Banana Split Cupcakes

Making the Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 2 cps. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 baking soda
• 3/4 cp. butter at room temperature
• 3 eggs at room temperature 
• 1/2 cp. mashed ripe banana
• 1/3 cp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• 1 cp. sugar
• 1/4 cp. sour cream

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. In a mixing bowl, mix together first four ingredients. In a smaller bowl, stir mashed banana, milk, sour cream, and vanilla. 
3. In a larger bowl, beat butter for about 30 seconds. Slowly add sugar. Beat until fluffy and light. One at a time, add the eggs. Beat after each addition. Now, alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture to your other mixture in the large bowl. beat on low speed after each addition. 
4. Once it is all combined, spoon batter in to muffin cups about 2/3 full. 
5. Bake about 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 
6. Let cool. Instead of adding frosting to these cupcakes, add one scoop of ice cream to the top of each cupcake. This creates the "banana split" effect. 
7. Put a little squirt of whipped cream on top (use recipe below or buy at the store) and enjoy! 

Whipped Cream Recipe:

Ingredients: 

• 1 cp. whipping cream
• 2 Tbs. Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

1. Chill your mixing bowl and beaters. This will help your whipped cream form instead of melt.
2. Beat all ingredients together until peaks form and it gets fluffy.
3. Be careful not to overbeat!

Tips From Kate and Hayley:

1. We would recommend strawberry ice cream! We used it and it created a wonderful strawberry-banana flavor! (If you find another kind you like, let us know!) 
2. You could also top these cupcakes with a cherry or chocolate syrup to give it more flavor or a cuter look. 
3. These tasted so yummy on a warm summer day! 

Shamrock Shake Cupcakes

Making the Cupcake:

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites
• 2 cps. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cp. buttermilk
• 1/4 cp. green creme de menthe
• 1/2 cp. butter, softened
• 1 3/4 sp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, combine baking powder, salt, baking soda, and flour; set aside. In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk and creme de menthe. Also, set this aside. 
2. In a large bowl, beat butter. Add sugar, a little at a time, until fluffy and light. Next, beat in vanilla. Then, add egg whites, one at a time. 
3. Alternately, add buttermilk mixture and dry ingredients mixture. Beat until mixture is combined. 
4. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, about 2/3 full. 
5. Bake about 16 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Making the Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cp. butter, softened
• 6 oz. white baking chocolate, chopped into chunks
• 1/3 cp. whipping cream
• 1 1/2-2 cps. powdered sugar
• green food coloring

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, heat whipping cream until it starts to simmer. 
2. Put white chocolate chunks into a bowl. Pour hot whipping cream into bowl. Let the chocolate melt in it for 5 minutes. Do not touch it during this time. 
3. Stir until smooth. Then, let it stand for 15 minutes. 
4. Beat butter into melted choc. mixture. 
5. Add powdered sugar until it reaches piping consistency.
6. Divide frosting into two bowls, tint one of the frostings green, using food coloring. Use a star tip and frost each cupcake to look like the picture shown. 

Tips from Hayley and Kate!

• These cupcakes weren't necessarily our favorites! Next time, we would try to add some mint extract to create a stronger flavor in the cupcake itself.
• These would be so cute so a St. Patrick's Day Party! 
• This frosting is delish! It definitely makes the cupcake! Enjoy it:) 

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Making the Cupcake:

Ingredients:

• 1 package white cake mix
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 oz. chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup strawberry preserves
• red food coloring

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Make cake mix according to directions on back of box. Divide cake mix evenly between three bowls. Add vanilla to first bowl. Stir in cocoa powder and melted chocolate to second. Add strawberry preserves and red food coloring (make it pink) to the third. 
2. Put cupcake liners into muffin tins. Spoon 1 Tsp. of each cake mix, going in the order: strawberry, chocolate, vanilla. (Cups should be about 1/2 to 2/3 full). 
3. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Empty cupcakes out of tins to cool quickly. 

Making the Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 (8 oz) package cream cheese
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 cup vanilla ice cream (let standing at room temp. for 10 minutes)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Let cream cheese and butter stand at room temp. for a half hour. 
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
3. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Then, beat in ice cream. 
4. Tint half of the frosting pink, and leave the rest white.

After the Frosting is Made:

1. Use a star tip to frost cupcakes. In a piping bag, spoon pink and white frosting side by side. Pipe frosting over cupcakes.

Tips From Kate and Hayley:

• Chill frosting and don't frost them until a little bit before you'll eat them. (The ice cream in the frosting will start to melt)
• We thought these cupcakes need a little bit more flavoring! Try adding more preserves or chocolate (we'd love to hear your input)! 
• Also, we used melted Dove chocolate for a better flavor than your standard chocolate chips! 
• These cupcakes have a very cute look and we hope you enjoy:)

Orange Cream Pop Cupcakes

Making the Cupcakes:

Ingredients: 

• 3 oz. package of orange gelatin
• 1 package white cake mix
• 1 package of cheesecake instant pudding mix
• 1 1/4 cup orange juice
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon canilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Set aside 2 teaspoons of orange gelatin for frosting. Beat the rest of the gelatin, cake mix, pudding mix, orange juice, eggs, oil, and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. 
3. Place cupcake liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter into cups, making them about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. 
4. Bake about 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from muffin cups to cool faster.

Making the Frosting: 

Ingredients: 

• 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. orange peel
• 2 tsp of orange gelatin mix (from earlier)

Instructions:

1. Let cream cheese and butter cool at room temp. for about a half hour. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar to the frosting until it reaches a good spreading consistency. 
2. Place a fourth of the frosting in a smaller bowl. To this, add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.
3. To the rest of the frosting, add gelatin and orange peel. (You may also add orange food coloring for and "orangier" look). 

After the Frosting is Made: 

1. Frost each cupcake with the orange frosting like normal. Then add a star shaped white dot on top of each. (This will give you the "dreamsicle" look). 

Tips From Hayley and Kate:

• You may want to add extra orange peel to the frosting for a fresher taste! 
• When cooling, we set the cupcakes on the sides, so that their middles do not sink in!
• When you frost, you can leave out the white frosting if you wish! 
• These cupcakes are delish and will satisfy your hunger for "orange"!