Mini Gourmet Cupcakes

This year for Valentine's, since my All American Guy took me to Bahama Breeze for dinner (ymmy) I decided to whip up the dessert as part of my gifts to the guys in my life.  So I came up with these super simple but elegant and yummy looking mini gourmet cupcakes.  What do you think?

I decided to use these mini muffin pans from Wilton to cook them in.  Don't pans like this just make you want to come up with a use for them?

Using a paper towel and some butter I greased each mold...  (sorry about the poor photo - student here,)

...then floured them.  Prep work done it was time to make the cake batter.

  

I hope I don't offend anyones sensabilities, but I went with a Devils Food boxed cake mix here.  I always keep some on hand (purchased of course for a fraction of the original price) for when I don't feel like working hard at baking extraordinary things that make me look bloody genius.

According to the package directions I added the eggs...

...oil and water...

...then mixed.

Next, using a one gallon ziplock baggie I spooned the batter into this to make an easy-pour tool.  From experience I knew trying to get the batter into those smaller cupcake molds would require a bit of finesse.

I snipped off one corner of my plastic bag creating about a 3/4" opening.

This made it a lot easier to pour.  I still had to go slow - the batter wanted to flow out quickly.

I filled each mold about 2/3 of the way full.  Much harder than it sounds but I think I did alright.  I was able to fill two full pans and probably could have filled most of a third.  Since I didn't have one I just poured the extra into a regular cupcake pan.  I then baked these at 350 degrees for 13 minutes (up to 15 depending on your oven - my runs a bit hot.)

Once they cooled I popped them easily out of the pan.  So adorable, they look like little chocolate buttons.

 

Next (don't crucify me on this one either) I used a store bought can of cream cheese frosting.  Yes once again I cheated.  But figuring this was my special day too, I find in life it is more important to put your time with the things that matter most.  In this case spending time with my family mattered more than homemade frosting. 

I put the icing in a piping bag and using a wide decorating tip squeezed a big ol' dollop right on top of each mini cupcake.

 

Next, I used about a half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips,  microwaving them for about 30 seconds, then mixed in a little milk until the chocolate was like a ganache.

 

 

 I used a spoon and just drizzled it on. This was the lazy moms way. While I liked the whole abstract art thing going on I think next time I'll use a little squeeze bottle so I have more control.

Now came time to decorate.  I had collected a few items over the past week to bling out my mini cupcakes.
 

Aren't these the cutest sprinkles?

 

And of course candy hearts.

 

 

I decided to sprinkle some edible glitter on them.  Isn't that cool.  Now be honest, haven't you ever looked at sparkly glitter and thought to yourself "That looks good enough to eat"?  Well now you can thanks to Wilton.  Life doesn't get anymore fun then with edible glitter.

 

 

I popped them in these cute mini paper Valentine liners...

 

 

...and displayed them on a three-tier desert pedestal I purchased last year at HomeGoods.  Shout out to my favs -  HomeGoods stores!

 

 

 

What I love best about these besides their adorable bite-size cute factor, is that they could easily be decorated for any occasion or even "just because."