I made four different cupcakes this year for the “Yummy” cupcake gift boxes. I love trying out new recipes, always searching for the best I can find or improve upon. With the help of my daughter we baked and taste tested a lot of recipes weeks before we chose which four to include in the package. In the end we voted with the criteria being we had to love each one of the four cupcakes.

The winners were a chocolate cupcake with a surprise York peppermint patty cooked in the center then frosted with pink and white peppermint cream cheese. Another chocolate cupcake, this small cake was filled with mini chocolate chips topped with a marshmallow frosting, large chocolate chips and pecans for an amazing rocky road cupcake. A gingerbread cupcake light and moist with a lemon cream cheese frosting sprinkled with cinnamon, (That particular recipe came from a winning recipe on Cupcake Wars, Foodnetwork. com, they have seventy five recipes worth looking at.) A red velvet cupcake with a bright red inside with the traditional Southern cream cheese frosting, I added shaved white chocolate to give it a holiday look. White chocolate in or on your cream cheese frosting is always fantastic. I gained five pounds easy testing these recipes, but in the end it was so worth it, everyone loved them.