Make it Monday!

Flower Garden Cupcakes!

First thing first... I cheated, yup it's true this isn't a real from scratch recipe... but I modified it.... so I think it kinda counts... Maybe....

These are my Flower Garden Easter Cupcakes!

(Please excuse the cooling rack in the background)

To make these "cheat" cupcakes I wanted to make confetti cups cupcakes but when I picked up my cake mix they were all out.... Thats what happens when cake mix goes on sale for a dollar.... so to fix my cake mix issue I took a White cake mix and some sprinkles...

Now normally I would just go ahead and make my cake mix as the directions recommend however the last time I made them I made some changes... and I'm sticking to them because my cupcakes have never tasted so moist and yummy as when I fist made these changes... 

So here we go....

This mix called for                                  I put in.....

1 and 1/4 cup of water                          1 cup of water  

3 egg whites                                          2 egg whites

1/3 cup of oil                                         1/3 cup of oil

                                                             1/4 cup of milk!

Heres why...

I find that adding 3 egg whites is too much it makes the cupcakes to spongy and a but hard on the top... (if it calls for 3 whole eggs I do the same but put in the 2 whole eggs...) I add a bit of milk as it makes the cupcake a bit more dense but at the same time moist, I like to add about 1/4 cup and just take that off of the water recommendation, then I follow the oil recommendation as the box says...

To make these cupcakes confetti cups I just added sprinkles before I added the wet ingredients, mixed them through and proceeded as I explained above...  

 When they bake up they will look just like confetti cups would, you can see the sprinkles in the middle there... kinda... 

Then I made my Butter Cream Icing which you can find here.... and died it green to look like grass, I iced the cupcakes with a star icing tip and just dotted it on to look like grass as I don't have a grass icing tip. 

They are great just like this but to turn them into Flower Garden Cupcakes, I melted a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (or if you wanted color you could melt down some candy melts, you can find them in the cake section at Micheal's) then I put plastic wrap over a book or magazine and spread the melted chocolate over the plastic, then place cookie cutters in the shape of flowers of Easter shapes like bunnies and chicks in the chocolate.

(It will look like this)

Then let your chocolate harden at room temp. (don't try to speed it up by putting it in the fridge, your chocolate will crack) gently remove the cookie cutters and peel the chocolate off of the plastic and place them in your icing.... and there you have it! 

Flower Garden Confetti Cup Cupcakes!