"Gumball" Cupcakes and a Discovery!

So let me start by saying that I saw this idea in a magazine...I don't know when it was from, but I think it was a Rachael Ray magazine.  I tear pages out from magazines with recipes and/or ideas that I want to try, so I don't have to save the entire magazine.  Sounds like I'm organized, eh?  Well, take a look in my pantry at all the random pages floating around, and you'll see that while the "magazine rip" is good if the idea is thoroughly exercised (like putting said pages in a folder ~ genius!) in my world it is almost worse than keeping the pages in their respective magazines.

So, needless to say I think this is from Rachael Ray Everyday (but not entirely sure) from a few years ago (I think).  Sorry, I'm trying...really!

Now, with THAT out of the way, let's move on quickly to my discovery...

I FROZE CAKE BATTER!

I didn't know it was possible and according to most you can't freeze it because of the chemical reactions, blah blah blah.

I did a little research before-hand and for all intents and purposes it looked like, ideally, you should bake the batter and THEN freeze the baked cake/cupcake.  Well, that wasn't going to happen on the particular day I made this batter, but I felt cake-guilt so I didn't want to throw the batter out.  Enter Ziplock.

Begin super scientific experiment: Freeze Cake Batter.

So after 2 months of looking at the bag o'batter in my freezer I decided to give it a go.  Nothing to lose, right?!

I thawed out the batter in my fridge for a day.  Even I knew better then to try and thaw it in the microwave ;)

I decided on mini-cupcakes and pushed forward.

When they came out of the oven I was super surprised!

It worked!

See the pretty dome on the cupcake?

 Eat that science!

Now, I am not sure if this would be ok for a full cake, but I will tell you, those mini cupcakes were Cupcakelicious!

SO, I'm here to tell you , in a pinch, freeze it...you can make cupcakes for your kiddos and not have to make a full batch...that certainly saves my hips!

Now...onto what I did with frozen cake batter mini cupcakes ~

 Aren't they adorable??

Easy and cute...here's how I did it after the cupcakes were baked:

I found the red mini cupcake liners at Michaels...they were Wilton brand, so I am thinking you could find them at your local craft store too!

Now, this next step is optional, but recommended...

Gather decorations...

I could only find the individual packs of mini M&M's, so estimate 1 individual pack per cupcake.  You'll have a few extras, because there are not equal amounts of colors in each pack.  Apparently yellow must be an expensive color or something.  With the extras apply to Step 3 ;)

Cut the whoppers in half.

You certainly don't have to use whoppers, but they worked for me.

Same with the candy melts..you could use fondant, or Necco Wafers.

With a black food writer write on the back of the candy melts.

 Make sure you place the top cupcake on weighted evenly, otherwise they will tip over...those M&M's add a little weight!

And voila ~

Pretty cute, huh?  I found that mini cupcakes worked for me, but I would imagine you could use regular size cupcakes, you would just have to use standard size M&M's!

Hope you guys enjoy them!  I'm linking these up to Hoosier Homemade Cupcake Tuesday ~ fun place to get your weekly dose of cupcakery :)

Let me know if you have any experience in the freezing of batter...good or bad, I wanna know!