"Carrots in Dirt" - an Easter Cupcake Recipe!

 
Easter is fast approaching and we all know that the best parts of any holiday are the themed treats!

In years past we've shown you how to dip your strawberries in orange chocolate to make carrots, but this year we thought we'd take it a step further and show you how to make some mud pie cupcakes for your carrots to grow in.

Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 18-20 min

Yield: 16-18 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 1 package of any boxed chocolate fudge cake mix (we used Betty Crocker)
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream (aka one 8 oz. tub) 
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 eggs

For the "dirt":

• 20 oreo cookies (remove the cream and crush the cookies)  

For the frosting:

•  1 tub of any chocolate frosting (we used Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Chocolate Frosting)

For the "carrots":

• 16-18 longstem strawberries, washed and dried
• 2 bags of orange candy melts (We got ours from Michaels)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Line two standard size muffin pans with liners, set aside
3. Beat cake mix and butter with a mixer until a thick dough forms
4. Add sour cream and milk to the dough, mix until combined
5. Add the eggs to the mixture and beat until combined
6. Scoop the batter into the muffin liners about 3/4 of the way full or all the way full if you want the top to have more volume for the "dirt" part of your dessert
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes (we baked for 20 min)
8. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool
9. Take the crushed sandwich cookies and pour them into a bowl, set aside for later
10. Place the candy melts into a small pot and heat on the stove, stirring constantly until all the chocolate is melted down into an orange liquid. It's important to use a small pot and not a large saucepan, for example, to ensure that the strawberries are entirely covered in the chocolate with one dip. This makes the dipping process both easy and neat.
11. Set aside the strawberries to harden. While they are hardening, you can use a toothpick or a spoon (we used a spoon) to drizzle extra chocolate onto the surface in overlapping lines to create a more realistic and fun looking carrot.
12. By now your cupcakes should be cooled enough to take a sharp knife (I actually used a serrated steak knife, but if you have a cupcake corer that works, too!) and cut a quarter-sized hole into the cupcake in which your "carrot" will sit.
13. After cutting holes into all of your cupcakes, use your frosting and a frosting knife to cover the surface of the cupcake around the hole.
14. Roll each cupcake in your bowl of "dirt" (aka the crushed oreos)
15. Place a carrot in each cupcake
16. ENJOY! :)