happy little chocolate banana easter egg cupcakes

i know these little cupcakes are not very creative but they taste good! i actually had a more elaborate decorating plan for these however, my first attempt at easter egg cupcakes was a bummer and i was no longer in the mood for fancy shimancy decorating. 

i used a cake box for these cupcakes (pillsbury chocolate i think) except instead of the 3 eggs the recipe called for, i put in one mashed banana and 1 tablespoon of flax and then...meka leka hi meka hiney ho... chocolate banana cupcakes! 

this was my first time trying out an egg replacement on a cake mix and i was pleasantly surprised at how puffy they baked.

i decorated them using the homemade 'hostess' cupcake technique and topped them off with some m&m chocolate eggs.

before my chocolate banana cupcake creation i planned to make these little egg cakes with this wilton egg mold.

i wanted to decorate these with powder sugar and fondant and put them on top of the cupcakes. wouldn't that of been cute? they did not come out looking too hot. the other side of the eggs look even worse! the cake fell and all the eggs looked sunken. 

i guess i could try again before sunday but i'm kinda over the idea now. any other cute spring cupcake designs you can recommend? 

happy and... not so happy carrot cupcakes

these cute little carrot cupcakes made everyone happy however, there was a sad little batch of cupcakes i made before these that did not make the cut.

but first... look at this cute apron i wore for this cupcake adventure! my mother-in-law surprised me with it a few weeks ago! it matches the cute tea-towels i received for christmas.

so anyway, i wanted  to make some chocolate carrot cupcakes. this recipe looked interesting because it was vegan and it used whole wheat flour. 

as soon as i started to mix the batter together, i knew there was little hope for these cupcakes. they just smelled kind of funky. however, i still finished the project and baked them up. they turned out gross. they were really dense and had the flavor of what i imagine cinnamon mud tastes like. 

after my cupcake disaster, i opted for a little easier, fail proof choice. i used a cake mix.  i used the recipe on the side of the duncan hines spice cake mix and made the old fashioned applesauce spice cake. I added some nuts and carrots in the batter to turn it into carrot cupcakes. 

these came out good! i topped them off with some cream cheese frosting and candy coated walnuts. 

i also added a few of carrots made out of fondant.

my husband took the cupcakes to work with him to share :) 

i still really want to try a successful chocolate carrot cake recipe. does anyone have suggestions?