Those of you who know me are fully aware that I do not bake. Or, I try not to bake. I don’t enjoy it. It’s super messy with flour flying everywhere and you have to be totally precise in your measurements. And you only get one shot….. if it’s a miss there is no adjusting or fixing. So my baking skills are not the best and if I do bake, I look for every opportunity to make it simple. For these adorable messy mini cakes, I elevated the boxed cupcake mix and jarred frosting and tried not to worry about getting it perfect. Hence the name, Messy Mini Cakes.
All this took was white cake mix, white frosting, strawberry and raspberry jam and fresh berries. It’s the perfect bite! I made the cupcakes according to the package and then chopped off the “muffin top”. But beware! Snacking on these muffin tops can get out of hand! You won’t need them for the recipe so they were up for grabs. My son and his friends ate around a dozen tops in less than 5 minutes. And I snacked on a couple myself.
Once you have the bottom half of all of your cupcakes laid out, making these messy mini cakes is a breeze. I just smeared raspberry or strawberry jam on the bottoms and sandwiched them together. It looks like a little layer cake.
Now it’s time for the frosting. I wanted to keep the frosting light. I’m not a big frosting fan. My favorite part of a cupcake is the actual cake. I wonder what that says about me….. Anyway, when I frosted these I wanted a little bit, not a ton, of frosting. So these look even messier because a bit of the cake actually shows through the frosting. Kind of like the “crumb coat” but leaving it exposed on purpose. I didn’t even use an entire container of frosting!
I love these messy mini cakes for so many reasons. They are super easy to make, first of all. Secondly, they are not overly sweet. The tartness that comes from the jam and fresh berries cuts the sweetness of the frosting just right. I hope you like them too. Give ’em a try and let me know what you think!
