Cars; Tow Mater Cupcakes

image & recipe @spoonful.com

What you'll need

• 1 box cake mix
• 2 16 oz cans of milk chocolate frosting
• 16 oz can of vanilla frosting
• 6 cup large muffin baking pan
• 12 cup regular size cupcake baking pan
• 4.44 oz box of Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper Cookies (100 Calorie Right Bites)
• Ziploc bag
• 12 White M&M's candies (headlights)
• 12 Green M&M's candies (eyes)
• 6 Eclipse gum pieces (teeth)
• 6 inch cardboard cake boards
• Black edible ink pen
• Toothpicks

How to make it

1. Coat both pans with non-stick spray. Prepare cake batter and fill both pans about 2/3 full. Bake as directed on the package and let cool.
2. 
   Count out 60 cookies and set aside. Place the remaining cookies in a Ziploc bag and finely crush them with a rolling pin or glass.
3. 
   Set aside 12 green and 12 white M&M's. (Use yellow if you can't easily find the white ones.)
4. 
   For Mater's teeth, cut each piece of gum into two pieces so one piece is larger than the other.
5. 
   Cut the tops off of 6 of the cupcakes so you can place them upside down for the truck bed. Before turning upside down, frost the sides and bottom (now top) with milk chocolate frosting and sprinkle with cookie crumbs
6. 
   Place the cupcakes, cut side down toward the back of a 6-inch cake board. Place a dollop of frosting on the board to help the cupcakes stay in place.
7. 
   Frost the sides of the larger muffin-size cupcakes. Sprinkle some of the crushed cookie pieces on the sides and then place on the cake board right in front of the other cupcake. Frost the top and sprinkle with more cookie crumbs. Attach one cookie to the front of each muffin-size cupcake for the mouth.
8. For each tire, attach two cookies together using frosting and then attach two tires to the larger cupcake and two in back to the smaller cupcake.
9. 
   Place one more cookie on the top for the tire on Mater's hood. Attach the teeth to the cookie mouth with a small amount of frosting.
10. 
    For the top of the trucks, first frost about half of each of the remaining cupcakes with vanilla frosting. You can place these in the freezer for a few minutes for the frosting to harden and then it will be easier to frost over the vanilla edges with chocolate frosting to finish Mater's face. Frost the sides and top with chocolate and sprinkle with cookie crumbs.
11. 
    Attach two green M&M's in place for eyes and two white M&M's in place for headlights. Use a black edible ink pen to draw pupils on the eyes and when dry, you can use a toothpick to dot a small amount of vanilla frosting for extra detail. Heat it slightly in the microwave and it will be easier to dot on.

Cars; Lightning McQueen Cupcakes

image & recipe @spoonful.com

What you'll need

• Batch of frosted cupcakes
• White chocolate candy bar or bar of white baking chocolate
• Red cupcake icing
• Toothpick
• Mini chocolate chips
• Chocolate candies with brown shells (such as M&Ms
• Small chocolate candies with yellow shells (such as M&M Minis)

How to make it

1. 
   For the windshields, cut small rectangles (about 1- by 1.75-inches) from the white chocolate. Pipe a line of red icing trim along the side and top edges of each rectangle. Then use the tip of a toothpick to "drill" shallow holes where the eyes will go, and gently press mini chocolate chips (tips down) in place. Set the windshields aside until the icing hardens.
2. Working with one cupcake at a time, frost the top with red icing. Gently press a windshield partway down into the center of the cupcake. chocolate. Pipe a line of red icing trim along the side and top edges of each rectangle. Then use the tip of a toothpick to "drill" shallow holes where the eyes will go, and gently press mini chocolate chips (tips down) in place. Set the windshields aside until the icing hardens.
3. Press two sets of brown-shelled candies into the frosting on the sides of the cupcake for tires.
4. Add headlights by turning yellow-shelled candies on edge and pressing them into the frosting (a toothpick comes in handy for this). For a mouth, press a small curve of white chocolate into the frosting at the front of the cupcake.