How to make the best birthday cupcakes for a friend!

I great way to celebrate your friend's birthday is by making cupcakes. They are fast, easy and cheap especially if you use a cake mix and prepared frosting.

The first thing you do is decide on a flavor combination.. Don't have your flavors be simple or don't be afraid to try different flavors together.

For example, try chocolate cake with lemon frosting, strawberry cake with lemon frosting, strawberry cake with chocolate frosting or rainbow chip cake with rainbow chip frosting. This last suggestion, I think this is the ultimate cupcake combo!

At this point, I go to my food storage and choose the combination I have picked from the HUGE cake mix/frosting section, but for others who have a normal mom, you can go to the store and pick from that selection. Make sure you get fun cupcake wrappers and candles. You can even buy sprinkles if you want.

Once home, get out a bowl, a cupcake pan, measuring cup, spatula for stirring, ice cream scoop and all the ingredients that are listed on the back of the cake mix you have chosen.

These usually include water, oil and eggs.

Follow the directions on your mix.

 Before you begin preheat the oven.

 Use the temperature suggested in on your mix.

Add the quantity of ingredients listed on the back of the box into the bowl. Use your spatula to stir.

The back of the box will tell you how long to stir. Usually it is 2 minutes by hand.

Once thoroughly mixed, use your ice cream scoop the cupcake wrappers that you have placed in side the cupcake tins.

 If your ice cream scoop is small, like mine put two scoops into one cup.

 If it is a large scoop only use one!

The rule of thumb is fill the cupcake wrappers 2/3 full, that gives you a nice rounded top!

Need to know info: When putting your batter into the cupcake liners, do not let the cake mix fall on the pan. If it does clean it off. If you bake the cupcakes with batter on the tin it not only turns your tin black, but the cupcakes will cook unevenly.

After all the cupcake wrappers are full, put them in the oven to bake.

Bake them for 18 to 22 minutes or until you touch the top of a cupcake and the batter springs back, not leaving a finger print.

While you are waiting for your cupcakes, you can clean up the area and prepare to put in the next batch.

Be sure to watch them so they don't burn. When they are ready take them out of the oven.

Let them cool on the stove or counter for 15 minutes.

Then take them out of the pan and let them cool for 5 more minutes. While cooling, put the other batch in the oven.

Once cool, you are ready to frost. You open the frosting container retrieve a butter knife and stir the frosting inside the container.

Place a tablespoon of frosting on top of the cupcake and spread it with a knife. This is a starting point. You can add as much frosting as you would like! Spread it with the knife across the top until it looks nice and you are happy with the thickness of the frosting.

If you so desire, sprinkle you sprinkles on top of each cupcake. You need to do this right after you frost, so they will stick. If you wait to long, the frosting will harden and they won't stick.

I recommend you use sprinkles lightly as too many takes away from the real flavor of the cupcake.

Arrange the frosted cupcakes on a decorative plate. Then deliver them to the birthday friend!