Jelly Bean Cupcakes

Jelly beans and cupcakes….Super Delish!

The “Coupon Clipping” in CouponClippingCook won over the “Cook” in this recipe.

I just could not resist buying a boxed cake mix that was on sale AND that I had a coupon for.

But, I did customize the cake mix just a bit by adding cut up jelly beans to it for a fun surprise inside of the cupcakes.

The inspiration for these cupcakes were these super cute little candy bunnies holding  jelly beans that I found in the store.

Are these little bunnies cute or what!  (much cuter than the real bunnies that are eating the grass, and making crop circles in my backyard right now).

Since the candy bunnies needed a comfy place to sit on top of the cupcake, I made some edible green grass out of shredded coconut and green food coloring.

I used basic flavored jelly beans for this recipe but feel free to use other flavors.

Oh, and you might want to buy an extra bag of jelly beans for the cook.

Thank goodness I bought a couple bags because I kept accidently eating them when I was decorating the cupcakes.

Let’s check out the ingredients:

For the cake…

….for the frosting and toppings.
Here’s how to make it.

For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Add the cake mix in a large bowl.

Next add the water…..

….the eggs, and the oil.

Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes or whisk by hand for 2 minutes.

Cut the jelly beans into pieces (cut each jelly bean into 3 or 4 pieces if possible).

An option is to pick out the black and white colored jelly beans leaving in just the pink, green, purple, red and yellow ones.

Then,

add the pieces of jelly beans to the cake batter….

….and stir them in.

Line the cupcake tins with paper baking liners.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 18 to 22 minutes (or when a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

Let cool on a rack completely before frosting them.

For the Frosting:

Add the powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract to a medium size bowl.

Then add the milk, and….

……set a mixer to the slowest speed and beat the ingredients very carefully so that the powdered sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl.

Once the powdered sugar starts to mix in with the butter and milk (about two minutes), then increase the speed on the mixer and beat the ingredients until smooth (about another 3 or 4 minutes).

Set aside until your toppings are ready.

For the Toppings:

Add the shredded coconut to a small bowl.

Next, add the drops of green food coloring.

Mix the food coloring into the coconut.

If you prefer that the coconut be a bit darker, feel free to add a few more drops of the food coloring.

Before frosting the cupcakes, push a jelly bean into the top of the cupcake down about an inch.

Next, frost the cupcakes.

Right after frosting the cupcakes, add the colored shredded coconut, jelly beans and decorative candies.

Enjoy!

These cute little candy bunnies even have whiskers.

The jelly beans taste so good in the cake….

….and on the frosting too!

This is one comfy candy bunny.