Carrots in the Dirt

Aren't these so cute? A fun Easter dessert for the kiddos!

Today, I made these adorable creations to bring to my family Easter parties this weekend! I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to duplicate it. Here's how I made them: 

Ingredients

• 1 box strawberry cake mix, and ingredients that go along with making the cake. Mine required 1 cup water, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, and 3 egggs. 
• 1 can Hershey's Chocolate Frosting
• about 1 row of Oreos, crushed finely (I put my in my food chopper and crushed them that way)
• 18 cupcake liners
• 18 strawberries
• 1 pound orange colored chocolate
• 18 strawberries
• cooking spray

This recipe makes 18 cupcakes. 

To start, Spray your cupcake liners with cooking spray, and mix your cupcakes according to the cake mix instructions.  Fill your sprayed cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way full with cake batter. Bake your cupcakes according to the cake mix directions. 

Next. melt your orange chocolate and dip your strawberries in them. I melted mine at 50% heat and stirred the chocolate every 45 seconds until it was smooth. Set them on a plate or cookie sheet lined with wax paper to dry.

I split my cupcakes into two batches of 9 so I could have some for two different parties, so here are my first 9 strawberries.

Next, use a melon ball maker and scoop out a small amount of cake from each cupcake. 

Then, put your icing in a baggie with an icing tip and ice the cupcakes around the middle hole. If you want to see step by step instructions on how I ice my cupcakes, check out my Cookies n Cream Cupcakes recipe!

Next, crush your Oreos in a chopper or food processor. I got my food chopper for Christmas several years ago, and used it so much that it finally went out on me. I bought another one on Black Friday for $10 and it was worth every penny! Seriously. If you don't have one of these, you should get one. I use mine several times a week. 

I put my chopped Oreos in a shallow container, and put my iced cupcakes upside down in the cookies. This was a good way to cover the icing with cookies and not make a huge mess. 

Last, add your strawberry to the top and enjoy!! These were a big hit with my family, especially with my niece and nephew!

Cookies-N-Cream Cupcakes

Hello everyone!

If you're new to my blog, you'll learn pretty quickly that I absolutely LOVE being an aunt! I have 3 beautiful nieces, and 2 awesome nephews. Love love love those kiddos! My nephew Carson is celebrating his 8th birthday this weekend with a Lego themed party. I have taken up a hobby of making cupcakes these past couple of years, and have made cupcakes for several parties, and have even done one smaller wedding! I asked my nephew if I could make his birthday cupcakes and he obliged. When I asked him what flavor(s) he wanted, he said cookies-n-cream! Hmm... I've never made cookies-n-cream cupcakes before, but I'll give it a shot! Thursday  night I baked the cupcakes. I used a white cake mix and followed the instructions on the box, but I also added a box of Oreo pudding mix, and 4 finely chopped Oreos. Lee is always my taste tester, and he approved!  I sealed up the cupcakes in a Tupperware container, and Saturday morning before the party, I iced them. My sister-in-law and I made the icing, and we used a homemade cookies-n-cream icing recipe I found online...it was delicious! We tweaked the recipe just a bit, so see my updated recipe below.

Shopping list 

For the cupcakes:
1 box yellow cake mix (and eggs, water, oil, etc. that the recipe calls for)
1 big box (4.2 oz) Oreo flavored Jell-O pudding mix
4 chopped Double Stuff Oreos


For the icing:
1 8oz. pkg softened cream cheese
1 pkg Dream Whip
½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2.5 cups powdered sugar

6 Double Stuff Oreos, finely crushed

Makes 20-25 cupcakes.

To make your cupcakes, follow the mixing instructions on your boxed cake mix. Before you pour your batter into cupcake pans, add your box of Oreo pudding mix and the chopped Oreos. Stir these items in. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake papers, and spray with cooking spray. I like to fill my cupcake liners about 2/3 full with cake mix. Bake according to directions on cake mix box.

Once your cupcakes are baked and have cooled, now you can ice them. Soften your cream cheese and put it in a mixing bowl. Add the ingredients one at a time, in the order as listed above. Stir after adding each item. When you add the powdered sugar, add it about 1/2 cup at a time. You may need to add more or less powdered sugar, depending on what texture you want your icing to be. I wanted my kind of stiff, so I used about 2.5 cups of powdered sugar.

To ice my cupcakes, I like to use Wilton brand disposable candy bags, and a large round metal tip.

This is the kind of icing bags I use, and here is a side view of the metal tip

Top view of the metal tip

To start, put your metal tip in the bottom of your bag. Don't cut the tip of the bag open just yet. Place the bag inside a small water glass and fold the edges over the top of your glass. This will keep your bag open so you can put the icing in.

Once your bag is in the glass, now you can fill it with icing. Use a spoon or a butter knife and fill your bag about halfway to the top. You can fill it less if you prefer. Just make sure you have enough bag left at the top to hold. Once you have your icing in the bag, pull the sides of the bag up and twist them tight. Then cut the edge of the bag, so that the metal tip barely peeks out the bottom.

Now you can start icing your cupcakes! I usually take the bag and push the icing to the bottom (try to push out any air bubbles). Then push the icing out onto the cupcakes in a circular motion. Start on the outside and work your way in.

Once all of the cupakes are iced, top them with candies or sprinkles! I used Lego-shaped candies for Carson's Lego party, and they were a big hit!

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