Blueberry and Raspberry Buttercream Birthday Cupcakes!

I know, I know, it has been months since I have written a blog...but I am back and have lots of catching up to do! I had to start with my Blueberry and Raspberry Buttercream cupcakes that I made for my friend Heather's birthday party back in June. If you recall, I make have made her a birthday cake the last two years...member these...both yum in the tum!!

Well this year she was having a little get together, so I only found it fitting to make LOTS of cupcakes. When I say lots, I think there were about 60!! (mini and regular). Heather loves fruit and loved the raspberry last year, so this year I decided to make both vanilla and lemon cupcakes (box mix- Pillsbury due to the quantity) but made fresh blueberry and raspberry buttercream icing.

I mixed and matched putting some raspberry on the lemon and some on the vanilla cupcakes and vice versa with the blueberry buttercream. I will say this, be sure to have an icing tip large enough for the blueberry skins to fit through. I had never added blueberries to my buttercream before and the tip kept getting jammed up, but I pryed it open a little and it was perfect. I would think maybe chopping the blueberries in a mini chopper could help. The raspberries went through just fine. Also, in the raspberry butter cream I did add a little raspberry extract. I have to say the blueberry did not have a ton of fruit flavor, so something to think about if I do it again (not sure if there is even blueberry extract out there) However, the buttercream was so tasty, especially with the lemon cupcakes, that it really did not matter!
Overall they were a great success, only a few left as I was leaving the party, so I was happy as was the birthday girl and that is what really matters right!?!

Basic Buttercream Recipe- courtesy of Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ( 1 teaspoon of raspberry extract for the raspberry butter cream)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• I added about one carton of blueberries and one of raspberries to each batch of icing I made

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Enjoy-

Lemon Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Buttercream

The month of October is very busy for me for some reason, guess it could be the number of birthdays to celebrate?!?!!...but who knows;) Either way, it gives me a reason to bake! This past week, two of my very close friends celebrated their birthday and for a special surprise I made lemon cupcakes with fresh raspberry butter cream. They were super tasty! I have to say I wanted to really go all out and make a blueberry butter cream as well, but after a lot of searching, I just was not seeing what I liked, not to make with fresh blueberries anyway...I will try those another time, as I really do think they will be fabulous.
Since I did not have much time I used the Lemon Supreme Mix from I think either Betty Crocker or Pillsbury, not 100%?? To be honest, I have yet to make a homemade cupcake from scratch, I guess the timing is a factor...I feel like I would need to make sure they are perfect before serving..it is on my list though, for sure! And really you can't beat the box, it is always good, right!?!
Anyway, my frosting of course was homemade as when it comes to that, I am not sure I would buy pre-made ever again. It is just too easy to make your own!
For this recipe, I used the basic butter cream of:
-About 2 to 2.5 cups of powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
-Two sticks of unsalted butter
-About a teaspoon of vanilla
-Typically I add in a teaspoon of whipping cream, but I was out.
-And finally I would say about 15-20 fresh raspberries. Again, that depends on how bright and colorful you want the frosting to be!
So overall this was super easy for something so delish! Happy Birthday Claire and Karen! Love you Guys, hope you enjoyed!

Cupcrazed Cupcakes in Baxter Village- Fort Mill, SC

So a about a month ago I went to dinner with my friend Johnny and his friends from Buffalo Debbie and Sean. Debbie and I got to talking and I had mentioned my blog and she told me how she had been working with her sister in law at her...can you believe it "Cupcake Bakery". I was so excited to hear all about it and have even offered to intern for free to learn everything there is to know! Since then, I have been dying to check it out and tonight, my very very good friend Erin from college and I were getting together in Fort Mill for drinks, as her brother lives in York, SC. So this was my chance to check out the bakery!!!! Of course we had to start of with some cocktails, but my eye was on the time as I knew Cupcrazed closed at 8pm.....needless to say, we walked through the door at 5 til 8 and Debbie was still there, YAY!!! If you have not been, it is super cute!!!! But most importantly, the cupcakes ROCK!!!!!!

We ended up getting 6 but I got 4 and Erin took two as that is totally fair, right?!?! I mean how delish. Now we got there late and these were all that was left, but let me tell you after tasting them, that is right, I took a bite of each...I can't imagine what the "good ones" could be!!! These are DELISH!!!

Honestly, how can you top a fresh fried donut on TOP of a cupcake, I mean really...genius!!! Talk about low fat right;)

Each and everyone was so yummy, but if I had to pick, I would go with the donut topped cinnamon cupcake first, then the staple chocolate frosting, vanilla second, but all 4 were so good and I can't wait to see what Erin thought of hers...she got Red Velvet and Carrot cake, two of my all time favs. So if you have not been yet, you MUST check this place out! Super cute, super delish, a MUST See and taste!!! Enjoy!

Kristen's Wedding Shower Cupcakes!

This past Saturday was my very good friend, Kristen's wedding shower. I met Kristen when I first moved to Charlotte about ten years ago. She has been a wonderful friend and so glad to have her in my life. I was thrilled when she got engaged and immediately wanted to be in charge of the desserts for the shower! Kristen is a total sweets person, as am I and her favorites are carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and white cake with chocolate frosting! I was very excited to make something special for her special day! Not that long ago I had made her a birthday cake with Chocolate Frosting and I must say it is one of the best recipes I have found thus far and super easy!

Chocolate Frosting Recipe- Tasty Kitchen- Pioneer Woman
2 and a half cups of powdered sugar- I only used 2 cups
2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder- I used DARK cocoa powder
1/2 stick of butter, softened
2 tablespoons of milk- I used fat free
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 pinch of salt- I did not do this.
This recipe had to be doubled to pipe 12 cupcakes and ice one 9inch round- I also added in about a teaspoon of whipping cream to make it fluffy.
Mix the sugar and cocoa, add in the butter, then the milk and vanilla until combined.

For the carrot cupcakes, I did a cream cheese frosting from the Food Network Site. I had used this recipe before, but this time doubled the amount of cream cheese and it was fantastic!

Cream Cheese Recipe- Food Network

Ingredients

• 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract

I realized I did not really take any shots of the carrot cupcakes other than the shot on the dessert table, but they were really delish! I must admit, my table was only a fraction of the food that was there! Kristen's sister and mom made so much food, it was like being in food heaven;)

So overall it was a great day! Kristen got lots of good gifts, we stuffed our faces and celebrated her engagement! You could not have asked for a better afternoon:)
Oh and on a side note, I also made the little lollipop sticks in the cupcakes! They were super cute and held on the stick with stickers saying "LOVE" or with her new initial to be "S". They added just the right amount of fun to the table!

PRP Wine Night with Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

Several months ago, I came across a great deal on Living Social for PRP Wine to come out and do an in home wine tasting for you and 10 friends. Being that all my girl friends love to drink wine and get together, catch up and eat yummy food, I had to purchase it! About a week or so ago, we finally set it up! There were about 10 of us and we decided to have it at my friend Claire's house since she has a great little screened in porch and a pool in her backyard, figured why not make the most of the night! Everyone either brought an extra bottle of wine(as we had to order anything we liked from the vendor to be delivered) and then a few others brought some apps. Of course I was all over making dessert and since this was in the middle of the heat wave here in Charlotte, I wanted to do something light.....Lemon Butter Cream Icing a top raspberry swirled cupcakes! DELISH!

I recently came across this raspberry flavored gel that looked quite interesting, so I figured why not. I made the batter and then in a small bowl added in half of it so that I could add in the gel. It actually was very flavorful for a gel.

Once I added in the the raspberry frosting I swirled it around with a toothpick.

I must say, they came out really tasty for something I was really not sure about. I would use it again, in fact I bought it in mint flavor as well and plan to try that in brownies! I used the same Lemon Butter Cream Frosting recipe that I had for my friend Heather's Birthday cake and it came out excellent, again;)!

So over all the night was awesome, our wine host was great, the wines we tasted rocked and all the food was delish. It was a great girls night and I would recommend checking out the PRP site if you think it might be something you and your friends would enjoy- well worth it! I am actually anxiously awaiting the wine I ordered and can't wait to have a glass!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting...another birthday!

This past week was my friend Kate's birthday! Once a month myself, Kate and other co-worker Xuan head to a sushi buffet to catch up and stuff our faces! Being that this was a pretty big b-day for Kate! The big 3-0, we had to do something a little extra special! So she came over early yesterday morning to help me make her cupcakes...I had yet to make Chocolate Frosting and it is one of her fav's so the timing was perfect. I found the recipe on http://www.pioneerwoman.com/ I did add in a little cream cheese as well and they were quite tasty! We brought them to the restaurant and they put them on a plate with a huge piece of fried ice cream in the middle- oink oink! See the pics and recipe below. Enjoy-

Stacee's Birthday Dinner and Red Velvet Cupcakes!

This past Thursday two of my fav work buddies and I went to Nolen Kitchen in Charlotte over off Selwyn. For those who have never been, it is really good! They have a great outdoor patio but it fills up pretty early and on Tuesdays it is 1/2 apps til 6ish and 1/2 bottles of wine all night, so needless to say, that is typically the night I like to go there-- love a good bargain! ;)
Anyway, this time we went to catch up with each other and come to find out, the next day was Stacee's birthday!!!! Wooo Hooo, Happy Birthday girl! We had a great night and of course I now had an excuse to make something yummy! I did not have a lot of time beforehand so I did use the Betty Crocker Red Velvet cake mix (which by the way is super delish) but I had to make my own cream cheese frosting. I got the recipe for that off Foodnetwork.com It is so easy to make. Check out the tray below. The others pics were a little too big to post, but overall good night, good friends, really good dessert;) -Enjoy