Bomb Pop Cupcakes!!

Does anything scream SUMMER, or FOURTH OF JULY like Bomb Pops?  These adorable cupcakes capture the flavors of an iconic summertime popsicle and make a perfect holiday treat!

You know those memories from childhood that spring up unexpectedly and make you smile?  Bomb Pops have that effect on me.  My brother and I always spent a week or two at my grandparents house each summer.  They had an immaculately clean garage with a huge freezer in it.  Grandma would always keep a box of bomb pops inside for our visits.  I remember so clearly, sitting out on her porch eating these in the evenings, letting the drips of sweet popsicle land on the cement by my bare feet.  Every time I eat one, it’s like traveling back in time to those days.

I wanted to capture the flavors of these summer treats in cupcake form, and I love how these turned out!  The kids in my life who tried them exclaimed, “These taste like popsicles!”

 I consider that a success!

These were not hard to make at all- simply add jello to white cake mix and pipe the batter into cupcake liners in layers.

Here’s how we made them:  (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

• One boxed white cake mix (with oil, water and eggs to make according to package)
• One small box of blue raspberry Jell-O (Jolly Rancher had this flavor, and Jell-O has a Berry Blue that works)
• One small box of Cherry Jell-O
• 2 sticks of salted butter (at room temperature)
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 3 teaspoons of lemon extract or flavoring (technically the flavor in the popsicles is lime…but I couldn’t easily get my hands on lime extract.  The lemon was great- but feel free to use lime instead, if you want!)

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees
• Make cake mix as directed on box, and divide batter equally into two bowls.
• Add 3 Tablespoons of Blue Raspberry Jell-O to one bowl, and 3 Tablespoons of Cherry Jell-O to the other bowl.
• Mix each bowl of batter until well combined
• Place each flavor of batter into a large, sturdy (I use freezer-type) zip top bag.
• Clip a corner off the bag of Blue Raspberry batter and evenly pipe into 24 cupcake liners placed into muffin tins.
• Clip a corner off the bag of Cherry batter and evenly pipe over the top of the Blue Raspberry batter.
• Bake cupcakes as directed on boxed mix, remove from oven, and cool.
• Make frosting by combining butters, powdered sugar and lemon extract in a large bowl.  Beat on low until combined and then high, until light and fluffy.
• Put frosting into a large, sturdy zip-top bag that has been fitted with a decorating tip, and pipe frosting on the top of each cupcake.
• Decorate as desired.  I saw these cute little Mike and Ike “popsicle” toppers on a fun site called Party Pinching. They were fun and easy to make, but they use toothpicks and could be dangerous to serve- especially to kids.  I love how cute they are, but I can’t recommend them.  Use cute sprinkles and maybe a popsicle stick instead!
• Enjoy!

My thoughts: These were really easy to put together and the fruit flavors are so refreshing!  I love the patriotic colors too!

Just as a note: the blue layer of cupcake rises to the top, just a little bit, so don’t panic! You will still have nice layers of the two flavors.  

I really hope you get a chance to try these treats in celebration of summer!  Enjoy! ~r

Other fun summer treats to try: