Been awhile...

...since I posted a cupcake recipe.

For good reason though, right?  I mean, I get paid to promote health and wellness, and as nice as li'l cupcake may be, it's nothing but a sugar bomb.

But a very very cute sugar bomb.

This past weekend I co-hosted a bridal shower for a good friend.  I happen to love girly-girl stuff, as does this friend, and so pink was the theme.  I decided to go with raspberry cupcakes with champagne buttercream frosting.  No fiber or flaxseeds to be found here.

 Other items on the brunch menu included chicken wild rice salad (made with leftover cheater chicken from last week's posted recipe), fruit, pita chips with salsa, and an egg bake (not pictured).  The treat bags contained funfetti puppy chow.  Don't know what it is?  Google it.  You'll feel like you're the only person in the world who hasn't heard of it. 

So yeah, back to these cupcakes.  They're actually pretty easy to whip up.  You just have to buy 1 non-traditional ingredient: raspberry extract.  At first I thought I'd just puree some raspberries and use the juice to flavor the cupcake, but after reading online, I learned from others that this results in a very gray batter- not pretty at all.  Find some McCormick raspberry extract at a grocery store or online for best results.

Raspberry Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream
1 box white cake mix (plus ingredients that it calls for- oil, eggs, water)
3 teaspoons raspberry extract
Few drops red food coloring

2 sticks butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup champagne
Pinch of salt

1. Make cake mix according to package instructions.  After beating, stir in raspberry extract and food coloring.  Use your judgement on this- a few drops go a long way in terms of coloring, and we want nice pink, not crazy red.  Fill cupcake liners 2/3rds full and bake according to package instructions.  Let cool completely.

2. Beat butter until it's fluffy.  Beat in 1 cup of powdered sugar and pinch of salt.  Add champagne.  Beat in additional sugar until it's a pipe-able consistency.  I chilled mine for an additional 20 minutes to make sure it would "set" nicely on the cupcakes.

3. Using whatever reasonable size tip (mine was nothing fancy- you could even just snip the corner off a Ziploc bag and do nice fat thick frosting) at the bottom of a plastic bag, add frosting and start piping.  I kind of did a double pipe- starting at the center, working outwards, and then swirling back over back to the center for nice height.  I added a little edible glitter to mine too. 

4. Chill until ready to serve.  Add the raspberry on top right before serving (if the raspberry sits too long, the juice begins to bleed onto the frosting). 

Total calories?  Pffft.  They're for a good cause- the bride! 

Also, do you like my living/dining room remodel?  White trim...ahhh.