CUPCAKES!

So I am hosting a baby shower today with two of my good friends, Jamie and Shannon! Our friend, Jillian, is expecting a baby with her husband Lynden in late December! We couldn't be more excited for them :).

We've been planning this for weeks...and it will all come together (hopefully!! :)) today! I had volunteered to make a dessert (GF of course, for myself and another guest who is GF...our friend Maggie). Yesterday I decided it would be cupcakes.

FILLED cupcakes.

I've never attempted such a feat, but decided...why not?! Really, there's not a whole lot that excites me more than a new baking adventure. Ok...maybe I like running a bit more ;)....but I do really like creating new things, including in the kitchen.

I think it was at least somewhat successful :).

What was the method to my madness you ask?

Well, I started with Betty Crocker's awesome GF cake mixes. I made 14 chocolate cupcakes and 15 yellow cupcakes (why the strange numbers??...just how the batter ended up working out in the cupcake liners. Ha!).

I simply followed the instructions on the packages and let the cupcakes cool.

As they cooled on the counter...I made the filling.

I read a number of recipe blogs online to get the inspiration, but ended up completely making up the filling I used....I was personally craving strawberry, so I knew I wanted something strawberry-and-creme-y

I made a box of stove-top vanilla pudding (it called for 3 cups of milk, I used 2 1/4 cups of milk to ensure the pudding would be really thick). I simply followed the instructions on the box.

To the completed pudding, I added half of a brick of cream cheese (I ended up using the 1/3 less fat variety), 2 cups of powdered sugar, and a half a cup of strawberry jam (I use the "simply fruit" kind with no added sugar...not that it really matters in this case, with all of the sugar in the cupcakes! HA!). I mixed this with a hand mixer until it was super smooth and creamy. I then stuck it in the freezer to cool for a while (it was still pretty hot from cooking the pudding).

When I was satisfied that the filling was sufficiently cooled, I spooned it into a pastry bag fitted with a long narrow tip (for Bismark filling). I thrust the tip into the center of the top of the first cupcake...and squeezed some filling down into the cupcake!

It was really a guessing game...clearly you can't really see the filling going into the cupcake, so I was guessing by "feel". Sometimes the top of the cupcake began to raise up a bit as I squeezed the filling in, so I knew I should probably stop to ensure I didn't make the poor thing explode.

Some of the filling oozed out the top hole of the cupcakes...so I gently wiped off the excess if there was a lot.

After all of the filling was inserted, I frosted those bad boys!

I just whipped up some easy frosting (with lots of powdered sugar to ensure it would be stiff enough to hold its shape) and added a few drops of blue food coloring to make pastel blue frosting. I glopped the stuff into a different pastry bag fitted with a round tip and piped spiral-ly tops onto the cupcakes.

Our friends Paul and Lisa were over during this escapade watching a movie with Jeremy downstairs. I brought them each one when they were complete...and they did voice approval of the treats...but I am not sure if they were just being polite ;). The true test will be this afternoon's shower! :)

Regardless of outcome, they were a really fun first attempt at a filled cupcake...and I would love to experiment more! I just need more people to be my taste-testers so I don't end up gaining 50 lbs! :)

Happy Baking!