Family Faves {easy-peasy, super fast and yummy cupcakes in 5 minutes}

Canon 5d Mark II, 24-70mm, post processed in Lightroom 4
ISO 1000, 45mm, f/3.2, 1/200 sec

A depart from my normal kid pics, I've been really drawn to food photography these days.  We've had a slew of birthdays in our family, each with their own requested flavor cupcakes.  And the best part is that cupcakes rarely run off when you ask to take photos of them, and they always smile too.  I do love the way there is a bit of bokeh in the background and the chocolate look so yummy!

These are s'more cupcakes from Boo's birthday. For weeks he had been reminding me that he wanted s'more cupcakes. Again, I wasn't sure what that really was, but I like the making him happy on his special day, so I hopped on Pinterest for some idea. I topped yellow cake cupcakes with chocolate frosting, mashmallow topping, a few marshmallows, and one chunk each of chocolate and graham cracker.    Later Boo said to me, "When I think of you mom, I think of someone who can make normal cupcakes in to amazing superpendous birthday cupcakes!"  Sigh!  I love my boy!  He makes being mama so  superpendous!

We're not really a birthday cake kind of family.  In our home, cakes tend to get stale before they get eaten, so I have little enthusiasm to make them.  Birthdays usually find us eating cupcakes. And I've discovered a trick to making cupcakes totally do-able for my busy schedule.  This is a fast and easy cupcake recipe that makes moist yummy cupcakes.  And to be frank, there's nothing special about it, except that it gives me the time to have fun decorating the cupcakes on the kiddo's birthdays and that is the part that I like to do most and the part that makes each child feel a little more special on his/her birthday!  

I make the cupcakes 1-3 days ahead of time and store them in an air-tight container.  Then I decorate them on the day of their birthday.  

So this is the base recipe. From here, depending on the "flavor" the birthday sweetie asks for, I might add something else in the batter.  Then I have fun with frosting and/or decorating them on their actual birthday.  But the main thing here is that this recipe is super fast and easy and makes good cupcakes!

Ignore the sprinkles and pudding mix.  This was actually for Tess's cupcakes the week prior.
But it gives you the idea of how few ingredients there are.  

Easy-Peasy, Super Fast and Yummy Cupcakes in 5 minutes

1 box of cake mix any flavor (but I really only use yellow or chocolate)
1 stick of butter, melted
3 eggs
1 c water

Mix in a mixing bowl. 
Fill muffin pan, lined with cupcake paper, 2/3 of the way up.
Bake 350 degrees for 20 min.  (convection 17 minutes)

Some tips to make them even easier and yummier---
I usually use cupcake papers, but if I'm out, which happens frequently, I just spray the muffin pan with oil.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill each muffin hole. One scoop is just the right amount for a cupcake and let's the kids help out more easily. 
Don't over cook cupcakes to keep them moist. Pull them out of the oven as soon as the knife comes out clean to avoid them being dry.

Linking up today with Sunday Snapshot, The Simple Things, Sunday Slice, Sunday Roundup, Heavenly Treats Sunday,