He’s back again – the very hungry caterpillar cake, cupcakes style! This time in dark chocolate with vanilla buttercream. Oh he’s a cutie. Plus – this time, he’s a vegan very hungry caterpillar cake!
How to make a vegan very hungry caterpillar cake
What I love about baking nowadays, is that you can take any cake design or flavours and convert it to a vegan cake version! All you need is an amazing vegan buttercream recipe and your favourite cake recipe, too!
- Cut out a large piece of thick, sturdy cardboard and cover it with grease-proof wrapping paper.
- Bake your cupcakes, and a two-layer 7×2-inch round cake. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
- Make a double batch of your favourite vegan buttercream. Reserve 2 cups of buttercream for frosting the cake.
- Divide the remaining buttercream into two bowls; using gel colouring, tint one bowl leaf green, and the other with a mixture of leaf green and yellow.
- Using a 7-inch round cake board, frost and fill the 7×2-inch round cake and cover it with pre-coloured red fondant. Cut out eyes, a nose, little feet and two antennae ears using coloured fondant.
- Add the two shades of buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a #1M open star tip. You can follow this method of filling a piping bag with multiple colours, or just spoon in alternating colours.
- Pipe classic buttercream swirls on the cupcakes.
- Arrange the caterpillar head and cupcakes on the prepared cake board. I use a tiny dollop of buttercream to stick down the cupcakes and the little fondant feet. If you are traveling with the cake, plan to arrange the caterpillar at the party location, if possible.
Perry the Party Caterpillar is my vegan version of my very hungry caterpillar cake. Emily ordered this little guy for her little cutie Hudson’s first birthday party! And the extra special part about Perry the caterpillar is… he’s vegan! Yes, 100% dairy and egg free! Dark chocolate cupcakes made up the body, vanilla “butter”cream for the frosting, and the head and mini cupcakes were vanilla cupcakes. Emily’s mom Wendy came to pick it up and just loved it when she saw it, yay! And I got a very sweet email from Emily a few days later with this super kind comment:
“I have to say I am very picky when it comes to cake/cupcakes. I am never really a big fan of cake so I figured that I wouldn’t eat much of it, which would have been a good thing! But your cake/cupcakes were simply the BEST I have ever had!…. “
So nice!! I had a blast making this guy, thank you Emily for the great order, and glad to hear Hudson had a ball at his 1st birthday bash and loved his vegan very hungry caterpillar cake!
And while I’m at it… thank you to all of you who have made this caterpillar cake and sent me pictures of your results and birthday parties… what fun it is to know that this crazy Coco Cake Land creation has been the inspiration for so many cute little kiddie’s parties. Brings joy to a caker’s heart!
(Here, you can learn more about the author/illustrator Eric Carle of the original book!)
xo Lyndsay
karen
Thanks for giving “permission” to copy your ideas … amateurs such as myself need some inspiration to pull up our games and you are an amazing influence. (I’m pretty sure I sent you a link to my caterpillar, but I also made a puppy dog cake that gave our school’s cakewalk a huge boost! I think all the BEST artists are willing to influence their fans. (Besides, I told EVERYONE about where I got my idea …)
jelly roll fabric
The Caterpillar cupcake sounds tasty, will have to give it a go around. Been a big fan of the blog for a while – first time posting. Keep up the great work… I love your writing.
lizy b
So adorable. I always love the attention you give to your cake boards.
Nat B.
Absolutely Fantastic! Thank You so Very Much for Your E-mail with the Swirl Tip. I’ll Give it a Go this Weekend! Love, Natasha Brand – Brazil
Allison
Love the cake board. And the cake is so adorable! You come up with the best stuff.
lyndsay
thanks so much karen! i think you were going to send me a picture but i don’t believe i received it! re-send if you like! ^__^
Thanks jellyroll!
thanks Lizy B! ^__^
Thanks Nat – and you’re very welcome!
Thanks Allison! ^__^
Mariah
Love this! I think I might do something like it for my Baby’s 1st Birthday this summer. But until then… you inspired me for my thee year old’s party last week. check out my blog if you want to see the pictures of the cupcakes you inspired!
Pinecone Camp
That is seriously adorable, and looks delicious too!
Nom!
This is such a cute idea! love love!
Gail
Hi Lindsay. Love this cake and would like to make it for a baby shower. I am wondering if the cupcakes are regular sized and what size cake board you used. Thanks.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi! thank you so much – the cupcakes are regular sized – unfortunately can’t remember what size the cake board is, I’d guess it was around 30 inches wide or so?? Quite large … :)
Laura
Hello there.. I am going to try very hard to recreate this masterpiece of the Very Hungry Caterpillar for a first birthday.. was curious how you were able to get two different shades of green on the cupcake body ??
Thanks!! & wish me luck in the kitchen HA