Red Velvet Cupcakes

Hi there! Long time no blog! I have many recipes to catch up on, but I thought I'd start with these. Brought these to work today and they were gobbled up fast. They are super easy too. Looks like you spent a lot more time than you actually did!

What you need:
1 pkg. (2-layer size) red velvet cake mix (and whatever the cake mix called for - mine called for 3 eggs, water, and vegetable oil)
1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) Jello Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups) - The reviews online suggest to HALF this amount of sugar...
1 cup thawed cool Whip Whipped Topping
1 square Baker's White Chocolate, shaved into curls (I was lazy and just used white chocolate chips)

What you need to do:
Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 24 cupcakes, blending dry pudding mix into batter before spooning into prepared muffin cups. I never ever let baked goods cook as long as it says to. The box for mine said to cook for 22 and I cooked for 19 and they turned out perfect. But every oven is different. The longer they cook, the drier they turn out. Anyway, after they cook, let them cool for about 15 minutes. Get a wooden spoon and poke a small hole in the center of each cupcake with the handle so you can fill it with icing.

Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Whisk in Cool Whip. Spoon 1-1/2 cups into small freezer-weight resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Cut small corner off bottom of bag. Insert tip of bag into hole you made with spoon in each cupcake to pipe about 1 Tbsp. frosting into center of each cupcake. Frost cupcakes with remaining frosting. Top with chocolate curls (or white chocolate chips). Keep refrigerated.

Ok I have a confession... I actually used store bought cream cheese icing. SHHHHH!!! FYI - if you go the lazy route like me, you'll definitely need two cans of icing, or even more. I ran out of icing (only bought one tub).