Right Off The Bat

I don't believe in starting small - with that in mind my first baking experiment needed to be something I had never imagined I could pull off. The obvious answer? Cupcake Bites by one of my inspirations - Bakerella.

After purchasing (with unnatural levels of excitement) chocolate melts and candy melts and cookie cutters the procedure began!

I used this chocolate cake recipe from Pioneer Woman, another one of my idols (Let me clarify here, I have not yet reached the pinnacle of creating my own delicious recipes such as these lovely ladies have, so until their muses hit me I will humbly attempt to recreate their greatness)
There were basic dry ingredients involved

And YUMMY wet ingredients (note the smoking chocolate)

This was already looking (and smelling) like a great idea

Once the batter was all mixed I poured it out into a half sheet pan - this is a lot of cake

While the batter was baking I mixed up the frosting (as per the recipe) but in retrospect I think I would have waited until the cake was cool to make the frosting - as the cake ball recipe calls for mixing the frosting into the cooled cake.

As I was waiting for the cake to cool the frosting started to set (did I mention the novice part of my baking skills?) so I mixed the frosting into the not quite cool cake and ended up with these beauties

I froze these for about half an hour and then melted up some of my chocolate, busted out my cookie cutter and got to work

Ok, so they might not look exactly like cupcakes, maybe more like mushrooms but I was still proud!

After putting these in the freezer again for about half an hour, I melted the colored candy melts and got a bowl full of sprinkles ready - and at the end of it all (lots of dirty dishes, a dirty counter, and a dirty floor - what's the fun in baking if you don't get a little dirty) I was able to produce....

These little gems!

Not too bad for a first try - Hats off to Bakerella these are a lot more work than I expected but the results were so delicious I honestly have to say I didn't mind!

The cake I used was super moist so I ended up with a more truffle-esq inside which I adored but perhaps the next time I experiment with these guys I will use a boxed cake mix and see what kind of texture I get. 

With my first experiment under my belt I am now off to research my next!