BGT - 1/14

I went cupcake crazy this week!!  For Christmas & my birthday (which are just five days apart!), I got a few cupcake decorating books.  So as a result, I desperately wanted to try out any and all of the ideas in those books!

First I made marbled cupcakes.  I took a box of chocolate cake mix, added an egg and 1 1/2 cups of Diet Coke (Diet Pepsi works too!), and left my stand mixer to do its job.  In the meantime, I took a box of vanilla cupcake mix and prepared it the same way. 

Once I had the two separate mixes prepared, I put a scoop of chocolate batter in half the cupcakes, and then put a scoop of vanilla batter on top of that.  For the other half, I put in the vanilla batter first and then the chocolate.  It really didn't matter.  I just wanted to see if it made a difference, but it really doesn't. 

You then take a toothpick and swirl it around in each of the cupcakes.  The swirls don't have to be perfect, though.  Mine sure weren't.  If they don't look right, just remember that you're covering up the tops with icing anyway, so nobody's going to see it!

Pop those babies in the oven for the amount of time directed on the box, and sit back and wait.  Just kidding.  Did you think you were gonna get a break??  Next comes the cream cheese frosting.

After the cupcakes have cooled, ice the cupcakes and go crazy with the decorations.  I wanted to try anything and everything, so I nearly bought out the candy aisle just to try different things.