Snips & Spice: Gooey Stuffed Cupcakes {Guest Post from Ellie at Vanilla Bean Girls}

Genious! That is all I can say at this point. Pure 100% Genious! Ellie from Vanilla Bean Girls created something here that has my stomach not just growling, but screaming.

Hey there everyone!

I'm Ellie from Vanilla Bean Girls!

Me and my little vanilla bean girls have been getting really into cupcakes lately - not too great for my waistline, but still loads of yummy fun nonetheless!

Our favorite thing to do lately is to "stuff" our cupcakes. Mind you, I'm not an amazing pastry chef by any means, but we manage to get it done anyhow! Our latest creation came about one day when we were all craving different things and we decided to mix them all together! Luckily we ended up with the yummiest, goo-iest creation ever!

We started out with just a standard chocolate cake mix because it was all I had on hand at the time. I think it was actually German Chocolate cake mix. First, you make your cupcake mix, but only put a spoonful at the bottom of your liners. While you're doing this, you'll want to be preparing your stuffing. For us, it was nuts, caramel, and chocolate chips. I told you we all craved different things! To make the caramel, I melted a bag of lite caramel candies on the stove with 1/4 cup of evaporated milk.

Bake your cupcakes at 350* for only 4-5 minutes and then take them out to stuff them.

The key to this is keeping the stuffing right in the middle of the cupcake. You can see how my little ones got a little carried away with the caramel and it got too close to the edge. Makes for a very messy cupcake!

Next, you'll add another spoonful of your cupcake batter on top of the stuffing and put it back in the oven to bake according to the directions.

While they're cooling, start on your icing. Remember, you don't want the cupcakes to cool in the pan because they'll continue to cook, so cool them on a cooling rack. Ice them as soon as they're cool so they don't begin to dry out.

Here's the standard buttercream recipe I use:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

I know I really should invest in some nicer pastry bags, but so far, I've just been using ziplock bags! Simply fill it up with your frosting, snip the end, and pipe away! I prefer to do a big swirl like below, but sometimes I like to put a piping tip in first, and then fill up the bag with frosting so that I can make a more decorative swirl. It's all up to you!

Last step: Grab yourself a big glass of milk and enjoy the sweetness!

Thanks Ellie! With this great technique, you can make any custom cupcake you want. What a great idea for a party! I know quite a few people (myself included) who have complained of stuffing falling to the bottom, but this keeps the stuffing right in the middle where you want it. Every Sunday, Ellie hosts a link party. You should go link up!