Red Velvet Holly Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Holly Leaves

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

For quite a few months I've been experiencing with a variety of cupcake recipes and decorating techniques for a variety of reasons (I'll post about that after that Holidays). I made these Red Velvet cupcakes for a Holiday gathering I was suppose to have this past Friday but things didn't work as planned so I saved the cupcakes for the next evening to share with friends and family to taste while we took photos of my son getting ready for his first-time high school dance.

These cupcakes were made with boxed Red Velvet cupcakes (I haven't found the perfect red velvet cupcake recipe yet so I went with a boxed cupcake) and made my own cream cheese frosting. To make them a tad more festive, I made chocolate holly leaves with red and green candy melts.

Chocolate Holly Leaves

To make the Chocolate Holly Leaves, I printed out a holly template from FreePrintables and then placed a sheet of waxed paper on top of the printout and piped melted chocolate following the template. I got the idea from when I made Turkey Feathers for some Turkey Cupcakes I made a few weeks back.

I have found it to be great fun to make cupcake toppers with chocolate motifs! Thinking up so new ideas to try soon.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2½ to 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Note: If you like a lot of frosting you may want to increase this by 50% for 24 cupcakes.

Holiday Cake Bon Bons

Several times during my career as a stay-at-home and as a working-mom references have been made in regards to "sitting around and eating bon bons". Honestly, I never knew what a bon bon was other than maybe it was some type of candy. If you want the full meaning of a bon bon, head over to the the South of France for a wonderful explanation.

This conversation of "sitting around and eating bon bons" came up in conversation recently. Unfortunately it was not a very nice conversation. But (after some stewing over the insult) I though hey I need to make some of these little delicious treats just see what I've been missing out on. I chose to make Cake Bon Bons (which I guess really aren't bon bons by definition), but this is what I choose to try. These Holiday Cake Bon Bons are adapted from Betty Crocker. I made over 100 of them. And yes, I sat down and ate two bon-bons (someone had to taste test) and then donated the remaining bon bons to the church for my son's high school retreat this past Thursday.

Go ahead, eat some Bon bons !!
Bon bons send good happiness to all moms, dads, and kids.
These would make a delicious teacher or hostess gift.

Red Velvet Cake Holiday Bon Bons

Chocolate Fudge Cake Holiday Bon Bons

Holiday Cake Bon Bons Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cake mix (any flavor)*
• Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
• 1 container frosting
• 36 oz (from two 24-oz packages) vanilla or chocolate-flavored candy coating (such as Wilton Candy Melts)
  

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make and bake cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Cool 15 minutes.
2. In large bowl, crumble warm cake; stir in frosting until well blended (depending on the moistness of you cake, you may want to use only 3/4 of a can so that it's not too sticky or greasy). Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until firm enough to shape.
3. Freeze 30 minutes. Shape into balls. (If mixture is too sticky, refrigerate or freeze a bit longer until firm enough to shape).
4. Line another cookie sheet with foil (I use non-stick foil). In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave 12 oz candy coating uncovered on High 1 minute 30 seconds; stir. Continue microwaving and stirring in 15-second intervals until melted and smooth. Remove one-third of the balls from the freezer. Using 2 forks, dip and roll each ball in coating. Place on foil-covered cookie sheet. Decorate as desired. Refrigerate cake balls about 10 minutes or until coating is set. Melt remaining candy coating in 12-oz batches; dip remaining balls. Serve at room temperature. Store in airtight container.

*For Red Velvet Cake Bon Bons use 1 box of Red Velvet Cake mix and 1 container of Cream Cheese Frosting

*For Chocolate Fudge Cake Bon Bons use 1 box of Chocolate Fudge Cake mix and 1 container of Chocolate Cheese Frosting. These would be great with a walnut half added to the middle of the bon bon or even some chopped nuts mixed before shaping into balls.

Enjoy!

Sit back and enjoy some bon bons!