Lemon Bar Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 18 muffin cups with cupcake liners. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Stir in dry pudding mix until blended. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Cool completely. Using a small knife or cupcake corer, core cupcakes halfway through and make sure not to puncture through cupcake’s bottom. Discard centers. Fill each cupcake with a spoonful of lemon pie filling (you’ll only use about 1/2 cup filling). For frosting, in the bowl of stand mixer, cream together butter, vanilla and 1/3 cup remaining lemon pie filling until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until frosting is light and fluffy. You may not need all of the powdered sugar. If frosting becomes too thick, add a little more pie filling. Spoon frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a large open star tip. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes, and take care to cover lemon filling in center. Sprinkle with yellow sugar. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a day or in refrigerator for 3 days.