Ingredients:
White Cake Mix (no generic labels, brand names only)
1 1/4 Cups Buttermilk (in place of the water on the box)
8 egg whites
3.9-4 oz White Chocolate Pudding in Dry Powder Form (the pudding gives it that "from scratch" texture).
1/2 teaspoon of Pure Almond Extract
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil or Melted Butter
Light colored cupcake tin (a light colored tin works better than dark so that your bright colors don't brown when baking)
White Cupcake Liners (this recipe makes about 12-15 cupcakes)
Oven, Preheated to 325.
Frosting Recipes:
Perfect store bought frosting hack:
1 canister of store bought frosting
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp Vanilla
5-6 cups powdered sugar
Cream frosting, heavy whipping cream and vanilla together. Gradually add powdered sugar until peaks form (should be stiff enough to pipe frosting onto cupcakes).
Rainbow cookie dough frosting:
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
1/4 cup milk
M&Ms and white chocolate chips
4 cups powdered sugar
Cream butter, milk and extracts together. Gradually add flour and powdered sugar until frosting reaches the consistency of dough. Divide the dough evenly into 3 separate bowls. Using colored gel pastes, color one bowl of dough pink, another bowl yellow, and the third bowl blue. Cookie dough frosting should still be stiff. Pile each color on top of eachother in a bowl and fold M&M’s/chips in. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the rainbow dough frosting on top of each cupcake.
Ingredient ideas & tips for other flavors:
Use hot water or coffee for the liquid
Use 4 eggs for all other flavors except for the white cupcakes
Depending on the flavor of cupcake, experiment with different puddings: chocolate pudding with chocolate cupcakes, strawberry pudding for strawberry cupcakes, Oreo pudding in a white cake mix for a cookies and cream cupcake, butterscotch pudding in a yellow cake mix, etc!
Directions:
For a cupcake that is baked just like you’re making it from scratch you’ll need to separate your ingredients:
Stand Mixer: Whip eggs and oil together
Liquid Measuring Cup: Combine Buttermilk (or liquid ingredients) and extracts
Separate bowl: Whisk cake mix and pudding together.
Gradually alternate the addition of ingredients together into the stand mixture, using spatula to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
Once all is mixed, in a cupcake tin lined with cupcake wrappers, fill each cupcake liner about half full. Add a little extra dollop of batter to the top of each one to give cupcakes a little “puff” when they bake.
Tip: use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into cupcake liners to avoid extra messes in the kitchen.
Bake at 325 for 18-22 minutes.
While cupcakes are baking, prepare frosting.
Once cupcakes are cooled, frost and swirl and sprinkle with glitter.
Decorating ideas:
Use colored gel paste to achieve a more vibrant color.
Use almond extract as a glue to dab sparkles or shimmer dust on to your cupcakes.
Tip 1M makes a fun and elegant fluffy frosting swirl. Can also make a frosting rose.
Tip 1A makes a round dreamy frosting swirl.
http://fox11online.com/living/living-with-amy/the-perfect-vanilla-cupcakes