Tag Archives: white cake mix

Lime Soda Cupcakes!

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Ruthanne

Sweet lime cupcakes topped with a swirl of marshmallow buttercream.
A perfect flavor combination!

A while back, I shared with you an impossibly difficult (but amazingly yummy!) candy recipe from my friend Gail. It was a recipe for Opera Creams passed down to her from her grandmother. We spent the entire day together, candy making. For lunch we ran up to a little soda fountain from the 50s that is still in business. (Arnolds Drive In, for you folks that live near Indiana) They have burgers and fries— and yummy soda fountain drinks. Gail recommended the “Ole Green River” and I got the most wonderful lime phosphate topped with marshmallow cream. It was beautiful and as that marshmallow dissolved into the drink…? Unbelievably good. Here’s my Instagram record of it:

I’m not sure what brought it to mind the other day, but I decided to use those flavors to create a cupcake version of that yummy Ole Green River. I think they turned out great. Nice and green for St. Patricks Day!!!

Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS (makes 24 cupcakes)

One boxed white cake mix, plus oil, water and eggs to make according to box.
One small packet of Lime Jell-O.
4 sticks of salted butter (at room temperature)
2 teaspoons of clear vanilla
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 jars (7 oz. each) of Jet-puffed marshmallow creme
White food coloring (optional- only if you want that bright white marshmallow color.)
Sprinkles and decorations as desired.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake mix according to box, but add Jell-O along with other ingredients.
Divide batter evenly into 24 cupcake liners in muffin tins.
Bake according to box, a toothpick inserted into the center of one should come out clean.
Allow cupcakes to cool while you prepare frosting.
Combine (room temperature) butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on low until combined.
Beat on high for several minutes until light and fluffy.
(optional) add white food coloring at this point, to whiten up all that butter- I did not have any, so you can see my icing is more of an ivory color.
Add marshmallow creme to frosting and beat until completely incorporated.
Spoon frosting into a large zip top bag that has been fitted with a decorating tip, and pipe frosting over cupcakes.
Decorate as desired (paper straws are fun!!!!!!)
Enjoy!

My thoughts: I really loved these flavors together. Marshmallow and lime. So yummy. The cupcakes are very moist because of the Jell-O, so take care unwrapping them, they are a little more likely to fall apart than other cupcakes. I experimented with the marshmallow butter cream, just adding the fluff to my usual buttercream recipe, and I thought it was fabulous. The marshmallow flavor was not lost! I hope you enjoy these little treats, and if you’re ever near a soda shop that has lime phosphates on the menu, ask for one with marshmallow cream on the top! Enjoy! ~r

Other fun St. Patrick’s Day treats you might want to try:

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Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, best, buttercream icing, cupcake, cupcakes, dessert, green, jell-o, Jell-o cupcakes, lime, lime phosphate, lime soda, marshmallow, marshmallow buttercream, marshmallow fluff, paper straws, St. Patricks Day, st. patricks day dessert, white cake mix. Bookmark the permalink.

K-cup Cupcakes

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Ruthanne

These mini vanilla cupcakes are topped with the yummiest fondant and decorated like Keurig K-cups! So fun!!!

My friend and coworker Mary just got a new job. When I was thinking about her going-away party I just kept wondering how I could make a dessert that looked like a K-cup coffee pod. Mary is known in our lab as the K-cup supplier. Anyone who finds themselves without a coffee pod can find one in Mary’s supply…she literally orders by the case online and at any given time she has maybe 10 different flavors. Now that she’s gone we really miss her (and her coffee!)
This is less of a recipe and more of an “idea” post. It was a good chance for me to practice with the fondant recipe my friend Megan gave me a couple of months ago and a fun little art project to challenge my (terrible!) painting skills!

(It was also really a fun project to take pictures of!!!)
Want to know how to do this crazy edible art project?
Here it is:

Make thick buttercream icing and fondant first. It’s easiest if I just send you to my original fondant recipe for the tutorial and directions. Just click here to open that page.
For the cupcakes just use your favorite cupcake recipe (which for me was a white cake mix!)
I used little cocktail nut cups as my cupcake liners, because they look like the sides of the K-cup pods, but you could certainly use mini white cupcake liners.
Place the liners in mini muffin tins and fill about halfway up with cake batter (under-fill them a little, so that the tops bake relatively flat and not mounded up like a typical cupcake)
Bake according to your recipe. My mini cupcakes baked for 12 minutes at 350F degrees.
Color fondant as desired and roll it flat. Cut it into circles that are the size of the cupcake tops. I used a small round cookie cutter.
Use thick buttercream to frost a smooth layer on the top of a cooled cupcake and then immediately press a fondant circle on top of the buttercream.
Cut colored fondant into any shapes you might need on top and use a small amount of water to attach these shapes to the top of the fondant circle.

Once those extra pieces are attached, use a small brush to wipe away excess powdered sugar and then use gel food coloring and a fine tipped brush to paint on the fondant. I used an actual pod as a model to paint from.

(note: you might need to add a little white food coloring to the dark colors to make them show up- otherwise your dark blues and greens will look like black when used as paint.)

Be creative and use your imagination! I just pulled all of my pod flavors out and tried to pick ones that were fun – but also ones I thought I could handle copying! I wanted to do a Starbucks pod- but that logo…! Yikes. No way I could paint anything that looked like that!!

My thoughts: These aren’t what I would qualify as easy, but they are really a fun afternoon project. Very relaxing. I’m POSITIVE you all can paint better than I, and if you like to just create and paint and color you will love this project! Take your time and enjoy the process. (and don’t actually try to brew one- lol! I had someone ask me about that and I had to explain that the above picture is simply a creative presentation of a cupcake!!)

I’m dedicating this post to you Mary!! I miss working with you and I hope your new coworkers realize how lucky they are to have you!!!

This is also a shout out to Keurig and the genius of those delicious little coffee pods– you make every morning so much happier for me!!! Lots of love from Easybaked to all of you! ~r

Other mini desserts you might enjoy:

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Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, coffee pod, cookie cutter, creative recipe ideas, cupcakes, dessert, fondant, fondant recipe, food, food coloring gels, fun cupcakes, Keurig cupcakes, Keurig K-cups, muffin tins, powdered sugar, vanilla, white cake mix. Bookmark the permalink.

Cupcakes for Casper :o)

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Ruthanne

Two years ago- almost to the day- I brought home a puppy destined to be my best friend- his name is Casper.

This past thanksgiving weekend I was sent a picture via facebook by my friend Mimi. Mimi is spending a year studying in England and I’ve NO idea where she found this picture- but it made me laugh and I KNEW that someday I would make this dessert:

(I did try to find the original source of this picture and I just couldn’t– so my apologies if it is yours. I always try to credit a source but just couldn’t find it!)

My biggest concern with these cupcakes was of course the tremendous amount of icing on them—YUCK! I decided that mini cupcakes turned upside-down on top would bump up the center and reduce the amount of icing needed. My second concern was the icing itself. A heavy buttercream would work- but a little of that goes a long way.

After making my last dessert- Chocolate Mousse Cake, I realized that the filling “mousse” layer was the PERFECT consistency for these cupcakes. A light whipped frosting that is still thick enough to keep its shape. Once I’d decided on the frosting I created my own:

THAT one looks good!

Yum! I need a bite of that!

Here’s how I made them:

INGREDIENTS:

One box of white cake mix (I use Duncan Hines) with water, oil and eggs to make according to package.
One box (4 packets) of Dream Whip Whip (find it by the pudding boxes- or order multiple boxes online for a better deal)
1 1/2c. cold milk
1 c. powdered sugar
mini M&Ms or black/brown icing coloring.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake according to package and make as cupcakes. Only make about 16-18 cupcakes though and use the rest of the batter in a lightly greased mini-muffin tin to make 16-18 mini cupcakes (with no liners).
While cupcakes are baking make frosting.
Combine Dream Whip, milk and powdered sugar in a large bowl and beat on high until it is very stiff (whipped frosting consistency). Refrigerate until use.
Cool cupcakes completely and then level the tops with a serrated knife

Divide about 2/3 of the frosting off into a zip-top bag that has a corner clipped off and a decorator tip inserted in the opening. Refrigerate.
If you aren’t using mini-M&Ms for eyes and nose, pull about 3T of frosting out and color it black or brown with icing color. Place this in a zip-top bag as well with a tip inserted. Refrigerate.
Use the rest of the frosting to frost the top of each large cupcake. Tip the mini cupcake upside-down on top and frost that as well.

Using the bag of icing with the decorator tip, pipe icing on making little points coming up from the cupcake. make a larger dollop of icing for the nose and two off the top and folding over a bit for ears.

Take the bag of black icing (or your mini M&Ms) and make eyes and a nose.

(My technique started off rough and gradually improved. Here’s my two 1st ones:

Sheep?

Chewbacca?

Keep refrigerated until serving

My thoughts: You could certainly use a couple of cans of frosting for this if you want. The light whipped frosting is SO tasty though. These cupcakes are easy but time-consuming. I’m no cake-decorator, so I loved that these are so free-form….just have fun!

Here’s some more photos of Casper and my friend Danielle enjoying the finished result (they BOTH have frosting on their noses!) Only little tastes for puppies though– these are cupcakes designed for people and feeding them to your pets could make them sick.