Bomb Pop Cupcakes

June is almost gone and July is nearly here! With Independence Day on it's way I thought these Bomb Pop Cupcakes might be perfect for your next barbecue or family party! Created by Oh-Lolaaa via Tumblr, this recipe is easy to follow and looks amazing!

Cupcake base

1 Box Lemon Cake Mix (I use Duncan Hines)

4 eggs1 cup buttermilkAmount of oil called for on box1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 (4 serving size) box Raspberry Jell-O
5 tablespoons milk
6 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cherry extract
1 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract
1 1/2 teaspoon lime extract or lime juice
blue gel food coloring
red gel food coloring

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, buttermilk, oil, and lime juice. Mix on low speed with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds or until well combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to medium. Beat for 2 minutes.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter and bake for about 15 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Remove from oven and let pans cool on wire racks.

Once cupcakes have cooled, remove from pans and poke holes in the tops with a wooden skewer.

In a medium bowl, stir together:

1 cup boiling water

Carefully spoon Jell-O mixture over cupcakes, allowing it to soak into the holes.

Frosting

3 sticks butter, softened to room temperature

wooden popsicle sticks for garnish

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and milk on low speed until barely combined. Increase to medium speed and mix until well blended.

Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Measure one cup of frosting into a bowl. Split the remaining frosting evenly into two other bowls.

Add the cherry extract and desired amount of red color to the bowl with only one cup of frosting. In another bowl, stir the lime juice into the frosting. In the other, add the raspberry extract and desired amount of blue color.

Pipe the blue raspberry frosting on the cupcakes, followed by the lime and cherry frosting.  Insert a popsicle stick in the middle of the cupcakes.

**Depending on how high you want to pipe the frosting on your cupcakes, you may want to double the frosting recipe.

Lemon poppy seed cupcakes with citrus glaze, plus recipe link

Want to learn how to make these refreshing-looking lemon poppy seed cupcakes? Visit The Curvy Carrot for the recipe! She was inspired by a Martha Stewart orange poppy seed cake but decided to swap citrus fruits instead!

Lemon coconut cupcakes with 7-minute frosting and recipe link

Love how bright and bold these lemon-filled coconut cupcakes by The Foodess are! Visit her for the frosting (bonus, it's made with 7-minute frosting). From the post: "These cupcakes have a double hit of coconut: sweet, creamy coconut milk as the liquid; and fragrant, nutty toasted coconut folded in. Toasting the coconut, although it is an extra bit or work, is absolutely worth the effort. It makes a huge flavour impact."

Spiderman-inspired raw vegan cupcake topped with kale!

Yes, raw food blogger extraordinaire Shannonmarie over at Rawdorable has a recipe for you for her "Cupcake Wars' Spidey Superfood Taste Challenge Cupcake."

Snow Cone Cupcakes

Summer is nearly here and these Snow Cone Cupcakes are sure to be an absolute hit at all the upcoming BBQs this season! Lucky for you these little lovelies developed by the ever creative Bakerella won't melt away!

Sure, these would be great for the Fourth Of July based on the color scheme above but you can use any color combination to recreate these for children's parties, gifts, etc! The snow cone effect can be achieved with sugar crystals, which have a larger size and chunkier texture than the usual sprinkles. But be sure to use sprinkles that match your icing color so you can get the best effect possible! You can check out Bakerella's full tutorial here!

Skinny Hummingbird Cupcakes with Recipe Link

Summer's on it's way which means stores are pulling out their swimsuit styles making us all tremor in our Spring wear. Everyone's starting their diets and second guessing that second helping but not us cupcake lovers, because we can literally have our cake and eat it too!

One of my favorite new websites that has been featured here before, Skinnytaste.com, has developed a recipe that keeps the majority of the real recipe intact with the exception of some wheat flour and low fat cream cheese. As you can tell from the picture, we're not getting mini cupcakes that taste like diet, you can have a full sized, delicious looking cupcake without sacrificing calories for taste!

Check out the whole recipe here!

Gluten free Snickers cupcakes and recipe link

Bloggers The Baking Beauties are here to let those of you who are gluten free know not only that Snickers bars are safe but that you can make amazing cupcakes out of them. Visit them for the recipe for these gluten free Snickers cupcakes. From the post: "when I found out that Snickers bars are gluten-free, they were an obvious choice. Peanuts. Caramel. Chocolate. Nougat. They are like the 4 ‘food groups’ of the candy world. And if you like a Snickers bar as is, you should really try freezing it."

When Jello Met Cupcakes

Now here's something I never thought of...mixing Jello with cupcakes! The blog, Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate adapted this recipe from a Tie-Dye Cupcakes recipe in a Rachel Ray magazine. 

These cupcakes look fun and are actually quite simple to recreate! Pick your favorite box cake mix (white is recommended), a fun color/flavor of Jello and ta-da! Simply follow the box cake directions and add your jello mix to half the batter! The buttercream frosting is pretty straightforward as well and again, includes some Jello mix. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could use one Jello flavor for the cake and another for the frosting...go crazy! You can see the entire recipe here!

Cookies and cream devil's food cupcakes with mini Oreo on top and big Oreo baked in the bottom plus recipe link

What an Oreo-tastic cupcake, with cookies and cream frosting, a mini Oreo on top and that pretty surprise when you bite inside of another whole Oreo! Yum! Get the recipe from blogger To Bake or Not to Bake, who advises, "If you like Cookies and Cream ice cream, you will flip for these. ."

Mountain Dew cupcakes with Mountain Dew frosting to help you get your geek on all night

We told you about the Mountain Dew and Doritos cupcakes, but now there's pure Mountain Dew/Mountain Dew cupcakes complete with Marvel toppers and wrappers, made by blogger The Geeky Hostess to help her stay up for a Marvel movie night and 3D midnight screening of The Avengers (via Geekologie). That's true cupcake dedication! Visit The Geeky Hostess for the recipe.

Mmm...Biscoff Buttercream Frosted Cupcakes!

I love Biscoff spread and have been saving my one jar for a really great recipe. Julie of The Little Kitchen has a delicious-sounding Biscoff buttercream frosted chocolate cupcake recipe that sounds easy enough to make.  Looks amazing too!

Used with permission.

French Dip Cupcakes with Recipe Link

And now for another edition of savory cupcakes! Today's recipe: French Dip Cupcakes!

Created by Emily Bites, this perfectly portioned meal looks like it would be the perfect portable lunch! Also, it's Weight Watchers Points Plus approved! So if you happen to be in the midst of a diet, this is definitely a recipe you'll want to try! Check it out here!

3 Musketeers Marshmallow Candy-Stuffed White Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Say that ten times fast? These 3 Musketeers Marshmallow Candy-Stuffed White Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting by Averie Cooks look absolutely divine.

photo credit Averie Cooks

What's even more impressive? She gives vegan and gluten free suggestions throughout so that everyone can enjoy this fantastic recipe!

Sparking Surprise Carrot Cupcakes

These don't look like cupcakes...these are carrots! But au contraire! These are in fact cupcakes and perfect for Easter Sunday!

Developed by Half Baked but featured on Hostess With The Mostess, these carrot cupcakes are actually ice cream cone cupcakes! 

After baking the cake in the cones and frosting them like you would any other Ice Cream Cupcake Cone recipe but you'll have to freeze these cones with the frosting on before you can dip them into the melted candies to achieve that carrot quality!

Of course, this is the messiest part of the project but once your here, all you have to do is cover the dipped cones in some sprinkles, add some edible grass and TADA! You're all done!

You can check out the full tutorial here!

Does a no bake cupcake count as a cupcake?

That was my first thought when I saw this post at The Kitchn with photos and the recipe for no bake lemon cream and coconut icebox cupcakes. They are adorable and look super fun but what do you think? Do cupcakes require baking? Can these desserts lay claim to the title of "cupcake" or should they be called something else? (Note: I only mean this query half seriously, and we do occasionally post non-cupcake items that look cupcakes, but I really am curious, but by no means wish to discourage you from making them. I like all the things involved with them, including lemon cream, coconut and Nilla wafers!) Also, from the post: "Use the lemon cream as the base, but if you don't like coconut, for instance, you could sprinkle these with chopped candied lemon peel or white chocolate shavings instead. Or double up on the lemon and drizzle them with warmed lemon curd!" Also, I love lemon curd. Like would eat it straight out of the jar love it.