Easter Chicks Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box favorite flavor cake mix

eggs, oil, and water called for on the cake mix box

2 1/2 cups shredded coconut

yellow food coloring

1 container vanilla buttercream frosting

48 mini chocolate chips

24 small gumdrops

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
3. Make cake mix as directed on box.
4. Divide batter among muffin cups.
5. Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.
6. Cool completely.
7. Place coconut in resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add about 8 drops yellow liquid food color,  seal bag, and shake to mix.
8. Frost cupcakes with white frosting.
9. Top with yellow coconut.
10. For eyes, add mini chocolate chips.
11. Cut orange gumdrops to resemble beaks and place on cupcakes.

When Fall rolls around I always crave pumpkin, but I also crave spices….nutmeg, cinnamon, anise, allspice, cardamom, ginger. When I saw the chai spiced cider while walking through Whole Foods, my mind started churning with possibilities for a spicy and sweet creation. The idea for a spiced apple cider cupcake came to me, and then magically, the perfect icing for my treats appeared on the shelf before my eyes….cinnamon buttercream icing from Janie’s Cakes. I wish I could have these cupcakes in the oven for the remainder of the year, because the scent that fills the air when they are baking is amazing. It is hard to stop at just one of these spiced cakes, they are extremely moist and full of sweet and spicy flavors. I have a feeling I will be making these a traditional Fall treat!

I used up all the icing, but luckily I have lots of the cider left. I might just have to use it in my oatmeal in the morning! After watching all the Quaker Challenge videos and voting for one of our favorite blogging friends, I have been wanting to try some more creative oatmeal creations.

Chai Apple Cider Spice Cakes

Ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix

1 1/3 cups Chai Apple Cider

3 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

1 jar Janie’s Cakes Cinnamon Buttercream Icing

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, cider, and canola oil until well blended.
3. Fill cupcakes liners 2/3 full with batter.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
5. Cool completely and top with icing. Enjoy!

I have seen versions of candy corn cupcakes in magazines and on several recipe sites. In my first attempt to make some candy corn cupcakes, I used a cake mix and poured the colored batters into a dark nonstick cupcake pan. Unfortunately, they baked faster than I expected, and they were a nice golden brown on the outside rather than yellow and orange. I didn’t feel like running back out to the store, but I was determined to make some candy corn cupcakes. I found a basic cupcake recipe on cooks.com, and started mixing up the ingredients. Then came the next roadblock…no vanilla extract. I did some research for vanilla extract substitutes, and decided to substitute an equal amount of maple syrup. Guess what? It worked, and gave the cupcakes a nice flavor. I also used cupcake liners the second time around, and no browning occurred…the candy corn colors were nice and bright. The time required in the kitchen to make these colorful cupcakes is not long, unless you are learning lessons along the way like I did!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 box of white or yellow cake mix prepared according to directions on the box or your favorite basic cupcake recipe prepared
• red food coloring
• yellow food coloring
• your favorite white icing recipe or store bought icing

Directions:

1. Prepare cake mix.
2. Divide cake mix evenly between two bowls.
3. Add drops of yellow food coloring to one bowl of batter, and mix until desired shade of yellow is reached.
4. Add red and yellow food coloring to the other bowl of batter, and mix until desired shade of orange is reached.
5. Fill cupcake liners 1/4 full with yellow batter.
6. Top yellow batter with orange batter, filling an additional 1/4 full.
7. Bake cupcakes according to directions from the box or recipe.
8. Cool, and then top with icing and desired candy or other Halloween decorations.

A celebration is not complete without cupcakes! As I looked back through all the posts over the last year, I realized that I have made lots of cupcakes! To continue my countdown to my 1 year Blogoversary, I thought I would look back at some of my favorite cupcake creations. Which one was your favorite?

Chocolate Chippy Cakes

Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Banana Toffee Cupcakes

Lemon Pudding Cupcakes

Cherry Filled Pineapple Cupcakes

Cool Mint Oreo Cupcakes

Dark Chocolate Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Happy 4th to everyone! Hope everyone is having a fun time with family and friends and enjoying lots of delicious food. I started my day with the Fireworks 5k, which was quite the experience in the hot Texas sun. I am hoping to see some fireworks tonight, but while waiting for those, I decided to create some fireworks in my kitchen.

These were so fun to make and so festive. The cupcakes are strawberry with vanilla icing. I made the fireworks by making circles on top of the cupcakes with decorating gel, and then dragging a toothpick through the gels to create firework designs!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th!