Sour Cream Stars

Have you ever heard of adding sour cream (or buttermilk or mayonnaise) to boxed cake mix? Supposedly it makes your cake/cupcakes more rich, moist, dense, and just all around better. When I told my husband I was planning on doing this, he gave me the most contorted and twisty face he could physically conjure up. He's too funny!

What I did was replace the water with 8 ounces (or 1 cup) of sour cream. I believe you can do the same proportions with buttermilk or mayonnaise. I couldn't really taste a huge difference in how they tasted with the sour cream versus water, but either way they still tasted great!

My best friend gave me a set of 12 star-shaped silicone cupcake cups a couple years ago and I had never used them, so I decided that this was as good a time as any to bust 'em out for some rainbow chip cupcakes.

Do you have any special alterations you make to a box of cake mix to make it taste better?

Cousin Kimmy's Valentine's Day

My husband's father's cousin's daughter, Kimberly (we'll just say she's my cousin for simplicity's sake!) baked these sweet cupcakes for her fam on Valentine's Day, and I just had to share. Not only do I enjoy making cupcakes myself, but I get so much joy (if not more) when I see what other people create. Thanks, Kimmy, for sharing!

And oh by the way, Kimberly is an amazing photographer and you absolutely have to check out her website here (which was created by her awesomely talented hubby, Paul):