One thing that always tickles me pink are cupcakes.What an amazing invention!! "Hey, I can't eat a full cake (or I shouldn't) so let's make individual sized cakes in cups." GENIUS! Add this little bundle of cuteness below and tell me you don't want a cuppy cake.But what inspires cupcakes? What inspires anything? For me it's other people. Other people inspire cuppycakes. And last week it was a close friend. She had a cupcake party this past weekend. I, unfortunately, was unable to make it. But at around 9pm on Wednesday night I decided I wasn't going to be left out!! So I baked a dozen cupcakes with every intention of sending them to the party. 
I made 5 different kinds; an easy enough feat when you buy a box of vanilla cake batter, and a box of chocolate cake batter. Then I just added my own extras. Sorry Mom and Dad, I'm a notorious cake box baker. My mother is well known for her delicious cookies and cakes, which are all made from scratch. It's for this reason that it's easy for my family to tell when something is made from a box.
I also used shelved frosting (chocolate and vanilla)... I'm going to baking hell, I know. Listen people, it's not about the cake at this point, it's about the decoration! And if it's for a large group of undiscerning palates, boxes are the way to go. Don't judge me! (Okay, you can a little, I give you permission.)
The Flavors:
-
Chocolate Fudge Cake with Oreo Frosting. (Had a bag of oreos in our kitchen. Just smashed-em up and threw it into the vanilla frosting)
-
Almond Cake with Walnut Frosting. (Added almond extract to the vanilla batter, and crushed walnuts to the vanilla frosting)
-
Vanilla Cake with Whoppers Frosting. (Added crushed whoppers to chocolate frosting)
-
Lemon Cake with Strawberry Frosting. (Added lemon extract to vanilla batter, and seedless strawberry jam to vanilla frosting)
-
Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. (Added peanut butter to vanilla batter, and peanut butter to vanilla frosting).
So after the hard work of creating these delightful cupcakes, I realized, "Uh... how the HECK am I going to send these to Massachusetts?" My husband and I brainstormed and finally I decided they were way too cute to arrive in a messy indiscernible glob. While crafting these cupcakes I had also begun creating Cake Pops for a friend. "LIGHT BULB!" Cake pops would be easier to send.
Using the same batter as the cupcakes I made these. Instead of frosting them I covered them in semi sweet chocolate, rolled them in crushed oreos, whoppers, lemon cookies or nuts, stuck a stick in each one, wrapped them in plastic, and called it a day. "Whoo-hoo! Cake on a stick!" Just large enough to satiate a sweet craving but small enough not to feel bad about eating one (or 6, let's be real here, I want a full cupcake.)
Seen Above:
Prosperity Dinner Plate (MV1601) - $45
Prosperity Mug Saucer (MV1604B) - $40 The perfect size to serve individual cupcakes!
Cobalt Blossom Dessert Cake Plate (MS4151) - $20