 in just a couple of months and I’m sure he would love these. Using the sugar cookie dough was genius!
These look absolutely delicious (sorry baby groot). 😉 We will have to give these a try! Yum!
The Groot cupcakes looks amazing.
They are VERY cute! But I have problem eating anything with a face. When I have a whole lobster, I see it looking up at me from the plate,, silently accusing me, “You stole my life”. I end up covering the eyes with parsley.
These are pretty nifty! I am glad Allie made them…. she does a great job. Sometimes you just gotta step back and let the better cupcake make in. I have to agree with her about using Pilsbury vanilla, it always tastes good and really colors up well.
I think that my nephews would like these.
These are so cute I will have to give these a try 🙂
Oh my gosh…those are sooo clever! We love Groot here! And to even have the grass at the bottom, so cute!
Yummy looking Groot cakes
I think the Groot Cupcakes are adorable! My daughter would love them. Your wife is so talented…I love the Goofy and Beaker cakes too.
What a cute idea! My kids would love those.
Those are so cute I love them. I need to make some for my kids.
They are really cute.
My oldest son saw the movie and said it was just as good as the first! I’ll have to make these cupcakes for his birthday!
Those are so cute! My son would love those!
MY GIRLS WOULD LOVE THIS! THEY JUST ASKED LAST NIGHT TO GO SEE THE MOVIE! GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE THIS A TRY!