French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Cereal Topping

In honor of my love for breakfast and baked goods, I decided to create these fun little cupcakes. Another reason for baking was to hope to woo my classmates and professor over during a presentation in hope of receiving an A. I had a presentation where the assignment was to present an informative speech. I decided to speak about manners, since they were ever so engrained in me by my southern-belle mama. Throughout my speech I obviously had to discuss my sleep-talking experience of screaming how I hate my grandmother after she yelled at my to place a napkin on my lap or how my great-grandmother (who am I named for) was always dressed in pearls and white gloves, but still slept with a case of whiskey and a shotgun under her bed. Besides making hopefully harmless pokes and jokes about my family, I wanted to have my point of having good manners means presenting yourself in a respectable way come across. Although I think I might have done the opposite for I tripped multiple times during my presentation. I might have a lack of grace but at least I can make a cupcake!

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 yellow boxed cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup of flour
1/3 cup of oil
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

For Frosting:
2 sticks of vegetable shortening (or butter, or half and half)
4 cups of powdered sugar
6-8 tablespoons of milk
1/3 cup of maple syrup
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Topping:
Capt'n Crunch Cereal

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl combine all of the cupcake ingredients until the batter is no longer lumpy.

Scoop the batter into a cupcake lined cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the cupcakes. Once the cupcakes are finished cooking, allow them to completely cool on a wire rack.

To make the frosting cream the shortening and powdered sugar in a mixer. Add in slowly each cup of powdered sugar to keep it from flying out of the bowl. Then add in the milk, vanilla, and maple syrup. Mix until a desired consistency is reached.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them with the maple frosting. You can either spread the frosting using a spreading knife or create a frosting bag by using a plastic bag and cutting the edge. After frosting the cupcakes, crush up some Capt'n Crunch cereal. Sprinkle the cereal over the frosted cupcakes and top them off with a few pieces of whole cereal.

Enjoy your breakfast inspired treat!