Do you have a celebration coming up for a bunch of party animals? Zebra cupcakes are a great party treat that even beginners will have an easy time making. They fit right into a Wild One birthday party, a Two Wild party, a Young Wild and Three party… And of course they work with any animal themed baby shower or birthday.
These zebra themed cupcakes are adorable on the outside and black and white on the inside too. Best of all, you only need icing and chocolate candy melts to make the simple decorations! You might also want to check out these Tiger Cupcakes too.
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How to make zebra cupcakes
Bake the zebra cupcakes
To bake zebra striped cupcakes you’ll need two types of cake batter. I used Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge and Duncan Hines classic white. One box of cake mix can make 12-24 cupcakes, so this is fair warning that you’re going to get a lot of cupcakes from this method.
You could also use your favorite recipe for vanilla and chocolate cupcakes from scratch.
Mix together 3 eggs, ½ a cup of oil and one cup of water with one box of cake mix in a bowl. In a separate bowl do the same with your second box of cake mix.
Add black food coloring to your bowl of chocolate cake mix to make it nice and dark. This will help your zebra stripes look black instead of brown. I used this brand of food coloring
In your bowl of vanilla cake mix you won’t need any food coloring since it’s already a bright white color.
Alternating white and black zebra striped cupcakes
Now that both cake batter mixes are prepped, spoon the batter into two separate ziploc bags, one bag of black chocolate cake batter and one bag of the white vanilla cake batter. Try to squeeze all the air out of your plastic bag before sealing it shut. Cut the tip of the bag off so you can control how much comes out into your cupcake liner.
Alternate a small squeeze of black cake and next a small squeeze of white cake in each cupcake liner until your cupcake liners are all about ¾ full of cake batter and then bake them for 16-20 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit depending on your cake mix instructions and oven.
Smaller amounts of batter will give you more, smaller stripes. If you pour a large amount in at a time you’ll only end up with one or two stripes.
Make the frosting
Make your vanilla buttercream frosting with 1 cup of butter and about 4 cups of icing sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 tsp of cream or milk. Blend it with a hand mixer or stand mixer for two minutes or until it’s fully blended and no sugar crystals remain.
Take out 3-4 table spoons of icing and add black food coloring to it in a separate bowl. You’ll need this black icing to decorate the zebra cupcakes with later.
Decorating zebra cupcakes
Zebra face cupcake prep
Once your delicious cupcakes are fully cooled, it’s time to decorate their cute little zebra faces. If you’re still waiting for your cakes to cool, start prepping the chocolate candy melts. I used white candy melts for the zebra ears. Put the flat side of the candy melt down on your cutting board then chop it in half with a big knife.
Next, take your black candy melts and put a two small dots or stripes of black icing on the flat side to make your zebra nose. I used a number 3 Wilton round piping tip.
Assemble the zebra cupcakes
Place the white candy melts for zebra ears and use a few drops of white icing on the back of the white candy melts to secure the mouth to the top of the cupcake.
Do a test run on a paper towel to see if your black icing is ready to use and make sure you’re happy with the consistency.
Use the black icing to create the zebras’ black eyes. You could also use brown M&M’s for the eyes. I wouldn’t personally use candy eyes for this recipe. I use candy eyes at Halloween because they look quite eerie but I would not use them for something cute like this.
Then add stripes to the top of the zebra’s forehead and sides of the zebra’s face using black icing. I used this type of black food coloring and a number 3 Wilton round piping tip.
As another option, you could use some cute little party hat toothpicks to make the zebra cupcakes look like they’re real party animals.
Ingredients for zebra cupcakes
Zebra striped cup cake options
- One box of chocolate cake mix
- One box of white cake mix
- Or use your favorite recipe of each cake
- 1 cup Oil
- 6 Eggs
- 2 cups Water
Zebra themed cupcake frosting options
- 1 cup butter
- 4 cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp cream or milk
- Black food coloring
Zebra cupcake sprinkles and decorations
- Black icing
- You could also use black royal icing if you prefer.
- Black candy melts
- You could use black Jr. Mints for a smaller black nose.
- White candy melts
- You can use black candy melts instead for black ears if you prefer.
- Party hat toothpicks
- These are optional but they make your zebra themed cupcakes look like real party-animals!
Zebra Cupcake tools
- Circular piping tip (number 3 wilton round tip)
- Cupcake liners
- Piping bag
- Toothpicks
- Cupcake pans
- Bowls
- Electric mixer
- Scissors
- Medium – large plastic ziploc bags
How to store zebra cupcakes
You can store your cute zebra cupcakes in an air tight container for about 12 hours at room temperature. I don’t recommend decorating them too far in advance. If it’s too wet, the black icing will sometimes start to bleed into the white frosting and it won’t look nice anymore.
If you need to make your cupcakes in advance of an event, leave them out on the counter to breathe, don’t trap moisture in with them. Letting them sit out and dry completely will help the black icing stay in place, but you do run the risk of the cupcakes losing some softness if they dry out too much.
Can you freeze zebra cupcakes?
I don’t recommend freezing the cupcakes once they’ve been decorated. You can freeze the zebra striped cake part of the recipe before you add any icing. Then thaw them out when you are ready to decorate them. If you decorate the entire zebra cupcake and then freeze it, when it thaws the black icing can sometimes bleed into the surrounding white icing and it will look messy.
Final thoughts on how to make Zebra striped cupcakes
I hope you have some fun trying this recipe out at home! Feel free to print it out using the recipe card below and pin it to your Pinterest to save it for your next wild birthday party! You should also check out this delicious mint chocolate cheesecake recipe for another fantastic dessert option.
Zebra Cupcakes
Equipment
- Party hat toothpicks These are optional but they make your zebra themed cupcakes look like real party-animals!
- Circular piping tip (number 3 wilton round tip)
- cupcake liners
- Piping bag
- Toothpicks
- Cupcake pans
- bowls
- Electric mixer
- Scissors
- 2 Medium – large plastic ziploc bags
Ingredients
- One box of chocolate cake mix
- One box of white cake mix
- 1 cup Oil
- 6 Eggs
- 2 cups Water
- 1 cup Butter
- 4 cups Icing sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 tsp Cream or milk
- Black food coloring
- Black candy melts You could use black Jr. Mints for a smaller black nose.
- White candy melts You could alternatively use black candy melts for the ears instead of white
Instructions
Bake the cupcakes
- To bake zebra striped cupcakes you’ll need two types of cake batter. I used Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge and Duncan Hines classic white. One box of cake mix can make 12-24 cupcakes, so this is fair warning that you’re going to get a lot of cupcakes from this method.
- You could also use your favorite recipe for vanilla and chocolate cupcakes from scratch.
- Mix together 3 eggs, ½ a cup of oil and one cup of water with one box of cake mix in a bowl. In a separate bowl do the same with your second box of cake mix.
- Add black food coloring to your bowl of chocolate cake mix to make it nice and dark. This will help your zebra stripes look black instead of brown.
- In your bowl of vanilla cake mix you won’t need any food coloring since it’s already a bright white color.
Alternating the white and black stripes
- Now that both cake batter mixes are prepped, spoon the batter into two separate ziploc bags, one bag of black chocolate cake batter and one bag of the white vanilla cake batter. Try to squeeze all the air out of your plastic bag before sealing it shut. Cut the tip of the bag off so you can control how much comes out into your cupcake liner.
- Alternate a small squeeze of black cake and next a small squeeze of white cake in each cupcake liner until your cupcake liners are all about ¾ full of cake batter and then bake them for 16-20 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit depending on your cake mix instructions and oven.
- Smaller amounts of batter will give you more, smaller stripes. If you pour a large amount in at a time you’ll only end up with one or two stripes.
Make the frosting
- Make your vanilla buttercream frosting with 1 cup of butter and about 4 cups of icing sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 tsp of cream or milk. Blend it with a hand mixer or stand mixer for two minutes or until it’s fully blended and no sugar crystals remain.
- Take out 3-4 table spoons of icing and add black food coloring to it in a separate bowl. You’ll need this black icing to decorate the zebra cupcakes with later.
Decorate the zebra cupcakes
- Once your delicious cupcakes are fully cooled, it’s time to decorate their cute little zebra faces. If you’re still waiting for your cakes to cool, start prepping the chocolate candy melts. I used white candy melts for the zebra ears. Put the flat side of the candy melt down on your cutting board then chop it in half with a big knife.
- Next, take your black candy melts and put a two small dots or stripes of black icing on the flat side to make your zebra nose. I used a number 3 Wilton round piping tip.
Assemble the zebra cupcakes
- Place the white candy melts for zebra ears and use a few drops of white icing on the back of the white candy melts to secure the mouth to the top of the cupcake.
- Do a test run on a paper towel to see if your black icing is ready to use and make sure you’re happy with the consistency.
- Use the black icing to create the zebras’ black eyes. You could also use brown M&M’s for the eyes. I wouldn’t personally use candy eyes for this recipe. I use candy eyes at Halloween because they look quite eerie but I would not use them for something cute like this.
- Then add stripes to the top of the zebra’s forehead and sides of the zebra’s face using black icing. I used a number 3 Wilton round piping tip.
- As another option, you could use some cute little party hat toothpicks to make the zebra cupcakes look like they’re real party animals.
