King Cake Cupcakes

King Cake Cupcakes

Mardi Gras season is right around the corner...

 let's get this party started.

Mix up a  Classic Yellow cake mix according to

the package directions. 

 Since the basic king cake starts off with cinnamon,

 I added two teaspoons of cinnamon to the batter.

It makes 24 cupcakes.

I used purple, green and gold papers.

Although you will see the purple looks red in the picture.

While mixing ... I realized that I have had my mixer for

close to 26 years. (Gosh! I am getting old)

I have a big fancy mixer... but rather just pull this out to mix small things. 

Do you ever do that?  I have all these gadgets, but always just use the old tried and true things.

King cakes have the most wonderful fillings... 

 I just had to add a filling to these cupcakes.

You will need to make a little hole for the filling.

I used a veggie peeler... hey in the south we make do.

I know they probably have some thingy magig made just for this...but my little peeler worked out ok.

I filled them with homemade strawberry jelly.

No king cake is complete without the cream cheese... 

 I made a cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.

I tinted half the icing purple and left the rest white and added green sprinkles to the top.

I have never made a cupcake with filling, so the family was pleasantly surprised to find strawberry in the middle. 

 These were such a hit, I just might make some for Easter with a pudding type filling.

Join me today at Katherines Corner for her Linky party ,
 &
 Taste This Thursday Party

what a great way to find wonderful blog friends.

Linking this morning to Kim over at WoW Us Wednesdays .