Graduation Cap Cupcakes

photo by:kraft

Cue "Pomp and Circumstance." Orange-flavored cake topped with a chocolate graham mortarboard and a fruit-snack tassel earns you a degree in cuteness.

time

prep:

30 min

total:

1 hr 25 min

servings

total:

24 servings

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What You Need

pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix

env. KOOL-AID Orange Flavor Unsweetened Drink Mix

2/3

cup (1/2 of 7-oz. tub) BAKER'S Dark Semi-Sweet Dipping Chocolate, melted

HONEY MAID Honey Grahams, broken crosswise in half (24 squares)

cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

chewy fruit snack rolls, any color

jelly beans

Make It

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE cake batter as directed on package. Blend in drink mix; spoon into 24 lined muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean; cool completely. Meanwhile, spread 1 tsp. melted chocolate onto each graham square to completely cover top; place on baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm.

REMOVE liners from cupcakes; place cupcakes upside-down on plate. Use wooden spoon handle to poke deep hole in center of each cupcake. Spoon COOL WHIP into resealable plastic bag. Snip one corner from bottom of bag; pipe COOL WHIP into holes and onto tops of cupcakes, reserving small amount of COOL WHIP for later use. Top cupcakes with grahams, chocolate-sides up, to resemble graduation caps.

USE fruit rolls to make tassels for caps. (See Tip.) Add 1 tassel and jelly bean to top of each graham square, securing each with dab of remaining COOL WHIP. Keep refrigerated.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Variation

For a black-and-white graduation, spread half of grahams with additional COOL WHIP instead of the melted chocolate. Line up different-colored caps in alternating rows.

How to Make Tassels

Cut fruit snack rolls into 24 pieces. Cut 3/4-inch slits at one short end of each piece to resemble fringe. Tightly roll up lengthwise to make tassel.

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DeeCroft

posted:9/2/2007

Very good, but time-consuming.

baby chevelle

posted:8/10/2007

Made these when I first saw them in Kraft"s publication. They were a huge hit! Am now making them again for my son's College Grad. Party. I bought the already coated choc. graham crackers. Used Jelley bellys in the appropriate color, and bought already made tassels from the sewing section of the store. How easy was that? For the males I left everything in the dark color and only the tassels and jelly bean in school color, and for the females I used ready made white frosting to make the grahams white and then used the school colors again only on the tassel and jelly bean. They were very very simple this way and looked fab! I am making them tomorrow for a friend's grad party and then again next week for my own son. Simple and showstopper! Thanx Kraft!

Hummel97

posted:7/12/2007

I omitted the kool aid from the cake mix. Placed 6 semi-sweet choc. bits on each graham cracker square, placed 6 at a time in the microwave and nuked for 1 min. Spread chocolate, wrapped in wax paper and refrigerated until following day when I made cupcakes. Used regular white frosting on top of cupcakes before placing crackers on top and used mini marshmallows cut in half with a dot of frosting on bottom to hold tassels. These were a big hit at the graduation party for the kids. I made a larger version for the adults using my favorite scratch cake recipe. We had 50 at this party so I just made 24 of the cupcakes. They are a little time consuming but worth the effort.

qutsie88

posted:6/28/2007

i made this cake for my sisters graduation and quite frankly it wasnt too impressive. the kool aid mix tasted bad in the cupcakes and there was nothing exceptional about them. i should have gone with a cake

a cook

posted:5/28/2007

I am a high school junior and I made these for all of "MY" Seniors right before graduation this year. I used the already dipped graham crackers and icing like sugested. For the tassles I used Twislers like some, but ended up using my own method were I cut the strands almost completely in half. I also personalized each cap by putting their initials on the grahams with a fondant icing writter.The caps ended up being a bit time consuming, as expected for a picky person like myself, but seeing the looks of gratitude on their faces made it all worth while. If you really want to show your love for the graduates, then you should make these.

emilyam123

posted:5/21/2007

I made this recipe for my graduation party. I made them the night before to took the advice from others and used twizzlers pull & peel and chocolate covered ghram crackers. Everyone loved them!! The only probelm I had was I made them the night before the party and in the morning some of the tassels had broken off...not where I made the tassels but where the tassel hung over the cracker ( at the bend). I'm not too sure what happend but on the ones that did stay looked great! I would make this again.

t0rl

posted:5/19/2007

Mine didn't turn out as cute as the picture. The tassles were really hard. I used white chocolate and dyed the cupcakes green so they were my school colors. Everyone loved them and thought they were great.

kat7311

posted:5/17/2007

these were a big hit at my party

a cook

posted:5/12/2007

The tassels were hard to make because the fruit roll ups were too sticky. I dusted them with a little flour before cuttting them and they worked much better.

a cook

posted:5/11/2007

easy and fun