Copycat Kneaders La-de-da Cupcakes

I had this cupcake (a lemon raspberry cupcake) at Kneaders. I loved it so much, I decided to come up with my own version. They are better at Kneaders, but more pricey too (at least at the dozen level). So here you go if you would like a tasty treat to tantilize and impress your friends and family. (If you want to know how they were originally conceived, go to: http://scottandkersten.blogspot.com/ and read how the pastry chef herself created this fabulous cupcake!)

Ingredients:
1 French Vanilla or White cupcake mix
1 Tube of Raspberry Filling from Harmon's Bakery*
1 pkg. Guittard white chocolate chips
(Guittard is the BEST for melting)
1 pkg. vanilla candy coating
1 16oz container Duncan Hines Whipped Frosting
Cream Cheese Flavor
1 8 oz Extra Creamy whipped topping
Raspberries (optional)
Raspberry flavoring (optional)
Lemon flavoring (optional)

Directions:
Make cupcakes as directed on the package. When they are cooled, remove cupcake wrappers. (I tried when they were still hot and it failed miserably.) With the big end of a chopstick or something similar, poke a hole on the top of the center of each cupcake. Try not to go all the way through and slightly move the stick around to hold enough filling. Pipe filling into each cupcake hole using a frosting bag or piping instrument (I call them thingies because I don't know the proper name, but don't tell anyone.) In a glass bowl, add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and two sections of candy coating (chopped). Heat at 12 second intervals in the microwave, stirring between each interval to avoid burning. It shouldn't take more than 30-40 seconds; it melts FAST. (You will need to melt more chocolate, but it's best to do this in small batches because the chocolate hardens quickly.) Dip each cupcake into melted chocolate and turn upside down on cookie sheet to cool. Repeat until desired number of cupcakes are made. When they have cooled (about 20 minutes) turn over again and place in a new cupcake wrapper.

Now for the frills and thrills: Place half of the frosting in a bowl. If desired, add 1 tsp raspberry flavoring OR 1/2 tsp. raspberry flavoring and 1/2 tsp. lemon flavoring, into the frosting and mix in. Then you can add 7 or 8 drops of red food coloring and 5 drops blue food coloring (more or less) into the frosting for brilliant color. Now mix in half of the whipped topping and stir until well blended. Place in decorating bag and top each cupcake in a creative fun way. Then top with raspberry for a truly la-de-da extravaganza!

*The raspberry filling comes in a large plastic tube. I only used 1/3 of a bag on 48 cupcakes. It costs $8. You could go in on one bag with several ladies or store the rest for later use. Any nice grocery store bakery should carry this for their doughnuts and should sell it to you if you ask.

Number Of Servings:24 cupcakes