When just a cupcake isn’t enough

for your Little Cupcake.

{Family Baking for Remember in December}

My little red turned…

and wanted a superhero party. Of course. But before that we had a family party, for which I asked him what kind of cupcakes he would like to have (because we can’t eat a whole cake).

It took him about .2 seconds to respond, “Chocolate with chocolate!” (Yes I’ve trained him well.)

I thought, while that is delicious it leans slightly to the side of boring (dare I say). Maybe sprinkles to give it some flare? Nah, too expected. Then I remembered an idea I saw somewhere. Hide Reece’s peanut butter cups inside. Exactly! Totally unexpected. For kicks, I also made some with Hershey’s mint truffles (cuz I’m kinda obsessed with them lately).

Candy Surprise Cupcakes

1 Box of cake mix of your choice

1 container of frosting of your choice

1 bag of Hershey kisses (any flavor) or 1 bag of Reece’s peanut butter cups…or both! (just not in the same cupcake).

 

 

Start by preparing the cake mix according to box directions. When you are at the step to pour batter into lined baking cups. Stop! And do this: Only fill the baking cup half way. I used a cookie scooper (which I think is almost equivalent to 1/4 cup).

 

Now place your peanut butter cup lightly in the middle.

or the mint kiss.

 

Then cover the candy by finishing filling the baking cup.

Once all the baking cups are filled, bake according to box directions.

After the are cooled, frosted and ready to be devoured, this is what they look like in the middle. (But it will be a surprise, sush, just between you and me).

I couldn’t decide which ones I liked better.

Side note

I made the cupcakes “lite” with these substitutions from the box instructions:

Applesauce instead of oil

I used one whole egg and for the rest of the eggs I only used the whites

 

For the Superhero Party

I was ordered politely asked by my son to have Spiderman Cake at his birthday party with friends. This year I was going with super, superhero casual (because last year I went Hot Racer pedal to the medal ALL OUT and there was a major meltdown—the birthday boy, not me—and I did not need that again.) So, I decided to let them play in costumes and eat cake….which was a homemade one and not one of those ridiculously overpriced store made ones.

So simple:

Bake cake.

Cover with white frosting.

Melt the darkest chocolate you can find (I used Ghirardelli 60% dark cocoa chips).

Put melted chocolate into pasty piping bag with a small tip. (note: be sure to cover the tip end with your finger or else all the chocolate will pour through and get all over the pants of your son who is holding the bag for you and the tile floor as well, not that it happened to me or anything.)

Starting in the center slowly pipe the chocolate in swirling @ circles until you reach the outer edge.

With a tooth pick, drag from center circle out to edge, giving it that final web-like look.

Plop Spidey onto it.

And you have one happy G.I. Joe Ninja.

{If pastry bags and piping are new to you, this is a great instruction video}

 

Inspirational message:

Even superheroes need to take a minute.