Pina Colada Cupcakes with Pineapple Pudding Frosting; Valentines Day Mini Cupcakes, 02/10

There were two cupcake themes today. First of all it was Claudia's birthday, and her request was from one of my favorite cookbooks, but not one I ever expected to use for Cupcake Wednesday--Hungry Girl!!!! I kid you not, these books (and website) has changed my life. Healthy, low-cal options for "regular" food, like cupcakes, dips, ONION RINGS. But I digress. So the first cupcakes were pina colada, and the frosting is a mixture of pudding, cream cheese and pineapple that tastes divine (I could eat it by the spoonful). The great thing about these cupcakes is that--despite the few ingredients--they are SUPER moist. In fact, they are such a favorite I was threatened by my brother if I did not bring some home (so as to not repeat the Runts Cupcake incident--oops!). They will reappear--Courtney is changing her request to these. So seriously, BUY THIS BOOK because it ROCKS.
The second installment was inspired from Hello, Cupcake!, a valentines day theme (and as much as I despise this holiday--and no I'm not lonely--I thought they were cute) that looked easy enough. I made some mini cupcakes from last week's batter, and then just a chocolate cake batter mix to make little chocolate ones. Then some big marshmallows and lots of valentines candy transforms these cupcakes into a box of chocoloates!!! Special shout out to mom for saving the heart shaped box. And from far away, they actually kind of look like chocolates (to quote Cher from Clueless: "It's like a Monet...from far away it looks good...")!