Yoga, Cupcakes and Facials Party

We had a party at my friend, Sandy Mmmm's place. First was yoga, then there was cupcakes and facials. And oh yeah, there was wine throughout. I made my Banoffee cuppies, my white chocolate poundcake cuppies with vanilla buttercream, Blackberry Pie cuppies and chocolate with strawberry frosting. I, as usual, made way too many and had to bring the leftovers to the Emergency Room I work at.....I don't think they minded.

The chocolate cuppies were my best Devils Food cuppies, listed previously in my posts and the strawberry icing was from http://www.fieldsofcake.blogspot.com/, although I did modify the strawberry icing somewhat, here's what I did:

Strawberry Frosting

from Fields of Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)

1 stick salted butter (room temp)

1/2 box of 3 0z. white chocolate pudding

1/2 cup strawberry puree (see below)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup macerated strawberries

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Beat the butters and pudding for approx 8 minutes, turn to low and add puree and cream until incorporated, turn up mixer and beat another 3 -4 minutes, add sugar and incorporate on low, and then beat another couple of minutes. Fold in strawberry chunks (it takes a little bit of folding to actually get these incorporated and have your frosting settle down).

Macerated Strawberries

(As I did it, see Fields of Cake for the original version)

1 pound strawberries, cleaned, hulled and diced

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (or more)

2 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp sea salt

stir and refrigerate for several hours.

for the strawberry puree, just take some of the above and blend in a food processor.

I used some of the leftover Macerated strawberries to spoon over the top of my cupcake when I was done icing it.

Now, for my Blackberry Pie Cuppies (I loved these)

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

8 oz carton of sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups sifted AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add sugars and cream again until light and fluffy (scraping bowl as needed) 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, scraping bowl as needed, beating well between each addition. Stir in oil, vanilla and lemon and mix until well incorporated. Mix in sour cream until incorporated.

Mix dry ingredients together and stir into wet mixture until incorporated, making sure not to overmix.

Blackberry filling

1 can Oregon Blackberries, drained

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp lemon juice

mix together.

Fill cupcakes 2/3 full, add 1 heaping Tbsp of blackberry mixture to middle of cuppie. Bake at 35o for approx 20 - 25 minutes.

Lemon Brown Sugar buttercream

2 sticks softened butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

5 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add brown sugar and beat well, until sugar is incorporated (2 - 3 minutes), add half of powdered sugar and vanilla, cream until well blended, add the rest of the sugar and lemon juice and beat again until well incorporated. If you find you need more liquid you can add cream or whole milk (1 Tbsp at a time).

Blackberry Syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

zest of one lemon

Heat in sauce pan and bring to boil, reduce heat to med low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occassionally until sugar is dissolved. At this point, I added 2 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with a little water and drizzled it into syrup and continued to stir until syrup was thickened. I think I could have let the sugar mixture reduce, but I ran out of patience. (ha ha)

Blackberry garnish.

wash the blackberry, brush it with some alcohol (I used Bacardi Limon, but I suppose you could just use lemon juice) and sprinkle some fine sugar on it.

Frost cupcake, drizzle sauce and top with a drunken blackberry and Whalah, you have a blackberry pie cuppie.