Mother's Circus Animal Cupcakes (★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆)

Mother's Circus Animal Cookies -- Making Children Happy Since 1914.  

Sure we almost lost them a few years back, but the incessant crying of babies and toddlers...and, okay, me...were enough to ensure they weren't gone for long. 

I've been crazy fond of these cookies for pretty much forever.  I vividly remember being at my great-grandma's house and plopping down on the ground with my little bowl full of pink and white and using the seat of her large recliner as a makeshift table.  I would savor each at a time - biting off a head here, scraping off some sprinkles there.

I mean, come on. A pink cookie, shaped like an elephant, covered in multicolored sprinkles?!?!  How is that not a four-year-old girls dream come true?! 

To this day these are some of my favorite cookies.  I don't know what it is.  They do taste good, and, honestly, the sprinkles are pretty enticing, but I can't help but wonder if it wasn't these early experiences that began the brainwashing while I was but a wee lass.

Thankfully, my best friend feels the same way.  For all the opposite that we are, we are surprisingly similar in the areas that count.  Don't judge.  So what if this is a biggie?  We once bought a tub of "limited edition" circus animal ice cream that turned out to be less than ideal (sugar cookie/cotton candy flavored ice cream?  no thank you!).  But together we scoured the entire tub for each and every last cookie bite.  That's teamwork.

Kinda solves the mystery of this post for ya, huh?  

Mother's Circus Animal Cupcakes

For Cake:

1 Box Strawberry Cake Mix

1 Bag Mother's Circus Animal Cookies (trust me, don't go generic. worst. mistake. ever.)

1 Small Box Vanilla Pudding

24 Cupcake Liners

For Frosting:

1/2 Stick of Butter

4 oz Cream Cheese

1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Multi-Colored Non-pareils

1) Prepare cake mix according to box adding small package of vanilla pudding.  2) In baking cups place a white circus cookie sprinkle side down.  Add batter and cook according to directions.  3) While cupcakes are baking prepare frosting. Cream room temperature butter on medium speed for a minute.  4) Add cream cheese and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly.  5) Add confectioner's sugar beating on lowest setting until dry ingredients are coated.  Increase to medium speed for one minute.  6) After cupcakes have cooled and are frosted pour non-pareils onto a plate.  Carefully roll the edges of each cake into the sprinkles.  Top with a pink animal cookie.  

These came out so cute!  But I wasn't too fond of the strawberry flavor of the box mix.

In fact, I hated it.  It tasted like Trix cereral.  You know, the kind with the rabbit that just wanted to eat a colorful bowl of cereal and none of those bratty kids would ever let him have any?  Where were their parents??  They fail at life.  

But back to the issue at hand -- Trix flavored cupcakes.  I don't like fruity cereal.  It's awful.  Sticky,  sweet, fake, fake, fakeness.   So you can imagine my utter disappointment at this discovery.  

If you are wanting to make a few of these on your own, I'd recommend a little recipe revamp:

Mother's Circus Animal Cupcakes - Take 2

For Cake:

1 Box Funfetti Cake Mix

1 Bag Mother's Circus Animal Cookies

1 Small Box Vanilla Pudding

24 Cupcake Liners

For Frosting:

1/2 Stick of Butter

4 oz Cream Cheese

1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

3-5 Drops of Red Food Coloring

Multi-Colored Non-pareils

Prepare as above except: 1) Pink cookie on bottom (the white get a little darkened in the oven) and the white cookie on top.  2) Add some red food coloring to frosting to make pink. Actually, a fluffier frosting recipe would be even better.  As much as I enjoy the subtle sweetness of a cream cheese frosting it is a bit more goopy than I would've cared for in this situation. 

Although, I have to say nothing entices little children like a pink cupcake.  I took these to an event and they were gone before I could blink.  Imagine my surprise...or not...at the sight of little girls in frilly dresses all across the room holding my pink confections.  

Thank you pip-squeaks for eating Trix disguised as animal cookies.  Joke's on you.   Not that they cared.  A sugar bomb is a sugar bomb, right?

I figure if you actually read this whole thing, then it's safe to assume you love Mother's Circus Animal Cookies as much as I do.

So then, in theory, you might appreciate this little tidbit from one of my favorite baking blogs - The Domestic Rebel.  She recently conducted a circus animal themed baking week.  How legit is that?!?

For your enticement:
Circus Animal Cookie Rice Krispy Treats - Domestic Rebel
Circus Animal Cookie Pie - Domestic Rebel
Circus Animal Cookie Ice Cream - Domestic Rebel
Circus Animal Cookie Truffles - Domestic Rebel
Circus Animal Cookie Mini Cheesecakes - Domestic Rebel

Strawberry Stuffed Lime-Coconut Cupcakes (★ ★ ★ ★ ☆)

As I've grown older, I've come to realize that being the oldest child sometimes comes with perks...but most of the time it just means more responsibility. Not that it's always a bad thing--Oh, how I love to be in charge. But sometimes I find I bite off more than I can chew. Like that time I thought it would be a good idea to make beef stew and a homemade apple pie for dinner one night after school...um, we didn't eat till 10:00pm.
The Story:

Anyway, my sister was getting married and I was the maid of honor. My aunts we're already throwing her a bridal shower, but since we had so much family she couldn't really invite any of her friends. So I took it upon myself as her sister and honorly maid to throw her another "friends" shower. Now this was all good in theory, however, we had just gotten back from a week an a half road trip to Canada and I somehow found myself in charge of the other "family" shower as well. Needless, to say it was just one of those weeks.

I had planned to make it simple, but I'm a perfectionist. Which means that even the most seemingly "simple" task or arrangement will look effortless to the untrained eye, but we perfectionists know that careful thought, planning, and organized execution goes into each and every step. I set up a quick invite on Facebook and planned an outdoor movie night: Projector-check. Screen-check. Popcorn machine-check. Only thing left? Cupcakes!!

I wanted something light and refreshing, but completely different and unique. I came upon this recipe for Strawberry-Lime Stuffed Cupcakes that fit the bill. I was captivated. Strawberry Lime Stuffed Cupcakes

The Method:
I had seen some other strawberry stuffed cupcakes during my initial "research," but none seemed as good as these. One recipe actually baked the strawberry in the middle instead of placing a fresh one in, which seemed like a good idea...but the 'after' picture wasn't at all appealing so I decided to stick with the "fresh" method. See here.  However, in my internet-blog travels, I found that several recipes included coconut. Well, I had a bunch of coconut left over from my Red Velvet cupcake endeavor so I thought, "why not?" I don't like shredded coconut unless it's toasted...cause, frankly, it tastes like hair. So I bought some coconut flavoring to go into the cupcakes.

Needed:

For Cake:
1 White Cake Box Mix (prepared according to instructions)
2 Tbsp Coconut Flavor (add more or less to taste)

• Mix all together and pour into cupcake liners. Makes 24. (I kept adding more coconut flavor but it still didn't seem to show very strongly...even in the cooked cupcakes)

For frosting:
1 tub of cream cheese frosting (2 tubs, depending on how much you like to put on)
1 lime (juiced, add more or less to taste)

• I just squeezed a half of a lime into the frosting at a time. I think I ended up using about one limes worth of juice. (Honestly this was the best part...it was DE-lic-i-OUS! The lime helps to lighten the frosting even more...which could prove to be a dangerous thing if you have leftovers and a clean spoon nearby).

The Strawberry:
24 Strawberries (washed and completely dry. in this case the smaller the better)

• Take a sharp knife (one that will easily cut the cupcake without smashing it) and cut a small cone shaped piece out of the top of each of the cupcakes. Then gently place...okay, lets be honest...shove a clean, de-stemmed strawberry into the middle of the cupcake. (Make sure the strawberries are not still wet from being washed...you don't want to accidentially make cupcake mush during this process). This "strawberry-ing" part is actually pretty easy. Just an fyi, you might have to cut the strawberries a little bit if they are too big and are protruding from the cupcake tops.

The Decorations:

• Lime Rind
• Toasted Coconut
• Strawberry pieces (cut up)

I think I actually went a little overboard with this one. I think the strawberry on top was a little too much. The coconut and lime rinds were the perfect "delicate" decorations. I felt like the strawberry piece (as small as it was) kind of took away some of the mystery of the cupcake...and it kind of blew the surprise of the middle. Obviously, you can do as you want, but next time I'm going to learn from my own mistakes and let the concealed middle work it's magic.

The Results:
The cupcakes were amazing. Honestly, they were beautiful. The cupcakes turned out nicely...not even one deflated. The strawberries fit in the middle and the frosting tasted delicious. The only thing I wish I would have done differently was I would have liked to make the cupcakes from scratch. I hate the white cake box mix. It's too airy. I want to find the best basic vanilla cupcake recipe to replace this habit. But until then, this way is easy and they always look nice even if they aren't the best tasting.
Besides that, though, these cupcakes were perfect. I loved the way they looked and how unique they were. The strawberry in the middle really cinches the deal. This recipe makes some of the prettiest cupcakes I've ever seen

...and THAT's saying something.