Thing 1 & Thing 2 Cupcakes for Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

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Taste the deliciousness of Thing 1 & Thing 2 Cupcakes and satisfy your sweet tooth! These red velvet cupcakes are made with only the best ingredients, making them not only look delicious, but taste amazing too! Explore the magical world of Dr. Seuss while enjoying delicious cupcakes.

A bunch of Thing 1 & Thing 2 cupcakes with blue and pink cotton candy hair.

One of my favorite author’s growing up was always Dr. Seuss.  It’s been fun to see my 5 year old son enjoying his books as well. I loved the nonsense rhymes and the flow of his books.  They were easy for me to follow and to read at a young age.

Now that I am a special education teacher I enjoy sharing his books with my students because they find them funny, can predict the rhymes, and they are easy to read.  Many of my students who struggle with reading are able to read his books.

March 2 is Dr. Seuss’s birthday and usually this is the day we celebrate Read Across America.  This is a day to promote reading, make Dr. Seuss and Cat in the Hat crafts, read books by Dr. Seuss, and just promote reading in general.

A close up of a cupcake in a red wrapped with blue cotton candy on top.

Since I love both baking and reading I decided to combine them into a fun day for my own students.  We will be reading two of my favorite Dr. Seuss books,  The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  While reading my students will be enjoying these adorable Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes. I know they are going to love the cupcakes!

Ingredients:

  • flour
  • baking soda
  • baking powder
  • cocoa powder (I like to use Dutch Processed but use any unsweetened cocoa powder)
  • salt
  • butter (I use salted butter and reduce the amount of salt by half in this recipe)
  • eggs (large size)
  • Red Gel Paste (I use Americolor Soft Gel Paste because you use so much less!)
  • vanilla extract (Use a good vanilla that isn’t full of water)
  • buttermilk (If you don’t have buttermilk add 1 teaspoon of vinegar to your regular milk and wait 5 minutes)
  • white vinegar

The base of these cupcakes are a delicious red velvet cupcake.  It’s a light chocolate cupcake that is dyed red which is perfect for the bottom half of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

The frosting on top is a basic vanilla buttercream frosting.  You can make a cream cheese frosting instead but I chose a buttercream frosting because I was putting the cotton candy on top of the frosting.

Pin Image:  A bunch of cupcakes in red liners with blue and pink cotton candy on top, text title, a cutting board with all the ingredients to make the cupcakes.

Can I use a boxed cake mix?

You can use a boxed cake mix if you are pressed for time.  It won’t taste nearly as good but simply follow the directions on the box to make cupcakes.

Where can I get red cupcake liners?

You can get red cupcake liners at any baking supply store.  You can also get them on Amazon.  If you can’t find solid red cupcake liners these look just as great with red polka dot or red chevron liners.

How do I make cream cheese frosting?

Beat 8 ounces of cream cheese, 8 tablespoons softened butter, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.  Slowly add in 4 cups of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

How do I make the Thing 1 and Thing 2 name tags?

I used sticky address labels and a Sharpie marker.   Then I cut them into circles and put them on my cupcake liners.  It was quick, cheap, and easy to do.

Once the cupcakes come out of the oven they need to cool completely before they are frosted.  Once cooled simply spread several tablespoons of frosting over top of the cupcakes and smooth it out.  You don’t need to do anything fancy since you’ll be putting cotton candy on top.

A bunch of cupcakes in red liners with yellow and pink cotton candy on top.

Don’t put the cotton candy on top of the cupcakes until you are ready to serve them.  It will only last 15-30 minutes once it is on top of the cupcakes because the moisture in the frosting will start to dissolve the cotton candy.

More Cupcake Recipes:

Try to get blue hair for Thing 1 and Thing 2.   I bought raspberry flavored cotton candy thinking it would be blue and it turned out it was pink.   You can’t open cotton candy and expect it to last so don’t open it until the last minute.

These cupcakes are so fun to make and always a hit with adults and kids.  They have a light chocolate flavor that works well with the vanilla buttercream. The cotton candy gives a nice punch of flavor on top.

If you’ve tried my Thing 1 and Thing 2 Cupcakes or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:

 
A bunch of Thing 1 & Thing 2 cupcakes with blue and pink cotton candy hair.

Thing 1 & Thing 2 Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 24 minutes
Total Time: 54 minutes

Delicious red velvet cupcakes are topped with an easy buttercream frosting then topped off with cotton candy "hair" for a fun cupcake!

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

  • 2 ¼ c. flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ c. butter, softened
  • 1 ½ c. sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon Americolor Soft Gel Paste in Red (or 2 Tablespoons of regular red food coloring)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 c. buttermilk
  • 1 Tablespoon white vinegar

For the Frosting:

  • For the frosting:
  • 2 sticks (1 cup)  butter
  • 4 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1-2 Tablespoons milk
  • For Decorating:
  • Blue cotton Candy
  • Thing 1 Thing 2 tags (Optional) 

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with 24 red cupcake liners.
  2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
  3. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time beating after each addition.
  4. Stir in the food coloring and vanilla.
  5. Mix in ⅓ of the flour mixture and then ½ of the buttermilk, stirring well until combined.  Then mix in half of the remaining flour.
  6. Stir in the remaining milk and then remaining flour, mixing until just blended.  Beat in the vinegar.
  7. Divide the batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each ⅔ of the way full.
  8. Bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the
    center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
  9. To make the frosting beat the butter with a hand mixer on medium
    speed until smooth.  Add in the vanilla and milk.  Add in the
    powdered sugar a half cup at a time until the frosting is smooth and at
    desired consistency.
  10. Spread a layer of frosting on top of each cupcake.
  11. Just before serving fluff pieces of cotton candy and gently press down onto the cupcakes creating hair.

Notes

A Hezzi-D Original recipe

A close up of a cupcake with blue cotton candy on top.

4 Comments

  1. These turned out so adorable! Perfect to celebrate Dr Seuss. My son’s preschool did Seuss last Friday and he just loves those books. So fun!

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