Bunny Butt Cupcakes... so easy to make!

I have been a baking fool lately, and I have to admit... it's been fun! These little cuties were so easy to make and it cracks me up to hear my little guy ask for a bunny butt cupcake! 

Here is how to make these fun treats... 

After your cupcakes have cooled completely frost them white. After doing so cut up some marshmallows into a tail and 2 feet for each cupcake and place accordingly. The should stick with the frosting. 

Now with your pink frosting (I just put a dollop in a bowl with a drop or 2 of red food coloring for this part) use a toothpick to draw the details on the feet.

And that's it. Wasn't that easy? And cute as a bunny button too I might add! 

Enjoy~ Miranda

Simple, Adorable Cotton Candy Easter Cake *frugal alert!*

I had to redeem myself after my pastel colored deviled eggs incident. I thought the best way to do that was with a cake, a treat for everyone! This one was super easy, and super frugal! May I present... cotton candy Easter cake-

I am no baker. Store bought cake mix is usually my go to and was in this case. Here is what I used to make this little cutie...

I got all ingredients at Walmart. Gotta admit, I haven't seem little icing decorations for cakes like this in years so I picked up a pack. 

So I got to mixing, all the while my 3 year old is at my feet asking if the birthday cake was for him. "Where are my balloons?", "I want Spiderman party!". My explanation of this being an Easter cake for everyone went unheard. 

I decided to make the batter purple, mixing blue and red food coloring, this part is up to you. I just like purple, it's such a spring-y color!

So just follow the instructions on your cake mix, and let it cool after it's finished baking. In the mean time I mixed up my cotton candy frosting creation! *Note- I had never used this before. It's a good idea to not have your face anywhere near the container of frosting when you begin to mix, the power from the flavor mix pack just exploded everywhere and covered me!*

So after the cake cooled I got to frosting. I am not a good at this step.. don't expect a cake from me to look professional in anyway! :)

The I put the little bunnies around the cake, my little guy was yelling with glee "The bunnies are dancing around the cake!". 

Finished product...

Little Man was trying to sneak some frosting... and then tried to bribe me with kisses for a piece of cake.

So of course I caved in a gave him a piece. 

Happy First Day of Spring! ~ Miranda

Valentine Cupcakes with a surprise middle!

I absolutely love Valentine's Day. My thought has always been that on Valentine's Day, the homemade gifts and treats are much more meaningful. These little cupcakes are filled with a surprise middle and a marshmallow heart on top. Here is how I made these...

What you'll need:
2 boxes of cake mix and ingredients to make (two colors, or both white)
Food coloring
Marshmallow hearts (or other topper of your choice)
Cupcake liners
Toothpick
Frosting
Very small heart shaped cookie cutter

So I started out by cooking a box of strawberry cake mix in a regular square cake pan. Allowed it to cool and then using a small cookie cutter, cut out some hearts.

Now depending on how much your cake rose, you may need to cut these little hearts in half and make 2 out of one cut.

Next I prepared a batch of vanilla cake mix. I put some cupcake liners in my cupcake pan and dolloped a little bit of the vanilla cake mix in the middle of each liner. Then I took one of my strawberry hearts and placed it in the batter. Then I carefully spooned more of the vanilla batter over the top and around the sides. You want to be sure that the batter doesn't knock your heart over or out of place.

**IMPORTANT**

As you are placing in the hearts make sure they are all turned in the same direction. You will need to mark the batter in some way in the direction the heart is, so when people bite in the heart is facing them. I used a little red food coloring and dipped a toothpick in and put a dot facing the direction of the hearts.

I thought I would add that this was supposed to be a trail run and I was going to make a better version of this to post this week. But my son has come down with the horrible sickies and I don't think I'll be doing anymore baking this week. I should have pushed the hearts down more into the batter and covered them better. You'll see why in a moment. 

Now bake according to the box directions.

In the mean time get your frosting prepared. I used cream cheese  and tinted it with red food coloring. I don't have any of those fancy pastry bags, ziplock has been my friend when decorating cakes, cookies and cupcakes. One of the best tricks I've learned when putting frosting into a ziplock bag is to but the bag into a small cup then put the batter in. So much easier! Then just cut a little corner off the bottom for your frosting to come out of.

When your cupcakes are done cooking let them cool completely. Now before frosting, make sure you place the cupcake in front of you with the little red dot facing you.

Now frost away, and please be more creative than I was! I topped with a heart marshmallow facing in the direction the red dot was so people knew to bite into the cupcake that way. 

Here is the finished product.

Another with a pink marshmallow on top...

Now cut open to find the heart inside. And getting back to my note on needing to push the heart down better before baking, as you can see the very top of my heart was not showing well on this one. It came out good in some of the cupcakes, but I didn't want to cut open them all open at the same time.

This is great way to get different shapes inside a cupcake. If there is a cookie cutter small enough, it should work! Also a good idea for all those gender reveal cupcakes going around lately! 

Happy Valentine's Day- Miranda