Happy Birthday Cake Batter Rice Krispie Cupcakes!

Ahh birthdays.  I love birthdays.  I love the idea of getting older.  It means that I am closer to not having to work every damn day.  I know, I know, I am only 26.  I have a lot of years to go before I get to retire on the farm or wherever they put me.  I still do love birthdays though; they give me a chance to feed people!

This week it was my lovely friend Pam's birthday, so I whipped up some quick and delicious Rice Krispy cupcakes!

Isn't she wonderful? Yes. Yes she is.  Now let's make these cupcakes together.  

As with most things, I found the recipe for these on Pinterest and then put my own spin on them.  They turned out almost as wonderful as Pammy.

The most important part of baking or creating is taking good pictures.  At least when you plan on posting them to the internet for other people to see.  I am a point and shoot girl though, I am not using a very fancy camera so I will try to woo you with my words instead!

First, gather all your ingredients!  Now, since this is not just regular Rice Krispie cake you will need a few extra items.  Namely, dry cake mix, icing sugar, food coloring, sprinkles, and if you are like me, candy!

I also spiced it up with Vanilla Rice Krispies!

Alright, melt that butter or margarine in a large bowl in the microwave. and then toss in your baby marshmallows and mix! I used two cups but turned out having to make two batches, so do with that what you will (double it up, bitches).

Healthy!

Pop that heart attack waiting to happen in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are all gooey and smooth.  For me that was twice and then a lot of stirring.

You might want to eat this.. but it's basically just butter.

Okay, now here is where we vary from the same old boring Rice Krispie cake! Add in the vanilla and the dry cake mix.  I looked for confetti mix but the damn grocery store didn't have it.  I was forced to  buy plain old white cake.  I think chocolate or lemon would be a delicious twist!  Mix that all up until the cake mix is incorporated and it is smooth again.

Boring picture right? I know.

Now two cups of the Rice Krispies and some sprinkles!  Who doesn't love sprinkles?! I should start using them more often.  Add color to your life with sprinkles! New mantra.

SPRINKLES!

Once that is mixed up well, add the rest of the Rice Krispies and then mix it again.  Instead of pressing it all in to a boring square pan this is where we get crazy.  Like really crazy.  Muffin tins! Okay so maybe not that crazy.  Now, I have a lot of kitchenware.  Chris would say way too much.  One thing I do not have, is mini muffin tins.  Wild right? Who wants tiny cupcakes anyway? I made these bad boys full-sized.  Just make sure you butter the muffin tin well so they pop out easy once they are set.  I wanted to set them quickly so I popped them in the freezer while I mixed up my icing.  It worked like a charm.

Perfectly alright to eat at this stage!

Let me tell you a little secret about myself.  It's a juicy one.  I am terrible at making icing. Something always goes wrong.  It is either too thick, too runny, too sweet, or it melts.  Actually, I don't know if this is the case for all icing, but definitely buttercream.  I actually don't even like buttercream; it just seems to be the one I make ALL the time.  Next time I promise to check out a different kind.  Maybe cream cheese.  I love cream cheese icing.  Anyway, this time was different.  I mean it was still much too sweet for me, as buttercream always is, but this time the consistency was lovely.  I was actually rather proud of myself.  Turns out that the important step is to not be lazy and actually use room temperature butter.  Butter just doesn't whip up as nice when it is still cool.  Take your time and I am sure you can do it too.  I used the paste-y Wilton food coloring.  I like it best, but I used a little too much as I was going for a light peach.  Still beautiful, but it is strong stuff let me tell you!

So buttercreamy!

I also have a wonderful Wilton piping bag that is canvas on the outside and plastic coated on the inside so super easy to clean up, but it did not come with nice tips.  Don't worry, I ordered some new ones off eBay today.  Anyway, pipe away! I need to practice up on my icing skills as they are pretty mediocre right now, but Perfect Enough amiright?! I topped these beauties off with a Maynards Fuzzy Peach and hauled them off to the restaurant for dinner (we asked permission first)!

Pretty as a peach.

Sure, maybe they didn't photograph as nice as the ones in the recipe I semi-followed, but I whipped these up and photographed in about 30 minutes between coming home from work, getting ready to go out in public, and leaving the house for dinner at 6:30.  They tasted wonderful and the ones that were left over after the singing was done were eaten up the next day at work.  That my friends, is a success in my books.

Here is the recipe you can feel free to follow:

Ingredients

Rice Krispie Cupcakes

- 6 tablespoons of butter or margarine

- 2 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows

- 3 cups of Rice Krispie cereal (I used vanilla flavoured)

- 3/4 cup of dry cake mix

- 1 tablespoon (or so, color you life with sprinkles, baby!) of sprinkles

- 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Buttercream Icing

- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

- 2 cups icing sugar

- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

- 2 tablespoons of milk

- extract and food coloring of choice (if desired)

- Fuzzy Peaches (or other topper if they are not your thing)

Directions

Grease a muffin tin and set aside.

Melt margarine in a large microwave safe bowl (about 45 seconds in microwave). Mix in marshmallows and return to microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Add in the dry cake mix and vanilla and stir until incorporated fully.  Add in sprinkles and two cups of Rice Krispies and mix.  Add in final cup of Rice Krispies and mix again.

Press mixture into well-greased muffin tin and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For icing, cream room temperature butter in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.  Slowly add in icing sugar until well combined.  Mix in extract, milk, and food coloring if desired. Remove cupcakes from muffin tin with a butter knife.  Pipe icing onto chilled cupcakes and top with sprinkles or, as I did, Fuzzy Peaches.

*Makes 12 full-sized cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes (as long as you don't taste test too much, but who is checking?)

Thanks for joining me and I hope yours turn out just as Perfect Enough!

Love, 

Jen