Doesn't that look good?? Don't you want some yummy goodness? I made the best cupcakes for Grace and Greta to take to school for their birthday. Unfortunately, Greta came down with pink eye the next day and didn't get to share them with her friends but I'll make some for her to take next week. I'll need to find something that won't disappoint after sharing these with the class.
I made the cupcakes all by myself from scratch. The cake was chocolate and while it was good, chocolatey, and moist, it was just chocolate cake. The frosting, was the special yummy part. It was white chocolate raspberry cream cheese frosting and I could eat it by the spoonful. Grace's teacher said it was the best cupcake she had ever tasted! I took that as high praise since as a preschool teacher she probably samples a lot of cupcakes every year! And Grace said all the kids ate theirs and liked them too. So there Mom!!
You all should try them and let me know if they turn out as well as mine did. I found the recipe on the blog, My Baking Addiction and I have become addicted to her recipe reviews and pictures.
Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Cupcakes:
2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup oil
2 cups hot water
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Mix everything together and bake at 350 for about 20min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. It made 27 cupcakes for me.
Some notes: I mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately before combining them. It was kind of difficult to mix it because the water made a soupy mess. I'd pour the water straight onto the flour next time. Also, the batter is very thin but don't worry. It will be ok. And notice how everything is either in either 1-2 cups or teaspoons? I thought that was very nice and made it easy to remember. Also, do you see how black the cupcake is? It comes out very black and not typical chocolate brown but it still tastes great!
White Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter (soft)
1 8oz pkg cream cheese (soft)
6oz melted white chocolate
1/2 tsp vanilla
2tsp raspberry extract
4 1/2-5 cups powdered sugar
-Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or something similar. Don't boil the water, just make it hot enough to melt. Stir constantly or it will stick. Once it is melted, set aside.
- Mix cream cheese until it is smooth and then gradually add in white chocolate and mix until it is smooth and well blended.
- Beat in butter, vanilla, and raspberry extracts
- Beat in powdered sugar until it is smooth and it is the consistency you want. I used just under 5 cups.
- Add in any dyes you want and mix until you get the color you want. Grace and Greta wanted it really pink!
Notes- I added in more vanilla after mixing it up. I like vanilla and it seemed to need a little extra for my taste. My estimate is that I used about 3/4-1tsp pure vanilla (not vanillin) extract in mine instead of the 1/2tsp the recipe called for. I made the frosting ahead of time and stored it in the fridge. It was much too hard when I took it out and was still hard after sitting on the counter for an hour. I put it in ziplock bags and kneaded it until it was spreadable because I was in a hurry. I then cut the corner of the bags and squeezed it onto the cupcakes instead of spreading. I'm not very good at that! The frosting is very good but very sweet! If I did it again, I would put less frosting on each cupcake.
For Greta's cupcake day, I'm thinking of finding an angel food cupcake recipe and making this same frosting with strawberry extract instead of raspberry.
