Jar of Happiness for my Birthday

Tuesday is my thirty-something birthday and I wanted to make something fun for myself. A little happiness in a jar for my happy day please! These are great because I know that in no way during the week could I make a cake for myself. I can just put the lid on these beauties and store in the fridge until my day. (okay so we all ate one tonight but there is still 4 left...) 

I have seen these fun little cupcakes baked right in the jar over at Babble and had to give it a try myself.  {My birthday was the perfect excuse} It's an awesome tutorial but I wanted to make mine on a smaller scale and simplify the mess a little. 

I did make mine a little different and wanted to share with you all what worked for me.

1)Mix a white cake mix as directed. Separate into as many bowls as you want colors. (now that I think about it you could just mix the batter and food coloring up in the baggie and save a bowl mess)
2) Place each color of batter into individual gallon baggies. Cut a corner of the baggie off.
3)Using the baggie you just filled with caked batter, layer to fill each 1/2 pint jar halfway full of cake batter. If you fill it more than that, it will bake over and out of the jar.
4) Place on a baking sheet and bake at 325 for 45 or so minutes until your knife comes out clean.
5)Scoop the top of the cupcake off to make room for the icing.
 (it was a fun surprise to see how beautiful it was inside)

YUMMY!!! Happy Birthday to me!

linking up here

Pastel Spring Cupcakes

Remember the Rainbow Cupcakes I made for St. Patricks day? I loved them so much I wanted to give them a try again.

 I made these the exact same way except this is the spring rendition. A little strawberry frosting and pastel food coloring... YUMMY 

Someday I will venture out of the "box" and make cupcakes and icing from scratch... For now Betty Crocker and Pillsbury ingredients will do just fine. :) 

They were just as yummy this time around!

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Angel Food Cupcakes

Angel Food Cupcakes where have you been all my life?
 I lost 60 pounds this past year by counting calories and these would have been a simple great low calorie snack... Who am I kidding they still can be!  I had no idea that you could make cupcakes with angel food cake batter. Am I the only one who did not know that? I'm obviously not a baker but I hope that some day I will be able to be able to make beautiful creations. Practice makes perfect right..
My dad loves Angel food cake and every year for his birthday I make him a cake. When getting ready to bake his cake I noticed while reading the directions on the box {yes I said box.. It was getting late and I needed to have it for the morning.. he will never know the difference *wink*} that you can make cupcakes! Where have I been? I filled my liners 3/4 full of the fluffy batter and added 25 degrees to the baking temp per the box directions. They baked beautifully and because it was angel food I did not feel as guilty eating more than one of them. 

I added fresh sliced and sweetened strawberries and a dollop of cool whip. 

SIMPLE & PERFECT!

They are just beautiful! No one will ever know it is a boxed mix! 

Rainbow Cupcakes

YUMMY... MMMMM.. NOM NOM NOM!!!

That is how I feel about these happy little cupcakes. Really... Could they scream St. Patrick's day {or any other occasion} any louder!

I have been seeing these rainbow cupcakes everywhere! I searched and found the instructions over at Disney Family Fun

And found a couple of blog tutorials here and here. 

{If you have made these on your blog, I'd love to link to your site too! The more rainbow cupcakes, the merrier!} 

Here are my supplies:

Easy Frost Icing... This stuff is mess free and AMAZINGLY EASY

Food Coloring

White Cake mix

Cupcake liners {I wish I would have bought white so you could see thru the wrapper}

I loved doing this project as a family. 

Mix your colors as directed.

Use approximately one spoonful of batter per color {do ROY G BIV backwards to layer. I did learn something in school even if it was just the colors of the rainbow..lol}

It does not have to be perfect layers. They will bake just as beautiful. 

Bake and wait. Just make sure you don't over bake or your colors will brown a bit.

I had to cut a couple open 1) because the kids were so excited and 2) because I was so excited 

Ice with your Easy Frost and Sprinkle. The way I make a swirl is you make one outer circle with your frosting then make a second swirl for the top. Just a trick my grandmother taught me. 

Can you taste the rainbow? I can because I have eaten 5 {oops...}