During ancient times in Princess Mulan’s homeland, Chinese emperors sometimes kept Pandas as pets. They must have had plenty of food on hand because these native black-and-white bears sure can eat. Pandas are known to spend as much as 16 hours a day munching on their favorite food: the bamboo that grows on China’s mountainsides. Here’s a treat that’s sure to satisfy the appetite of any Panda fan.
Panda Bear Cupcakes
Ingredients
- A chocolate cupcake
- White frosting
- A black gummi bear
- Waxed paper
- Granulated sugar
- Rolling pin
- Black decorator gel or icing
- 2 chocolate chips
Directions
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Frost the cupcake and set it aside while you create the panda bear’s facial features.
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Spread a sheet of waxed paper on a flat working space and then sprinkle the surface with granulated sugar.
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Cut the gummi bear into five equal-size pieces and set one of them atop the sugared paper. Sprinkle on a little more sugar. Then cover the candy with another piece of waxed paper and roll it into a circular bear ear about 1/8 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide (you can use your fingers to better mold and refine the candy once you’ve rolled it). Make a matching ear from a second piece of the candy.
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Roll out two more gummi bear pieces to create oval eye patches about 1 1/4 inch long and 3/4 inch wide.
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Finally, roll out the remaining piece and cut out a triangular nose (about 3/4 wide and 1/2 inch long from top to tip).
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Arrange the ears, eye patches, and nose on top of the cupcake, as shown. Then top the lower portion of each eye patch with a dab of white icing and press a chocolate chip, tip down, into each dab.
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Finally, use black decorator’s gel or icing to draw on a thin upturned mouth, and then to connect the center of the mouth to the bottom of the nose.
