Betty Crocker who!?

After a friend recommended I visit Bakerella

I became hooked...

and obsessed...

which is how things usually happen around here.

In preparation for Asher's upcoming FIRST BIRTHDAY (cringe!) I made these cupcake pops and froze them. Now that I have the technique down I will bake another batch as we get closer that will look much prettier than this test round. They are YUM and oh so cute.

Pleaes refer to Bakerella for directions...but make sure to read some of my tips I discovered with trial and error below if you dare to try this.

First you bake the cake per the directions on the box. (You can get cake and icing for free if you coupon like I do!) Make sure it bakes ALL the way. Let it cool completely. Then crumble the cake till it is fairly fine and mix in one can of cream cheese frosting that is at room temperature. Once combined form balls that are at least 1 1/2" thick in diameter and put them on wax paper.

Place the formed cake balls into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Once semi-hard remove from the freezer and use a flower shaped fondant cutter size 1 1/4" to shape the bottoms of the balls. Refer to Bakerella's directions at this point because it gets a little complicated to shape them. Once all of the balls are formed into the cupcake shape put them back into the freezer for at leat 30 minutes. Freezer is key. DONT use the fridge...

I made that mistake and they weren't hard or cold enough to work with.

Prior to removing from freezer prepare your chocolate coating. Do not micorwave it. Make sure it heated on the stove slowly. Add 1 tablespoon of Crisco to the chocolate. (YOU MUST DO THIS) No one tells you but if you dont do this they will look extremely bumpy, the chocolate will pull the cake cupcakes apart and its very hard to work with. The crisco smoothes the chocolate out. Did you know that ALL chocolate fountains have Crisco in them to make the chocolate smooth? YUP!

Remove from freezer and dip the bottom half in chocolate, let the chocolate drip off so it doesnt run when you turn it upside down. Place the cupcake on the wax paper sheet. Take a lollipop stick dip it into the chocolate and stick it into the bottom of the cupcake.

(see how lumpy my chocolate looks...that was preCRISCO!)

Put them back into the freezer to harden. Repeat with the top layer of chocolate in the color of your choice. Sprinkle and add an M&M on top to match!

Not only do they look adorable but they taste delicious!