Summer might be officially over now, and with it, ice cream season (although, it’s always ice cream season in my household 😉 ), but these orange creamsicle cupcakes would be perfect anytime of year!

All it takes to make these fun cupcakes is: Betty Crocker Orange Sherbet cake mix*, cream soda (I prefer diet soda), and some vanilla pudding. *If you can’t find this cake mix, you could also use white or yellow cake mix and add orange soda to it for a similar taste.

Have you ever made cake mix with soda? It’s so easy and makes such a moist cake! All you do is mix one box of cake mix and one can (or the equivalent of 12 oz.) of soda together and that’s it; don’t add any eggs or water or oil or anything else! Then you can just follow the baking instructions on the box. the combinations of flavors are virtually endless!

While the cupcakes are still hot, poke a hole in the center and fill with vanilla pudding, just like you would a poke cake. The pudding will set up fast once you make it and it will be hard to get into the holes, so I used a plastic squeeze bottle that I have for icing (these) to fill the cupcakes, it worked perfectly.

Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, then you can frost them! I just used homemade vanilla buttercream that I made a little runny so it would drip over the cones, looking like melted ice cream. It was so fun and easy making these in ice cream cones, and my kids thought it as so fun. I just turned my over done

Although, don’t make the mistake I did and put the leftovers in the fridge. 

Duh. Ice cream cones and refrigerators don’t mix. Oops. 

You can also make this in the form of a traditional poke cake by baking the cake in a 9 x 13″ pan, poking with holes all over and filling with pudding, then topping the cake with whipped topping. Also, super delicious!