Watermelon Cupcakes

I love food. In particular, good tasting food. There's food, and then there's good food. Take for instance these watermelon cupcakes:

They look delicious don't they? Yeah, they taste amazing. They're supposed to look like little watermelon's but that's not the best part. Not only do they look the part,  they taste the part as well. The icing actually tastes like watermelon. No joke.

The next best thing to eating good food is having someone else make it for you (someone who also does the dishes). If you're not so lucky, the next best thing to that is to make it yourself. If you're highly independent like I am, the idea of that doesn't bother you so much (I also really like baking and cooking so it's all good). After all, you have complete control of the finished product.

I guess perhaps what I'm trying to say here in a roundabout way is that I made these cupcakes... and I'm more than a little proud of that fact, apparently. But honestly, they're so darn good that I just cannot help myself. And I'm not biased. My friends would agree with me because I somehow talked myself into sharing them (okay, lets just say if I ate them all I'd have felt guilty so to avoid that I decided to share. Purely selfish intent).

Anyway, I'm done bragging. Here's the recipe if anyone wants to try them for themselves just to make sure I'm not telling outrageous fibs here (hint: I'm not).



Watermelon Cupcakes

You will need:

Mini paper baking cups
1 (18.25-oz) package vanilla cake mix (I used a gluten free mix)
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1/2 tsp. green food coloring paste
1 cup butter, softened
1 (32-oz) bag powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. watermelon-flavored gelatin (from 3-oz box)
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. red food coloring paste
Large disposable decorating/pastry bag
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips


To make cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper baking cups in mini muffin tin (you can also use regular size if you feel like having bigger cupcakes).

2. Prepare cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes, using water, oil, and eggs and adding green food coloring. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or according to package directions.
Cool in pans on wire racks for ten minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

3. In large bowl, beat butter and half of powdered sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in gelatin (dry) until blended. Gradually add remaining powdered sugar alternatively with milk, beating until frosting is smooth and spreadable. Beat in red food coloring.

4. Insert a large star tip into decorating bag; fill with frosting. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Decorate with mini chocolate chips to look like watermelon seeds.

Voila! Enjoy.