Fresh Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

Yum Yum Yum!  That's how will I sum up the taste of these cupcakes!  I found some raspberry extract while shopping, which, I'll be honest, I never even knew existed, and wanted to use it in a recipe immediately.  I bought some fresh raspberries and looked up a vanilla cupcake recipe on Martha Stewart and went to work.

Scratch Raspberry Vanilla Cupcakes

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons raspberry extract

1 1/4 cups milk

1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with liners; set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time,  mixing until incorporated.  Scrape down sides of bowl and mix in vanilla.

Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Scrape down sides of bowl.  Add whole raspberries to batter and use mixer to incorporate.  The berries will break up into pieces but will not alter the color of the batter.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about 2/3 full.  

Bake until cake springs back, approximately 18-20 minutes.  After removing pan from over place on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on rack.

Oh, did my house smell SOOO good while these were baking!  I was anxious to get the cupcakes frosted so I could try one.  I knew I wanted to use buttercream icing, but wasn't sure if I wanted to make it raspberry flavored.  I figured why not, the worst that could happen was an overdose of raspberry, and I was okay with that!

Raspberry Vanilla Buttercream Icing

2 sticks of butter (I did use salted)

4 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon raspberry extract

1/2 cup of fresh raspberries

3-5 tablespoons half and half

Using a mixer, beat butter until it is fluffy.  Add 3 cups of sugar - one cup at a time - mixing until it's completely incorporated.  Add vanilla, raspberry extract, fresh raspberries (rinsed and dried THOROUGHLY) and half and half along with the last cup of sugar and mix together, adding more half and half until the icing is the desired consistency.

This icing is absolute heaven!  I mean, really.  I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The fresh berries turned the buttercream into the lovliest shade of pink.  They elevated the taste to perfection.  I could not wait to eat one, so I used a piping bag to frost each cupcake.

Delicious.  I might like these better than the Bellini cupcakes.  It's hard for me to make that call!  The cupcake itself was a bit too dense for me, so I think I'm going to try a new vanilla cupcake recipe, but the flecks of fruit throughout were SO good!

If you love or even just like raspberries, I urge you give these a try!

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Something Swanky's Sweet Treats Thursday

Rainbow Revue - Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies

When I started this blog 5 months ago one of the first things I attempted was rainbow cupcakes.  I had issues with the icing method I experimented with.  I painted stripes of color on the inside of a pastry bag and then filled it with white icing.  

What I hoped would happen was a colorful blend of icing when I piped the buttercream.  Instead, I had  spots of color running through mostly white icing.  I was not happy and have been wanting to try again.

So, my friend Amy joined me to give it another go.  To make it a bit different and more fun we mixed in neon colored gel dye, rather than the usual red, orange, yellow, etc.  Also, we used four colors instead of six.  This made it easier to prevent overfilling the cupcake liners.  We used the same method for the cupcakes as my original Rainbow Cupcake post, which you can find here.  

There was enough batter to make about three more cupcakes, but Amy had the idea to make Whoopie Pies with the extra.  We used a Whoopie Pie baking pan and she filled each cavity with several colors instead of just one.  They were adorable!

While the baked cakes were cooling, I mixed up a batch of vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

2 sticks of butter

4 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3-5 tablespoons half and half

Using a mixer, beat butter until it is fluffy.  Add 3 cups of sugar - one cup at a time - mixing until it's completely incorporated.  Add vanilla and half and half along with last cup of sugar and mix, adding more half and half until the icing is the desired consistency.

We decided to use the same four colors of the cupcakes for the icing.  I split the buttercream into four bowls and Amy added the gel dye.  When she was done mixing, I spooned a small amount of each color, one on top of the other, into a pastry bag.  The result was much closer to what I had in mind color-wise.  The colors did mix together in the bag creating some new shades, but I loved the finished cupcake!

After the cupcakes were frosted, we put a ring of icing on the base of a Whoopie Pie and capped it off.  We loved them, too!

I read about a THIRD method of making color swirl icing, which I'll try at another time.  In the meantime, I am really taken by these neon cakes.  They make me smile, and, hopefully, they'll do the same for you, too!

I have shared this recipe on: Things that make you say Mmmmm...Monday Linky
Sunday Scoop Linky Party
Not Your Ordinary Recipe's Foodie Friday

Peanut Butter Cup/Chocolate Cupcakes: The Flavor of These "Turn It Up to 11"

Today is 11/11/11 so in honor of Nigel Tufnel I wanted to make a cupcake that turns decadence up to 11!  Anyone who has seen "This Is Spinal Tap" will know what I'm referring to.  And if you haven't seen it, you must!  I don't think I stopped laughing the entire movie.  It's an absolute must-see classic!!  But, back to the cupcakes.  These are chocolate cupcakes with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup on the bottom, with chocolate buttercream icing sprinkled with Reese's Pieces.

I began by making chocolate cake batter.  Next, I unwrapped the peanut butter cups and placed them in the bottom of each cupcakes liner.  Just for fun, I added some Reese's Pieces to three of the cupcakes (without placing a peanut butter cup on the bottom).

After filling each liner with batter I baked the cupcakes as directed.  As they baked, I started the buttercream icing.  I used a recipe by Williams-Sonoma.  It's fantastic and pretty easy.

Quick Chocolate Buttercream Icing

from Williams Sonoma

8 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

6 cups confectioners sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter

6 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt


Have all of the ingredients at room temperature. 

Put the chocolate in the top pan of a double boiler set over but not touching simmering water in the bottom of the pan.  Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  

Let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter,  milk, vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Increases the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then reduce the speed to low.  Add the chocolate and beat until combined, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute more.

If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until it is creamy but still holds peaks.  Makes about 4 1/2 cups.

Since I was only making 12 cupcakes, I cut all of the ingredient measurements in half to make half the frosting.  It was the perfect amount.  I used a piping bag and large tip to ice the cupcakes.

To garnish the icing, I sprinkled some Reese's Pieces on the top.  It is also nice that they are colored in fall hues, so this is a great time of year to make these!  Here's what they look like cut in half:

How delicious does that peanut butter cup look?!  They say that beauty is on the inside, and there is nothing more beautiful than the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter, as evidenced by looking inside these cupcakes!

As far as the cupcakes that had Reese's Pieces mixed into the batter, well, that didn't go too well.  The Pieces all sunk to the bottom and stuck to the liner.  I don't know how to correct that issue, but maybe there's a clever solution out there.  Anyway, if you like peanut butter and chocolate together (and who doesn't) these chocolate and Reese's cupcakes are the ones for you.

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