A Birthday Treat

Back in January our daughter turned one! We had lots of family in and out over the weekend of her birthday to celebrate. We also held two parties with family and close friends. Our house is not a house built for parties, so space is limited. Thus having two small parties. I made cupcakes instead of a cake served with ice cream and lots of different toppings.

My mother-in-law gave me for Christmas a surprise cake pan from Bed, Bath and Beyond. The cupcake/muffin pan has a spike in the center of each one so you can stick goodies (ex. cherries, candy bar chunks, etc.) on them then pour your batter around it and bake it.  The first batch didn't turn out as planned. I followed the directions on the package. I skewered a Reese's Cup to the center and poured my batter on top. After they baked and cooled, I attempted to remove them from the cupcake tin. I quickly realized my mistake as the cupcakes crumbled. When I poured the batter onto of the Reese's Cup the weight pushed the candy to the bottom. When I went to remove the cupcakes the candy stuck to the bottom and thus crumbled!

I didn't want to throw the crumbled cupcakes away so I set them aside and started on a fresh batch. Below I will show you what I did with the crumbled cupcakes...which turned out to be a huge hit and a great recovery!

Here are the cupcakes that I served:

M&M with sprinkles Cupcakes

For these cupcakes I used a white cake mix. Followed the directions on the package for mixing/making but added colorful sprinkles to the batch. After baking and cooling, I frosted with a vanilla frosting. I added M&M's to the top to make the number one. The cupcakes turned out to be cute and my daughter and guests loved them.


Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes:

On these cupcakes I cut up Oreo's and mixed them into a chocolate cake mix along with the ingredients listed on the package. After baking and letting them cool, I frosted them with a chocolate frosting then piped a bit of the leftover vanilla frosting onto the top center. I then broke up several Oreo cookies and put a piece in the center of each one.

The Crumbled Up Mess Recovery (see notes above about the crumbled cupcakes):

I didn't have to throw away the crumbled mess of the Reese's Cup cupcakes...instead I made them into cake balls and served them along side the cupcakes and ice cream at her party.

How they are made:

I put all the crumbled pieces into a large bowl. Taking a fork I cut up/meshed up all the cupcake pieces inside the bowl. I then added a whole can of chocolate frosting, mixing really well. I put the cupcake/frosting mixture in the refrigerator to chill. After one hour I removed the mixture. Using my hands (which were coated in cooking spray) I rolled the mixture into small balls. I put them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and place them back into the refrigerator for 30 more minutes. After 30 minutes passed I melted half a package of chocolate almond bark. I dipped the chocolate cake balls into the chocolate almond bark, placed them back on the wax paper lined cookie sheet and returned them to the refrigerator to harden. After another hour I took them and placed them in an airtight container until it was party time!