Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake

When I think of Easter I think of chocolate and fresh berries.  This delicious cupcake combines the best of both worlds - raspberries and chocolate!  Who wouldn't want to find this delicious treat next to their Easter basket?  What a treat!  For this chocolaty spring delight you'll need...

• Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store bought Vanilla Icing 
• Store bought Chocolate Icing 
• 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup of Raspberry Jam
  
• Butter (room temperate...around 1 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional) 
• Garnish (optional): Fresh Raspberry

And on to the steps to create deliciousness...

Step 1: Follow the directions of your Chocolate Cake Mix - from preheating your oven through to adding the eggs, oil, water, etc.  Add 1/2 cup of Raspberry Jam.  Mix together the batter until smooth.  Spoon the batter into your cupcake liners and bake as directed on the package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 2:   For your icing you'll need to make two different batches  - a chocolate icing and a raspberry icing.  For the chocolate icing mix together the chocolate icing and around 1/2 cup of butter on high until smooth. As per usual, give your icing a taste and if it's too buttery for your liking, add in some icing sugar.

Step 4: Now on to your raspberry icing.  Mix together the vanilla icing, 1/3 cup of Raspberry Jam and around 1/2 cup of butter on high until smooth. To thicken it to the right consistency add in some icing sugar.

Step 5: You can ice these cupcakes a few different ways with the two icing flavours, but I chose to create a swirl effect.  To do this you'll need a piping bag and the tip of your choice.  Holding your icing bag sideways, put in your chocolate icing so that it only fills half of the side of the bag.  Then, carefully turn the bag over and full the other half of the bag with the raspberry icing.  When you squeeze out the icing it will swirl together  - FUN and YUM.  To top off your cupcakes you could use a fresh raspberry to top it off.

Happy Faking!

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake

So here it is, my recipe for the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake. I know, it's already a childhood classic, so why mess with a good thing? Well, I say why not make a good thing even better by cupcakeifying it. Yes, I just made up the word cupcakeifying, but some day it may be added to Wikipedia making it a legitimate word:) On a side note, this is my cupcake I entered in the Chatelaine contest, so please be sure to vote for it by clicking HERE. The contest closes February 28, 2011, so please vote for me.  I could win a new mixer!  And as a friend of mine said yesterday evening in her pitch for why you should vote for me, "If she wins a mixer, everyone wins" - thanks KM!  How true is that! So please vote.

Alright, now on to the recipe for my Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake.  Here's what you'll need:

• Marble Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• 1/2 cup of Jam (I used Raspberry Jam without the seeds)
• 1-8oz package of room temperature Cream Cheese (I usually use Light Cream Cheese, but it's up to you) 
• 3/4 cup of Icing Sugar
• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
• 1 tub of Cool Whip (I usually use light Cool Whip)
• 6 ounces of Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Step 1: Follow the direction of your marble cake mix including: 1) preheating your oven, 2) adding the eggs, oil, water, etc, 3) measuring 1 cup or so of the batter and pouring it into a separate bowl and 4) mixing in the cocoa package to the 1 cup of batter.  With all that out of the way, now it's time to add the jam!

Step 2: In the remaining vanilla batter add around 1/2 a cup of your favourite jam.  Just so that I've put it out there, I have never done this recipe with a chunky jam and have my doubts on how it would turn out, so consider yourself warned:)  Mix the jam in really well with a mixer.

Step 3: Spoon your jam flavoured cupcake batter into your cupcake pan liners, only filling them just over 1/2 way.  Then, spoon a tablespoon or so of the chocolate batter in the centre of the jam flavoured batter.  Place them in the oven and bake as directed on package.  As they bake, the chocolate batter will bake through to the middle of the cupcake.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely before icing.

Step 4: While your cupcakes are baking, why not make the yummy peanut butter cream cheese icing.  Cream together one package of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of icing sugar, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of Cool Whip until smooth.

Step 5: With the cream cheese icing out of the way, it's on to the chocolate glaze.  Melt together the 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and the last bit of the Cool Whip.  Let it cool while you wait for your cupcakes to cool completely.

Step 6: Once your cupcakes are cool, it's time to layer on the icing and glaze.  Use a piping bag with a large circular opening (I like to use tip #12) and build a nice little mound of icing on top of your cupcake.  You could just spoon it on because you'll be topping it with a chocolate glaze that will cover up your laziness. With the icing layered high, it's time for the chocolate glaze.  Place the warm chocolate glaze mixture in a piping bag or a Ziploc bag.  Cut the tip and drizzle as much as you want over the top of each cupcake. Finito!  

Happy Faking!

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