Page 288 - Cupcakes

2. Place the cake mix, flour, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.

Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and
scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer
speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if
needed. Spoon or scoop ⅓ cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three
quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the
empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly
pressed with your finger, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and
place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the
edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups
using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your
fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting.

5. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it
out with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops

completely. Sprinkle the tops of the cupcakes with coconut.

6. Make the snowmen: For each body, moisten a toothpick or wooden skewer
with water and poke 2 holes, one above the other, into each of 24 marshmallows.

Leave about G-inch space between the holes. Insert a chocolate sprinkle into
each hole to look like buttons.

7. For each head, poke 2 holes for eyes near the top of each of the remaining
marshmallows. Poke 1 hole, beneath the eyes and centered, for the nose. And
finally, poke 5 holes for the mouth in a smile shape. Insert a sprinkle into each of
the eye and mouth holes, and an orange gumdrop sliver into the nose hole.

8. For the hat, cut a strip about 2 inches long and ¼ inch wide from the rolled
fruit. Use your thumb to mash together 2 green gumdrops into a flat round shape.

Cut a thin slice off the wide end of a gumdrop and press it onto the gumdrop
round. Wrap the fruit strip as a hatband, damping the ends to secure it. Repeat
with the rolled fruit and remaining gumdrops.