Thank you Betty Crocker!

I don’t typically use mixes when I bake, but there are a few exceptions (Betty Crocker fudge brownies are my favorite). But I was seriously lacking energy and needed to take a treat to a barbecue. So I ran to the store and grabbed a cake mix and some frosting ingredients. I can’t buy the can, I just can’t. I perused my cupboards and fridge, and decided I would make strawberry lemonade cupcakes. Delicious!

Here is what you do:

With a regular white cake mix, exchange the water for lemonade (I used Crystal Light). I added the zest and juice of one lemon since my sugar free drink doesn’t pack quite the punch that real lemonade does. Add the other ingredients and bake according to your specific directions. One tip: Use an ice cream scoop to portion the cupcakes.

When I make frosting, my standard go to is an American buttercream: butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, maybe a little milk. For the fresh strawberry buttercream, I finely chopped about six average sized strawberries to add in after beating the sugar and butter together, omitting the milk and vanilla.

Can I just tell you that I hate strawberry frosting or cake or ice cream, but this stuff was so good because it was so fresh. It’s the only way to go.

Here is the result:

Go buy a cake mix, and let me know what you come up with!

Sometimes you feel like a nut…

I decided I wanted make something special for my mom. She is a great gal and always deserves something sweet. Its odd that the title for this post is “sometimes you feel like a nut”, and I am making something for my mom. She is a little nutty, and I always laugh the hardest when I am with her. For a while now I have thought about making some Almond Joy cupcakes for her, as one of her favorite candy bars is the Almond Joy.

We made a plan to meet last Wednesday, and I was going to present her with her treat.  I baked the cupcakes, and shortly after got the sad call that she was sick. No more meeting, and still all of those cupcakes. I decided to finish them off, as a practice run. The Momma deserves the best anyway!

I used Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes recipe for coconut cupcakes, exchanging almond extract for the vanilla. I wanted to give a nice almond flavor. I also used a cream of coconut, since I had it on hand, and lessened the sugar.

For the frosting, I used Martha’s dark chocolate frosting, but added cream of coconut, and some extra powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit. I have to say, it was delicious. I love frosting.

I toasted some coconut and topped the cupcakes with some sliced almonds. They were really cute, and tasted pretty good too. I think next time I will do half coconut extract and half almond extract in the cupcakes, just because I LOVE coconut.

 

  

Next post, I will try to remember to include pictures along the way. I always forget that part!