Princess P Turns 2

We celebrated Princess P’s 2nd birthday this past weekend with a small party with friends and family.  We did a balloon theme and rented a bounce house for all of the kids to stay entertained.  BEST IDEA EVER!!  We had to practically force the kids to come inside for the cupcakes!!

Other than the birthday girl passing out halfway through the party, it was a hit!

JELLO CUPCAKES WITH JELLO BUTTER CREAM ICING

INGREDIENTS FOR CAKE:
1 box white cake mix
3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 box (3 ounces) Jello Gelatin – any flavor – reserve 1 tablespoon for icing

INGREDIENTS FOR ICING:
1/2 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon Jello Gelatin – reserved from box used in cake
food coloring to match Jello flavor/color

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper baking cups in a regular size muffin tin.

In a large bowl, combine your butter, milk and eggs for the cake.  Lightly beat the eggs.  Add the dry cake mix and stir just until combined.  Then add the box of Jello reserving 1 tablespoon for the icing.  Stir until just combined.  With a mixer, beat the batter on medium for about 2 minutes.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make your icing – in a large bowl, beat shortening and butter until smooth.  Add in the vanilla and beat again.  Add the sugar, one cup at a time, making sure everything is combined completely.  Once you’ve added all of the sugar, add the milk.  Then add the reserved 1 tablespoon of Jello*.  Continue beating the icing on low until everything is combined and smooth.  Add in the food coloring a drop or two at a time until you reach your desired color*.

NOTES:
*Adding the 1 tablespoon of Jello will not change the flavor of the icing very much, it just gives it a slight hint of the flavor – you could always add more but we thought it was a nice complement to the flavor in the cupcakes.  Also, depending on the flavors you pick, the Jello may not really change the color at all – I used Grape as one of my flavors and you could barely tell anything was added to the icing so we ended up using alot of purple food coloring.
*I used the Neon Gel food colorings – I highly recommend depending on what food colorings you use to taste test your icing as you add the coloring – sometimes the coloring can start to alter the flavor of the icing – we’ve all had that not so yummy bright red icing!

CUPCAKE RECIPE INSPIRED BY: Betty Crocker
ICING RECIPE INSPIRED BY: Chocolate, Chocolate & More