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"Gumball" Cupcakes and a Discovery!

 
Close-up of a gumball cupcake
 
So let me start by saying that I saw this idea in a magazine…I don’t know when it was from, but I think it was a Rachael Ray magazine.  I tear pages out from magazines with recipes and/or ideas that I want to try, so I don’t have to save the entire magazine.  Sounds like I’m organized, eh?  Well, take a look in my pantry at all the random pages floating around, and you’ll see that while the “magazine rip” is good if the idea is thoroughly exercised (like putting said pages in a folder ~ genius!) in my world it is almost worse than keeping the pages in their respective magazines.
So, needless to say I think this is from Rachael Ray Everyday (but not entirely sure) from a few years ago (I think).  Sorry, I’m trying…really!
Now, with THAT out of the way, let’s move on quickly to my discovery…
I FROZE CAKE BATTER!
I didn’t know it was possible and according to most you can’t freeze it because of the chemical reactions, blah blah blah.
 
I did a little research before-hand and for all intents and purposes it looked like, ideally, you should bake the batter and THEN freeze the baked cake/cupcake.  Well, that wasn’t going to happen on the particular day I made this batter, but I felt cake-guilt so I didn’t want to throw the batter out.  Enter Ziplock.
Begin super scientific experiment: Freeze Cake Batter.
A ziploc bag filled with white cake batter
So after 2 months of looking at the bag o’batter in my freezer I decided to give it a go.  Nothing to lose, right?!
I thawed out the batter in my fridge for a day.  Even I knew better then to try and thaw it in the microwave 😉
I decided on mini-cupcakes and pushed forward.
When they came out of the oven I was super surprised!
It worked!
See the pretty dome on the cupcake?
Close-up of a vanilla cupcake in a pan
 Eat that science!
A hand holding half of a vanilla cupcake
Now, I am not sure if this would be ok for a full cake, but I will tell you, those mini cupcakes were Cupcakelicious!
SO, I’m here to tell you , in a pinch, freeze it…you can make cupcakes for your kiddos and not have to make a full batch…that certainly saves my hips!
 
Now…onto what I did with frozen cake batter mini cupcakes ~
 
 
Three Gumball Cupcakes lined up
 Aren’t they adorable??
Easy and cute…here’s how I did it after the cupcakes were baked:
A vanilla frosted cupcake showing Step 1
I found the red mini cupcake liners at Michaels…they were Wilton brand, so I am thinking you could find them at your local craft store too!
 
 
A cupcake with the top cut off showing Step 2
 
Now, this next step is optional, but recommended…
Step 3 of building a Gumball Cupcake
Gather decorations…
A pile of Mini M&Ms
I could only find the individual packs of mini M&M’s, so estimate 1 individual pack per cupcake.  You’ll have a few extras, because there are not equal amounts of colors in each pack.  Apparently yellow must be an expensive color or something.  With the extras apply to Step 3 😉
Vanilla candy melts and whoppers
Cut the whoppers in half.
You certainly don’t have to use whoppers, but they worked for me.
Same with the candy melts..you could use fondant, or Necco Wafers.
 
5 cents written on candy melts with a black food pen
With a black food writer write on the back of the candy melts.
 
Upside down red muffin cups
Step 5 of building Gumball Cupcakes with frosting
Frosting being spread on an inverted red muffin cup
Step 6 of assembling Gumball Cupcakes
 Make sure you place the top cupcake on weighted evenly, otherwise they will tip over…those M&M’s add a little weight!
 
And voila ~
Gumball machine Cupcakes
Pretty cute, huh?  I found that mini cupcakes worked for me, but I would imagine you could use regular size cupcakes, you would just have to use standard size M&M’s!
Hope you guys enjoy them!  I’m linking these up to Hoosier Homemade Cupcake Tuesday ~ fun place to get your weekly dose of cupcakery 🙂
Let me know if you have any experience in the freezing of batter…good or bad, I wanna know!

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72 comments on “"Gumball" Cupcakes and a Discovery!”

  1. theresa krier

    hi, i just came across this adorable cupcake idea of yours, so i pinned it & shared it on facebook. i can’t wait to make these for my granddaughter’s birthday, plus we got her a real gumball machine, how fun will this be, thanks so much

  2. Cassandra Goetting

    I would like to know how you got the edible markers to mark on the candy melts!! I tried and tried and they would not write for me! What a waste of $8!!

  3. Very cute! Love the frozen then fridge-thawed batter idea.

    It would also work to cut each cupcake in half, turn half of the bottoms upside down, creating bases, like you showed here, but instead of eating any of the tops, set them all aside to use later. Discard the other half of the bottoms (those are great for snacking). Turn all of the top halves round-side-down. Put frosting on the flat parts of half of the tops, then place the flat parts of the other half of the tops down, creating frosting sandwiches that look like balls. On each ball, cut a small flat part off of one side, discard it, then put a little frosting on that newly cut flat part of the ball. Set the ball down onto one of the bases, then finish frosting it. For those who can’t have chocolate melts because of milk allergies, Skittles will work just fine for this project.

  4. Hi! Just happen to run across your cupcake picture on Pinterest. I was so tickled to see it—I was the creator of the cupcake. I had entered it in the Rachael Ray Magazine cutest cupcake contest in 2008. It was in the August 2008 edition, page 30 (in the “Yum” section). You did an amazing job recreating it! Happy baking!! Julie

    1. That’s so great!! I had ripped out the page in RR, but couldn’t see any credit on the page! So glad you found me!

    1. I imagine it would. I used a boxed cake mix to try out the experiment, so I can only go based on that, not a scratch mix.

  5. Thanks! I have been looking for cupcake/cake gum ball ideas and these win by far. My daughter is thrilled! We’ll be having them later this month for her birthday party.

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