Candy Robots

Robot Cupcakes!

For Eli's second birthday I made two dozen of the best cupcakes I've ever made (thank you, Martha Stewart) and I topped them with edible robot heads. They were so fun to make and Eli loved them.

Here's how they came to life!

Remove the paper wrapping from the Starburst. I wanted a variety of colors so I used 3 or 4 of each color.

When the paper is removed, place the candy between two pieces of wax paper and roll gently. I found that the best tool for this job was a cylindrical shot glass (thanks, VCU!) but an actual rolling pin would work as well. The candy does not need to be heated before rolling.

When the candy is rolled gently in each direction it takes on the shape of the robot's head! I rolled 2 Starburst for each robot. One piece was for its face and the other piece was cut apart to become the eyes, mouth and ears.

Here's my audience!

I used kitchen shears to cut the Starburst. This worked much better than using a knife.

I used the "fancy" toothpick to create the robot's antenna. The toothpick is sandwiched between the head and the strip of candy used for the ears, which extends behind his head. I gave the sandwich a good pinch and had no problems with the pieces coming apart.

To finish the robots I used a knife to gently press a series of vertical lines in the mouth to create "teeth" and I put 1 round cupcake sprinkle in each eye (see first photo). I stored the robots in the fridge between layers of wax paper.

To display the cupcakes I placed them on a grid of old CDs. The reflection of the metallic cupcake liners on the CDs created a pretty cool effect.

The birthday boy admiring his cupcakes!