Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

There's still about an hour left before Mother's Day is over. So, instead of cleaning up a bit before I go to bed, I'm blogging.

A cute friend of mine had to spend Mother's Day alone since her husband is out of town for a job interview. I thought she needed a little something on Mother's Day since she is an awesome mother and such a good example to me. I whipped up these little cups of goodness. I know they were goodness because I had 2 of them and spouse probably had 3. He knows a good baked good too.

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The reason for this post is not to share some amazing cupcake recipe that I use. It is to give you a little trick that I have found that makes boxed cake mixes a lot better. Maybe it's not new to anyone, maybe it's not a trick, maybe it's not as good for you as I think it is. I don't care. It makes me feel so much better about eating a cupcake, thinking that is better for me.

Here's my trick: Whenever I am making a cake out of a box I follow a few rules.

* never add the yolk of the egg, only whites plus one more white
*never add oil, add applesauce

For example, the box my mix came from said to add:
1 1/3 C water
1/2 C vegetable oil
3 eggs


I added:
1 1/3 C water
1/2 C applesauce
4 egg whites

I also fill the paper baking cups to the top and bake it for the minimum amount of minutes. So, if it says to bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, I bake them for 20

I have used this on all different kinds of cake mixes and it has never not worked. They come out so fluffy, moist and light. Never undercooked. I don't know why, it just does. Try it!

Let me know if you have any questions...
The cute cupcake toppers I got from TomKat Studio
They just happened to match some cupcake liners I got from hobby lobby a while back.

I also used this recipe for the icing and it was delicious! I think it was from Wilton but I can't remember.

Icing

1 stick softened butter
1 stick softened neufchatel cheese (cream cheese)
4 C powdered sugar (1 box)
1 Tbsp. milk

cream butter and cheese until smooth
add sugar one cup at a time
add milk and mix until smooth (about 30 seconds)

This was the perfect amount for 18 cupcakes. Double the recipe and you'll get 5 1/2 cups of icing.

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3 comments:

Tifani said...

yummy!!!! I also saw on a blog that has icing to die for that if youwant to flavor your icing add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of what ever flavoring extract!!! They are to die for!!!

AMY said...

I know I'm a little late, but I had to say thanks for the amazing cupcakes and they were almost too cute to eat...well almost.

Sue said...

yUM!!!! What a good way to eat healthly and still have the treats!
Thanks Shamoms for your ever so talented receipe!! Love you!!