Easy Mermaid Inspired "Under the Sea" Cupcakes - Parties365 (2024)

May 13 By Ashley, Editor @ Parties365 Leave a Comment
THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SOME AFFILIATE LINKS FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. CLICK HERE TO READ OUR DISCLOSURE POLICY.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Kids Birthday Parties, Party Food Tagged With: cupacke, cupcake recipe, mermaid, mermaid birthday, mermaid party, ocean, under the sea

When my daughter turned eight, she was obsessed with having a Mermaid Themed Birthday Party (never mind her birthday is in January and we weren’t going to be able to get in the pool)! So we planned a big party for the weekend, but she also wanted to have special Mermaid Cupcakes she could take to school for her friends on her actualbirthday. I came up with this totally simple, DIY Under the Sea cupcake, inspired by magical mermaid colors, that thrilled her and her friends! Keep scrolling for the simple steps you can take at home, to recreate a mermaid cupcake your kids will love!

Mermaid Cupcake Ingredients

The week of my daughter’s birthday was a busy one… we had just returned from a long weekend out of town and I was preparing everything for her birthday party that weekend on top of you know, life, so I didn’t have time to make cupcakes from scratch. Feel free to do whatever you like – your favorite from scratch cake recipe, try a new recipe or pick up a box mix like I did!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 Box of Vanilla (or light colored) cake mix
• 1 jar of frosting (I used a store bought whipped vanilla)
• Bright gel food coloring in hot pink, purple and turquoise

Mermaid Cupcake Instructions

Once you’ve mixed up your cake batter, divide it evenly into 3 bowls. You’ll add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl so you have pink, purple and turquoise batter. Adjust the colors to your liking.

Next, after lining your cupcake pan with you favorite cupcake liners (we used a pretty metallic purple cupcake liner), you’ll spoon about a teaspoon of pink batter into each liner.

You’ll then repeat this process with the purple and then the turquoise batter to get a marbled pattern. After adding one teaspoon of each colored batter to each cupcake, I went back and repeated the process, layering the colors in different spots so it would be marbled from top to bottom.

Now, pop them in the oven to bake according to your cake mix instructions. When a toothpick comes out clean, they’re done! Let them cool completely before moving on to the icing.

For the frosting on my Under the Sea Mermaid Cupcakes I wanted to create a magical mix of two colors. I did this by dividing my vanilla whipped frosting into two bowls. I added pink food coloring to one and turquoise food coloring to the other. Once they were mixed together, I added the pink to one side of a piping bag and the blue into the other side of the piping bag, so they were both in the same bag, just on separate sides.

Then I simply piped the icing on top of the cupcake, starting on the outside edge and swirling it into the center. When the icing comes out, it’s this beautiful mix of colors… pink, turquoise and a little bit of purple where they intersect! My daughter absolutely loved it!

We added on some big pink sugar sprinkles and some under the sea sprinkles I had laying around in the pantry from another project. Then we topped them with some leftover Under the Sea and Mermaid Cupcake toppers I had. I love it when I can use up old supplies on smaller projects! Score!

Overall, this was a pretty easy cupcake project with a magical mermaid effect! The kids loved them (and so do I)! And check out how the marbled cupcake itself turned out – fun in every bite!

I hope you’ll give these a try for your next party or event – or for a fun playdate! You can experiment with the colors and adapt them to fit almost any theme. A marble effect inside a cupcake is always a whimsical treat! Be sure to Pin this post for later party planning and baking!