Cake Mix Cupcakes

The other night I was craving chocolate cupcakes! I wanted to make something chocolate and I wanted it fast!

 

We always have an extra box of cake mix in the cupboard for those last minute dessert cravings, and thank goodness for that! I recall in one of my cupcake books, Hello, Cupcake! they use cake mix to prepare cupcakes for decoration.

 

The book suggests using buttermilk instead of water and adding an extra egg. I am not sure that this made any difference though. 

 

The Cupcake:

I used a dark chocolate cake mix and followed the steps from the Hello, Cupcake! cookbook. Perhaps I am just spoiled from making gourmet cupcakes from scratch, but these tasted just like "box cupcakes."

 

Box cupcakes are the kind you make from a box that you bought at the grocery store and whip them up quickly for a children's birthday party. Not horrible, but not like my usual mouthwatering, eat 3 more then I should, creations.

 

The Frosting:

I also used the Hello, Cupcake! book to do something creative with the frosting. You take a container of frosting, scoop it out into a microwavable bowl and melt the frosting for about 30 - 60 seconds. 

 

The frosting turns into an instant ganache glaze. I dipped each cupcake into the frosting and let them drip down through a wire cooling rack.

 

For the decoration I melted chocolate pieces into a piping bag and traced different shapes of butterflies. I sprinkled them with tiny colored sprinkles and put them in the fridge to harden and cool.

 

Overall Review:

I thought these cupcakes were pretty cute and really looked appetizing! Unfortunately, they were only OK and didn't really satisfy that chocolate craving I was having. Even my cupcake tasters thought, "yes, nothing special, but thanks for the cupcake!" Sorry about the wasted calories guys.