Cupcakes

Hubby is out of town for the weekend and I am stuck alone with the kids. There are numerous reasons to hate this, like never a break at night, having to be the "bad cop", and the cold bed at night. But to tell you the truth, I kinda like it when he is gone. The house is really quiet, even with two kids. I find that my kitchen is clean, there is no one making meal after meal and leaving their dirty dishes in the sink. And frankly Cookie and Hubby have been fighting a lot lately.

So when Cookie became a little clingy today, I had to come up with something to unglue my child from me. Since acetone and a hammer are not viable options, distraction is.

Tonight we are going to dinner over at a friend's house and I thought we'd bring dessert, so cupcakes seemed like the perfect detachment solution. I've been meaning to make these cute Mouse cupcakes I saw in a magazine for a while. But what makes them so yummy is the cream cheese frosting. However, the magazine suggested using store bought cupcake and decorating yourself. I really just wanted a dry run, since we may be making some fun cupcakes for Cookie's birthday this year instead of buying a cake.

Mouse Cupcakes

1 cake mix (any flavor you desire, we made chocolate)
24 cupcake liners
1 80z package of cream cheese (let sit at room temp. for 1/2 hr to soften)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup of butter (room temp)
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
Chocolate rounds
black licorice
brown and pink candy coated chocolate
yogurt covered pretzels (pink if you can find them)
sprinkles (if only for more fun on your kid's part)

1. make cupcakes according to package. Let completely cool
2. Frosting: Mix the cream cheese and butter, until creamy. incorporate the vanilla and then add the sugar a little at a time until completely blended. Add cocoa powder.
3. Frost cupcakes (I just put the frosting in a Ziploc bag and cut the corner to make a pastry bag.
4. Decorate the cupcake to make ears, nose, eyes, and whiskers. Use the pretzels if you want a bow for your mouse. I could not find black rope licorice, so I bought some chocolate flavored twirl and cut it into strips.