I found These cake Pops at Munchkin Munchies! What a creative Idea!!!

One extra step involved dividing up the cake batter and adding a different gel food coloring to each. I ended up with these vibrant cupcakes.

After each color is crumbled into fine cake crumbs this is what you end up with. Pretty, huh?

After the cake balls were formed,  I loved them already!

{Inside~Out} Rainbow Cake Pops (Adapted from the talented Brooke McClay on Babble)

Supplies:
1 box of yellow cake mix (I’m sure you can use white too)
1 can vanilla frosting (I only used about a quarter of it)
1 12-ounce package blue candy melts
1 package mini m & m’s
Mini marshmallows~one for each pop (I ended up with 13 pops)
Food coloring pastes~purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red
Block of styrofoam to hold pops while they dry

Directions:
Mix up cake batter as directed on the box.
Separate the cake batter into six bowls with 1/2 cup of batter in each bowl. Tint each bowl with one of the colors of the food coloring.  (I had enough cake batter left for a one layer 5-inch cake which I’m saving for later in the freezer. I suppose I could have made more colored batter/pops, but followed Brooke’s directions.)
Spoon each cake color into two cupcake wrappers, and bake in a muffin tin according to package directions. You will have a dozen cupcakes.
In six small bowls, crumble each cupcake color by color into fine crumbs. Add just enough vanilla frosting to create a playdoh like consistency with each of the colors. I only needed to add about a full teaspoon of frosting to each.
In your palm, press a small amount of red cake dough, then press a bit of orange on top. Follow with yellow, green, blue, and purple, then roll the dough into balls.
In a small, deep, microwave-safe bowl, heat the candy melts according to the directions on the package.
Press the end of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate, then press that end into the center of your cake ball, about halfway. Allow the candy melts to harden at room temperature

Gently dip each cake ball into the candy melts. Allow any excess to drizzle back into the bowl before pressing the bottom of the lollipop stick into a piece of styrofoam. Allow the cake pops to cool upright.

For rainbow/clouds decoration:
When the pops have dried, use the leftover (there should be some left) melted candy melts to adhere the rainbows and clouds.
Cut a mini marshmallow in half and flatten with your fingers.  With a toothpick add a bit of candy melt to the back (sticky part) of the marshmallow and place on the pop.  Add the other marshmallow cloud.

Use a toothpick and add a dot of candy melt to the back of each (blue, green, yellow, orange, red) m & m (one at a time) and place in an arch between the marshmallow clouds. Stick each pop in the styrofoam block to dry.

Serve, or package in cellophane bags tied with a ribbon to save for later:)

They REALLY do taste as good as they look!

ENJOY!

Linked to:
I’m Lovin’ it Fridays
Inspiration Friday
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday

St Patrick’s Day Cupcakes

My quest today was to  bring you the cutest and most unique ideas for St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes!  After some serious searching I came across these unbelievable cupcakes from Jeanne Benedict! There are a variety of cupcakes here great for kids and adults! I am in love with the beer cupcake! If anyone knows where I can find the beer cupcake wrapper please let me know!  Below these works of art I found a  cake recipe for Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes!  If you need a visual check out the Smitten Kitchen.

St. Patrick’s Day Lucky Green Velvet and Gold Coin Cupcake

Beer Cupcake

St. Patrick’s Day Mint Chococlate Chip Cupcake

St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Cupcake

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes

While the Guinness in the cake gets mostly baked out, the Baileys is fresh and potent, so if you’re making this for people who don’t drink — ahem, nobody I know, but I hear such people exist — you’ll probably want to swap it with milk.

The Baileys frosting recipe makes a smallish amount of frosting — enough to just cover the cupcakes. Because they were so rich and this frosting so sweet, I felt it only needed a little. Double it if you want more of a towering effect.

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling (Updated to double it, based on many commenters suggestions — thanks!)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes.