Cupcake Bites

When I first saw these cupcake bites at Bakerella I knew I had to make them sometime. I just needed to find the perfect excuse to make them and what do you know I finally found one! Jo had her birthday party on Saturday and I thought that these would be the perfect thing to bring.

Since I knew that they would be very time consuming, I decided to start these a few days ahead of time. I would strongly suggest this if you plan on making these. Especially if you decide to make two different kinds like I did. I'm sure it will go faster next time and trust me there will be a next time because these were good. I mean they were really good and everyone thought so.

The white cake that I used was too soft to shape into cupcake bites so I just decided to make them into cake balls. I think that the reason they were too soft was because B wanted some of the cake when it came out of the oven and I said that he could because I didn't think that it would be that big of a deal. BIG mistake! So the lesson that I learned was that you shouldn't eat ANY of the cake that is destined to be made into these bites. Although he ate some of the German chocolate one and it didn't effect it at all.........strange.

This is how I broke down the work. It made it much less stressful and fun to do it in stages rather than trying to get it all done in one day.

Day 1: Bake cakes and allow to cool. Crumble cakes and mix in frosting. Shape into balls and put into fridge.

Day 2: Shape balls using cookie cutter into cupcake shapes. Return to fridge.

Day 3: Dip and decorate cupcake bites.

Cupcake bites

2 13X9 baked cakes (I used boxed German chocolate and white cake)

2 cans of frosting (I used milk chocolate and vanilla)

2 packages almond bark (One chocolate and one vanilla flavored)

1 package candy melts (You can use any color but I used pink)

Rainbow sprinkles

M&M's

Day 1

Crumble the cake in a large bowl and add the can of frosting.

German chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting

White cake with vanilla frosting

Mix until the frosting is evenly incorporated into the cake crumbles.

Shape your cake mixture into balls and place onto a waxed paper sheet pan. I used my number 50 cookie scoop and rolled them into balls in my hands and they turned out to be just the right size. Once all the cake is shaped into balls cover with plastic wrap (I used my cake pans that had lids so I could easily stack them in my fridge) and refrigerate for at least several hours or overnight like I did.

Day 2

Remove your cake balls from the fridge. Shape a ball into more of an oval shape.

You will need a flower shaped cookie cutter that is 1.25" wide X .75" tall

Push the oval half way into the cookie cutter and use your hand to shape the top into a mound. (I just used the palm of my hand when I was pushing the oval into the cookie cutter.)

Push the cupcake out of the cookie cutter from the bottom. You should have something that resembles a mini cupcake. Isn't it cute???

Now do the rest of your balls. Once you are finished return them to the fridge.

Day 3

Melt the chocolate flavored almond bark according to the directions on the package. I just melted mine in the microwave and that seemed to work out well. I would just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds if it started getting hard again as I was dipping.

Dip the bottom of the cupcakes into the brown almond bark. Dip only until where the mound part starts. Shake off any excess and place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet so that the mound side is down. Dip the remaining cupcake bites. The almond bark should set fairly fast since the bites are cold.

Once you have finished dipping all the bottoms of the cupcake bites melt the vanilla flavored almond bark or whatever candy melts you are using. You can start dipping the tops. If the cupcake tops weren't completely covered I would just use a spoon to do whatever cover up I needed to and then shake off the excess. Then place them back onto the lined baking sheet bottom side down and immediately place a M&M on the top and cover with sprinkles before the bark hardens. Repeat with all of your cupcake bites.

Each 13X9 cake should yield about 50 cupcake bites.

Aren't these so cute?? I think I'm in love! They are cute AND taste good!

For the balls I just dipped them completely in the bark and then sprinkled them with sprinkles.