Anyone have any good/fun/easy cupcake recipes to share?

My 6 year old daughter is obsessed with "Cupcake Wars" and is really interested in starting to bake. I bought her a good mixer and bowl set for her birthday and a big book of cupcake recipes. To my dismay, however, most of the recipes in that book call for cake mix. I really want us to make them from scratch, but it's been a long time since I've baked so I don't want to just find a random online recipe.

We are going to play "Cupcake Wars" this weekend and my hubby is going to be the judge. Of course, my daughter and I are going to be on the same team, so we're the automatic winners. He will just judge which cupcakes are the best.

I don't have any cupcake recipes but something fun to try is to make ice cream cone cupcakes. Bake the cupcakes in ice cream cones. My mom used to do this for us when we were kids. It was so cool!

Any cake recipe will work. It's what you do with them that makes for the war.

For your first battle, I would suggest doing a batch each of white and chocolate. Then get creative with what you put inside and/or frost with. That's where you could battle each other. Ex: Your daughter could put peanut butter cups in her chocolate cupcakes and sprinkles on the frosting. You could try a dab of raspberry jam in yours with a cream cheese frosting.

Sounds like a lot of fun!!!

my best and easiset cupcake recipe...

1. get in car
2. drive to bakery
3. order cupcakes
4. pay for cupcakes
5. eat cupcakes
6. drive back home

cupcakes in 6 easy steps...

You need Jen. She is a cupcake-a-holic! She doesnt really eat that many, she just wants too! But I'll bet she knows some good recipes!

If she is into baking, show her this little trick. It would also be cool to do if she wants to bake but you don't have the time or energy to do a big clean up.

5 Minute Coffee Mug Brownie

Ingredients

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
dash of salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons water
1/3 teaspoon vanilla
small handful of chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

Whisk together dry ingredients in a coffee mug, standard size (11 oz.) or larger. Add oil, water, and vanilla and mix thoroughly -- making sure to scrape the bottom and sides so that it's all incorporated. If you'd like, mix in chocolate chips.

Microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. The finished product will be soft-ish and chewy.

Cool for a minute. Eat right out of the mug. Don't wait long, as the brownie will harden with time.

Note: This serving size is pretty generous. For kids or for adults with modest appetites, cut all the quantities in half and decreasing the cooking time. The half-recipe takes about 45 seconds on high.

Do you have one of the old traditional cookbooks, like Joy of Cooking, Better Homes & Gardens, etc.? Their recipes are usually pretty dependable. Baking things from scratch is great for kids because it gives a practical application for fractions, etc.

If not, try your local library - browse until you find a book that looks appropriate.

pffft, by whose definition?

Ingredients:

Cupcake mix
Frosting mix
2 lbs bacon


Place cupcake mix and frosting mix in pantry. Heat twelve inch skillet and cook bacon to desired doneness. Remove bacon from pan. (be sure to save bacon grease). Enjoy.

Aggs, I took a cake class earlier this year and had to bake a cake every week. I went all out and chose to do ones from scratch, and even tried a few different scracth recipes after the clas and after all that....I think box mix is the best bet if what you're after is decorating (you know, the fun part!).

You open to doign boxed cake with homemade frosting? She can use her new mixer for that

Nto sure if you can commit to classes with the new baby, btu see if your local crafting shop offers wilton classes that you and her can take together. Out here, you can take them at Michaels.

an even easier cupcake recipe...

1. Tell Ms.Gilmore I want cupcakes
2. send her to the bakery
3. Wait for her to get home with my cupcakes (and the 3 pair of shoes, 2 blouses, jeans, pants, skirts and sweaters she bought on the way too and from)

Dip.... there's a secret to homemade cakes being easy to decorate. Thankfully my mother is a baker and she taught me the trick. Freeze it over nite... take it out... place on board and decorate...yes... while still frozen! Shhh... don't ever admit that I shared her secret... I'll deny it!

My easiest cupcake reciepe NOT from scratch....

One box devil's food cake mix
One can of pure pumpkin...

Mix together... fill pan... bake and enjoy! Yummers!

Note: They freeze really well so you're not tempted to eat them all at once.

Use any store brand cake mix (Like Dpsi said, scratch isn't that important). The frosting onthe other hand is. Home Made frosting is the best.

My favorite Cupcakes are just a white cake mix, fill with Lemon filling, top with white butter frosting.

Close second is one with Raspberry filling.

:like:

The BEST icing ever.... hands down is... CREAM CHEESE... it's also the healthiest! Just not really good for doing designs (ie..flowers, etc)... but for a base... excellent!

Here's the recipe I used during school. One of the comments I took to heart was to beat the ---- out of the sugar and butter in the first step

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-white-cake/detail.aspx

Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2.In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3.Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk*
2 tablespoons (1-ounce bottle) red food color
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar

*Or, use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13x9x2 inch pan.**
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl; beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together buttermilk and food color. Stir together flour, cocoa and salt; add alternately to butter mixture with buttermilk mixture, mixing well. Stir in baking soda and vinegar. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost.

**This recipe can be made in 2 (9 inch) cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Have you ever made a barbie cake? They are so easy; but thought you could use the idea to make a cupcake as well. You could buy small "barbie" type dolls like Polly Pockets (or something similar) I know the Dollar Store near us, has small "barbie" type dolls that would fit nicely in a cupcake. (If they are too tall, you can remove their legs.) I would grease & flour a one cup glass measuring cup and pour the batter about 2/3 cup full. After baking and cake is cooled invert the cake so it is shaped like the bottom of the dolls skirt and then insert the doll into the cake and decorate with frosting. If the dolls were small enough you could even invert regular cupcakes made in a muffin tin because they are similarly shaped. You may have to trim off a little of the top of the skirt so it is not so fat around her waist before frosting.

Cupcakes we're sooo 2009...

I do something similar. Yellow cake, filled with a mixture of whipped lemon curd and condensed milk, topped with with cream cheese frosting.

Go to store. purchace Little Debbie cupcakes. open package. enjoy.

Hi. I think doing a mix from scratch is tricky and can lead to dissapointing results. It is not just the ingrediants but the way they are mixed together and the order. I have a five year old and her thrill is putting the ingredients in the bowl. you can easily do that with a cake mix. Try putting a hersheys kiss in the center of each cupcake or chocolate chips of even dying the batter a different color. That can make it must more fun.

I do a lot of baking, and I agree about the cake mix - mixes are not bad, (even better if you add things like chocolate chips or banana puree...) but the frosting should always be homemade! I know sifting confectioners sugar is a pain, but SOOOO worth it!

I read a lot of cupcake blogs, (I'm a junkie,) and make a lot of them, and my favorite lately is the Elvis cupcake - Banana cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting. Yum! My girls, 4 and 8, love mashing the bananas most.

I heard in my cake class that if you use powdered sugar in the bag (versus the box) you don't really need to sift. So I never had. I tried it once and it was not easy....you'd think it woudl sift liek flour but it doesnt. So I skip the sifting and use bagged sugar.