These pretty, perfect cupcakes are soft, rich and creamy with lots of flavor and topped with a fun candy popsicle. With optional sprinkles, they make for a fun and special treat for any cupcake lover on any day.

I love a good cupcake. Somebody is always making one. They're easy to eat, cute to look at and even easier to make.

Happy Cupcake Lover's Day! June 13 is one of those food holidays that you did not know exist until someone tells you. Today I'm sharing a new recipe with a fun twist along with over 30 other bloggers.

Valentina at The Baking Fairy organized this round-up and I am happy to share this space with her and dozens of other cupcakes. Scroll to the bottom of this post to check out some new cupcake ideas and look at some pretty pictures of cupcakes.

Remember those frozen confections advertised by JELL-O and Bill Cosby? These aren't those.

These are cupcakes made soft, flavorful and moist by adding instant pudding mix to the batter and decorating with candy made from a NEW Wilton DIY-lish popsicle kit!

With step-by-step instructions and all of the candy melts and candy molds you'll need, the candy is ready to eat in less than 20 minutes.

Because not everyone is into eating big hunks of candy with their cupcakes, a simple piping of frosting and a little sprinkle decoration will do.

The candy is pretty heavy so be careful when you place it on your delicate cups. I cut a slit in each cake to make sure it would not fall over.

Best laid plans, right? That stick is crooked. But guess who doesn't care? The kids are about to eat it in 5 minutes anyway.

Enjoy these Pudding Pop Cupcakes. Even though the originals don't hold a candle to these, you'll enjoy making them!

Pudding Pop Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Author: Nikki Miller-Ka of Nik Snacks

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (3.4 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup buttermilk
Frosting or buttercream, for decorating
½ cup sprinkles, for decorating

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pudding mix and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Try not to over mix. Gently fold in ¼ cup sprinkles. Divide batter evenly among prepared cupcakes liners (3 Tablespoons is a good measurement)
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cupcakes are completely cooled, cut a diagonal slit in the center of 6 cupcakes. Push 1 popsicle candy into eat slit. Decorate with frosting and sprinkle generously with the ½ cup of sprinkles.
Store cupcakes in the refrigerator.

Calories

253.85

Fat (grams)

12.24

Sat. Fat (grams)

5.99

Carbs (grams)

32.48

Fiber (grams)

0.51

Net carbs

31.96