Easy Creme-filled Cupcakes

In the light of the growing popularity of trendy cupcake bakeries, I have found myself becoming quite the cupcake connoisseur lately. I've sampled quite a few cupcakes (before Gary and I--specifically Gary--decided to swear off desserts and sweets for a while) in my day and I have decided that AnnOlivia's in Hernando and of course, the infamous Muddy's Bakery in Memphis are definitely the best!

That being said, this cupcake recipe is probably not worthy of opening up my own funky little bakery shop and selling them to the public, but when I had the opportunity to make some cupcakes for my mom's 55th birthday last Thursday, I decided to get a little crazy and add creme to the inside. Here's the finished product:

Now, I also don't claim to be the awesome Trendy Wendy at decorating, but I was pretty impressed that these at least looked halfway decent. Here's the recipe, its super easy and just takes a little bit longer than regular cupcakes to make:

Ingredients:

Butter yellow cake mix & ingredients to make cake (or any cake flavor)

Pillsbury cream cheese frosting (or any frosting flavor)

Pillsbury chocolate fudge frosting (or any frosting flavor)

sprinkles

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1/4 cup shortening

1 pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp milk

Directions:

Preheat oven according to cake mix, mix cake and pour into cupcake cups and bake accordingly.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, take a bullet-sized plug out of the TOP of each cupcake (I used an apple corer and it worked perfectly plus all the holes were even!). Set aside or eat discarded cupcake holes. They are perfectly bite-sized. And yummy. Though I promise I didn't try one...

Blend butter and shortening together in a mixer until smooth. Add confectioner's sugar and continue to blend until smooth. Slowly add in salt, vanilla and milk and continue to blend until smooth and fluffy. It won't look like enough filling, but it goes a long way! Here is where I did sample some of this recipe. The filling is YUM! (I had to make sure it wasn't too vanilla-y!) 

In a plastic bag or icing cone (I used a 1/4 inch tip in my icing plastic, but you can simply cut a small hole in the corner of a plastic ziploc bag, too) fill each cupcake hole with creme filling. It will settle a little bit and then you can go back around and top off each hole for good measure..

Ice over the top of the cupcakes and decorate.

 These were a huge hit at my sister's house for our Mom's birthday, or at least they seemed to be! :)
Happy Birthday Mom!