If you have been living under a rock for the past few years then you may not have had the pleasure to taste these wonderful Cupcake Bites or the more popular version, the Cake Pop.
I prefer the look and feel of the Cupcake Bites as opposed to the Cake Pops, but essentially they are the same thing.
If you have not tried to make these for yourself yet, then make it a priority. Many people think it’s hard to make these and that they need one of those fancy shmanshy Cake Pops makers.
Which by all means you can get if you want to speed up the process. BUT the inside turns into a round ball of cooked cake instead of the super moist and delicious cooked cake mixed with frosting which makes these truly of another world!
I end up having to make new batches of these for every holiday and occasion. Visit Bakerella who of course made these so popular. She has many fabulous recipes and a step by step tutorial on how to make these.
My two favorite kinds of Cupcake Bites are the Red Velvet Cream Cheese Bites which are perfect for Valentine’s Day and Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites which I love making for Thanksgiving and any time during the Fall. The following pictures are of the chocolate peanut butter bites.
How to Make CupCake Bites
Ingredients:
- 1 box of Red Velvet cake mix
- 1 can of cream cheese frosting
- 1 bag of Pink Candy Melts*
- 1 bag of Red Candy Melts*
- 1 bag of milk (or light) chocolate Candy Melts
- Optional: 1 bag of Dark Chocolate Candy Melts
- Sprinkles to match your cupcakes
- M&M’s or similar candy for the top
- 1 Candy Cup Mold** {I actually have three…it makes it go faster but you can do with 1}
*You can find the candy melts at most craft stores ~ Jo-Ann’s, Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Walmart {$2.99}
**You can also find the candy cup mold at most craft stores. I got mine at Michaels. They look like little Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup molds.
Directions:
1. Bake the cake as directed on box for a 13 X 9 cake. Let the cake cool completely.
2. Take the cake and crumble into a large bowl. Crumble until you have very fine pieces.
3. This part gets messy but use your hands, it works the best. Take the can of cream cheese frosting and mix it into the crumbled cake mixture. This may seem weird at first but this is what makes the inside of the cupcake so wonderful! As you are mixing, the cake will seem to shrink to about half of what it looked like dry. This is normal. Mix the cream cheese all the way into the dry cake so that the cake could be easily rolled into a ball.
4. Take the cake/frosting mixture and put it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes or until it is easy to roll into small balls without falling apart.
5. Now take the cake mixture and start rolling it into quarter size balls and set on a plate or wax paper for later. Put them all in the fridge and take out as they become needed.
6. For these particular cupcake bites I alternated between light and dark chocolate bottoms. So take either the light or dark chocolate melts and melt them according to package instructions. You only need about a cup full at a time. I just use a regular coffee cup for mine.
7. Using either a small spoon {Which is what I use} or a squeeze bottle, fill the very bottoms of the candy mold with the melted chocolate. {The amount added to the bottoms will take a little bit of experimenting to get it just right.}
8. Take your pre-rolled balls of cake mixture and put one in each cavity of melted chocolate. This forms the bottom of the cupcakes.
9. Place these in the freezer for 5-10 minutes or until the chocolate bottom is hard. When they are hard they should just pop right out of the mold.
Bakerella shows this step so well
10. Now it’s time to decorate. When I made these Valentine’s Day ones I alternated between pink, red, and dark/light chocolate tops for a fun variety! But when I made the chocolate peanut butter ones I made them all with peanut butter tops. Holding the bottom or the cupcake dip the tops in the color of your choice.
11. While the cupcake it still wet, add your sprinkles and M&M’s on top
12. Let these dry and harden completely before trying to move them. Put them in an airtight container in the fridge and you can make these days ahead of time!
{My personal favorite} Thanksgiving/Fall CupCake Bites
*Re-posted from Feb. 7, 2012.
