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!

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!