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Ever since I was a kid, I remember my dad putting his candy bars in the freezer because he supposedly enjoyed them more when they were frozen. Amusingly they were always buried under a bag of frozen peas or a box of pierogies, so I tend to think he was attempting to hide them from the rest of us.
Now that I am a full fledged adult, I don’t eat candy bars all that often, but you can bet when I do indulge, those babies get frozen first. This recipe is a little homage to my frozen candy bar loving dad, Bill; although I like to call him Billiam for kicks.
These cupcakes consist of a moist doctored up cake mix recipe with a little surprise in the center, topped with creamy caramel buttercream and a finished with a little sprinkling of chopped Snickers and a caramel drizzle. Are you drooling yet? This recipe is rich, sweet, decadent and every candy bar lover’s dream!
This is definitely a semi-homemade type of dessert; if you’re opposed to doctored up box mixes, no worries, just sub in your favorite chocolate cake recipe. Personally, I think the cake recipe below is pretty rocking and I use it when I am in a hurry or need an incredibly moist cake. I hope you give this recipe a try because it’s definitely a crowd pleaser! Brian used the word incredible to describe these cupcakes and that is not an adjective he tosses around very often.
In other news, you will find my first vlog posted below. Yep, I busted out the video camera, put on my best campy voice and recorded a video detailing my favorite piping tips, and the super technical {note sarcasm} techniques that I use to frost the cupcakes you see on MBA. I promise when I venture into vlog land again, I will lose a little of the cheesiness, but hey, I was nervous! Enjoy watching; I hope my newly acquired Muppet voice gives you a little chuckle! Does anyone like the sound of their voice…mine sure makes me cringe!
Cupcake Piping How-To from My Baking Addiction on Vimeo.
Snickers Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 15.25 ounces devil's food cake mix
- 3.4 ounces instant chocolate pudding mix
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- ½ cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 24-30 Snickers Miniatures frozen, plus more for topping
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ pounds confectioners’ sugar
- ⅓ cup caramel topping plus more for drizzling
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line (2) 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, vanilla and water.
- Evenly divide the batter amongst the prepared pans. {I use a large cookie scoop from OXO to scoop my batter; it holds 3 tablespoons.}
- Gently push a frozen Snickers Miniature bar into the center of the batter and smooth the surface making sure to cover the candy bar with batter.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool cupcakes thoroughly on wire rack.
For the frosting:
- Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and caramel syrup and combine well.
- Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more caramel syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar.
- Garnish with chopped Snickers bars and a drizzle of caramel of caramel syrup.
Notes
- Not a fan of Snickers? Sub in your favorite candy bar, just make sure you freeze them first.
- Not a fan of vegetable shortening? No worries, simply sub in butter for the shortening.
- Edited: 6/26/15 due to a change in boxed cake mix content size.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank-you Jamie for the piping tips and information on decorating cupcakes. It was very helpful. :)
Thanks so much! I’m working on some cupcakes for my kids’ Valentines party at school and this will be really helpful…. I figured out the empty cup trick for filling piping bags too! I use a tall Hard Rock Cafe beer glass and it makes things much less messy! I’ve been really enjoying your blog the last few months. With 4 kids, a husband and various hired hands helping out on our farm/ranch, I’m always looking for new stuff for my treat arsenal. It’s always fun to see what you’ve been up to!
How am I just seeing this now?? Great video! And thank you you so much for the Bake It Pretty shout-out! I’ve been needing to make a video like this for years, now I can just refer folk to you ;)
Jaime,
I love this post. I was thinking about doing a piping 101 post on my site, but I came across this and don’t think I could ever top it. Then I noticed you haven’t done many videos since this one and I just wanted to encourage you/beg you…More, more, more!
Love your baking and your logo/site design!
Kiera-
Thanks so much for your comment. I am in the process of working on new videos, so stay tuned!
-Jamie
These are so good! i just made these for my grandma’s birthday and my entire family loved them!! i will seriously make these again :)
Wow, I love Snickers! These are gorgeous and I am sure they taste wonderful!
These look absolutely stunning!
Hi! Jamie,
I am writing to you from another part of the world, Moscow, Russia. I am so inspired by your blog. It just about answers everything that I want to know, especially about cupcakes! I have just started a very tiny home baking sort of cupcake business and I want you to know that everytime I want to try something different and new and ofcourse with a 100% guaranteed success rate, I turn to you.
Wish you all the best keep blogging and keep inspiring.
Health, happiness, peace and blogging in the year up-ahead.
Kriti
Just made the Snickers cupcakes. What an awesome recipe! Those cupcakes were so moist and then having the Snicker surprise inside made it even more decadent. The decorating video was most helpful. After watching I ordered the french tip and liners from bake it pretty and I was ready to go. Thanks again. This is the such an informativ blog! Love it! love it! love it!
So excited to see your post on how you decorate. I’ve been trying to duplicate the swirl with the 1M and while it’s ok I haven’t perfected it. This was a huge help. I also loved the other (esp french tip) so I immediately went to bake it pretty but they didn’t have any. I will have to start looking for something like that- I love the look.
I’m making your lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting today for my husbands b-day (even though it’s winter he requested lemon) thanks for you post. So helpful. love the site.