It’s cupcake week around here! Chubby & Charming is free and Lush & Lovely is only $0.99 for the week, so we’re celebrating with a virtual cupcake party! First up, Quick & Yummy Cupcakes!

I might have a little problem with sugar. Like, I can’t get enough kind of a problem. I love cupcakes, and pretty much every other sweet, but there’s just something special about cupcakes.

For my kids’ birthday party, which is coming up, I always make cupcakes. They’re easy to grab and wander around with, you don’t need anything special (you know, like forks), and they’re delicious!

But I don’t like to take forever. As much as I love to bake, I’m not a stand over the stove and melt chocolate for the batter kind of mom. I like something I can mix up and stick in the oven. The problem is the boxed cake mixes don’t always do it for me. So I make a few changes to improve them and have everyone asking for my recipe! They really are that good!

Quick & Yummy Cupcakes

You will need:

One boxed cake mix, whatever flavor you like. Since we always have tons of people, I usually do a chocolate, a vanilla, and sometimes a strawberry (my daughter’s favorite).
Jell-O pudding instant mix that’s the same flavor as your cupcake mix (chocolate for chocolate, strawberry for strawberry, etc.). You will not prepare this so you don’t need anything special.
Look at the directions on the back. They always call for water, eggs, and sometimes oil. Make sure you have all of that, plus milk and butter.

When you’re ready to bake, mix the dry ingredients together – the cake mix and the Jell-O pudding mix. After they’re mixed together well, you’ll add in your wet ingredients.

Substitute milk for the water the recipe calls for. Add one extra egg. Melt butter and substitute it for half of the required oil (some things online say to double the butter, but I never do that).

When everything is well mixed, spoon batter into cupcake wrappers (I fill them about 3/4 of the way). Bake according to the box but check the biggest ones with a toothpick before taking them out of the oven. Allow to cool, then comes the fun part!

Frosting!

1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk (start with that and add more if necessary)
To make chocolate: add 3 tbsp of cocoa and 1 tbsp oil

Mix ingredients together until well blended. If you need more milk, add very slowly (1 tsp at a time).

Of course you have to try the frosting to make sure it’s good, so grab a spoonful and test it out! (If it’s part of the directions you have to do it, right?)

Frost your cupcakes and enjoy!

What’s your favorite kind of cupcake?

Everything was perfect until he walked into my life. I had my friends, my work, cupcakes. I didn’t need a man. But he was the kind of man you couldn’t ignore, the kind of man who stepped into your mind and refused to walk away. Too bad he walked into my heart, too. 

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