Filled Lemon Cupcakes

This recipe was contributed by Chrissy Carlson via Sarah McKenna.  Chrissy says that these divine cupcakes are her favorite, but they are only for the truly sweet-teethed out there.  A few variations that she has tried are listed below the recipe for those of you who are big lemon people.  (I can't wait to try to chocolate variation......yumm......)

 

Filled Lemon Cupcakes

For 12-18 cupcakes, you need:

 

1 package lemon-flavored cake mix (and all of the ingredients that you need in order to mix together the mix....eggs, oil, etc.)

1 dry package cheesecake pudding mix

2 cartons lemon-flavored frosting

2-3 cups powdered sugar

lemon candies

Mix the cake, adding the pudding mix as a last step.  When filling the cupcake tin, alternate every other cup, and fill each one almost full.  You want it to spill over the sides a little...don't worry, just grease the pan well.  (This is why one box of cake mix won't quite make the usual 2 dozen cupcakes.)  Bake and cool.

Mix together the canned frosting and powdered sugar.  Using the long end of a wooden spoon.  Poke a hole through the top of the cupcake all the way to the bottom, so that there is a tunnel running from top to bottom.  Pipe the lemon frosting into the cupcake until the top starts to bulge.  That's how you know it's full of yummy frosting.  Then you can swirl some more icing around the top, and top the whole thing with a lemon candy, right in the center.  Repeat for all of the cupcakes.  

Other yummy variations I've tried:
*Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips on top

*Spice or carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and a candy corn or candy pumpkin on top