A couple of weeks ago, my brother...who lives in Spokane, Washington, and is married to my lovely sister-in-law Mary...they got married in Las Vegas...asked me if I knew where to find a cupcake recipe using black raspberries. For his birthday, which was July 20, I decided to make him Black Raspberry cupcakes. But I couldn't find any black raspberries around the DC area.
I went to five grocery stores...no way...no black raspberries. humpf! So I modified and made up a recipe that could use raspberries, black raspberries, or black berries...which I could find.
However, (lucky me!...) I was able to find Black Raspberry Liqueur at the Montgomery County Liquor Store on Rockville Pike...and, I used that in the glaze for my recipe: Black Raspberry Lime Cupcakes with Black Raspberry Lime Glaze!
The flavor was great...summertime in a cupcake. You could use any kind of berry. I'll keep looking for black raspberries. If anyone lives near dc and finds some, let the Cupcake Queen know! We had these for dessert tonight and everyone wanted to take some home...Happy Birthday, Bro...I'll try to make some for you when we're in Vegas! If you live in Spokane and see Jim today...tell him happy belated birthday! He's a sweetie!
Layla and her new friend trying to figure out just who was going to get this cupcake. Lucky for Layla, she won out. Her friend...we don't know his name...got any ideas?... is such a nice boy...he gave up the cupcake for his girl friend!
Here's the recipe:
Black Raspberry Lime Cupcake with Black Raspberry Lime Glaze
Make 18 cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. Mexican vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup berries
1 tbsp lime zest
Prepare cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Beat butter until fluffly. Add sugar and beat until light and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, until well mixed.
Beat in vanilla and milk.
Sift flour and baking powder and stir into the batter until combined.
Fold in berries and lime zest.
Spoon batter into cupcake cups.
Bake for 18 minutes. Remove pans from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans and cool on a rack.
While waiting for cupcakes to cool, make the glaze.
Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp lime zest
4 tpsp lime juice
1/4 cup black raspberry liqueur (optional)
2 tbsp boiling water
Mix sugar, lime zest, lime juice, liqueur and boiling water in a smal sauce pan on medium heat. Bring to a simmer, and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and brush glaze on the cupcake tops. Add berries for decoration and brush glaze on them, too. Drink the glaze...just kidding!
Next winter, thinking about these cupcakes will take you right back to the nice summertime you had this year!
I hope you all have a berry nice week....Rock On!
CQ
It's a Berry Nice Cupcake for a Berry Nice Brother!
Battle of the Betty Crocker Cupcake Mixes!!
Yes, Virginia, there is a Betty Crocker CUPCAKE mix! I found these in Target...there were two flavors available: Devils Food and Yellow! I knew I just had to give this a try and see what they were like.
Each box makes 12 cupcakes....and they are a little smaller than I usually like. We had everyone over for dinner on Sunday night and decided to have a Battle of the Betty Crocker Cupcake Mixes. The difference between the cupcake mix and the cake mix is that there is only 1 egg called for in the cupcake mix...3 eggs in the cake mix. Less oil in cupcake mix and less water.
Would it be the Yellow Cupcake Mix?
Or, would it be the Devils Food Cupcake Mix?
Layla voted twice...for each cupcake...she loves the cupcakes...but the overall winner on Sunday night was....drum roll, please...DEVILS FOOD! The concensus was that the yellow was a little too dry...good thing there was lots of frosting on it. The chocolate one was moist and not too airy in texture. It's a winner!
Rock on!
CQ
Makin' Johnny Cupcakes: Triple Vanilla...That's Vanilla, Vanilla, Vanilla
Once again, it's the Oreos that pull me into this vanilla, vanilla, vanilla cupcake world....that the "Golden Oreo". Have you had one? OMG! I mean you really cannot eat one...just one. It just doesn't work that way! I heart Golden Oreos. And, Johnny's birthday gave me the perfect excuse to make what is sure to be the FAMOUS Johnny Cupcakes...after all, he was turning 31! Oh yeah, here's a link to one of my favorite online stores...since he doesn't have one in the DC area yet: Johnny Cupcakes. This Johnny doesn't make cupcakes to eat, but he designs the coolest t-shirts and jewelry. I have the small silver Johnny Cupcake logo on a chain around my neck right now.
Doesn't this close up of the cupcake make you want to sink your teeth right into that vanilla frosting...not to mention the Golden Vanilla crumbles on top. Yikes! Okay. I mentioned vanilla, vanilla, vanilla...I used vanilla paste in the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcake recipe (click here for the recipe)...then I used the golden oreos...I even mixed in chopped golen oreos in the batter...I just couldn't help myself!
Then I made Billy's Vanilla Vanilla Frosting (click here for the recipe).
The rest...as they say...is cupcake history...Johnny's cupakes!
Rock on!
CQ
My All American Cupcake: Red, White and Blue!
My Fourth of July cupcake is made from one batch of Billy's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes. I split the batter into thirds...and made one third strawberry, one third blueberry, and one third vanilla!
After I split the batter up, I pureed the strawberries and blueberries separately and then folded a cup of each to the separate thirds of the batter. I added a cup of mini-marshmallows to the vanilla third of the batter. After they were baked, and cooled, I divided each cupcake into three layers...then I mixed and matched them to make the layered finished cupcakes you see.
For the topping, I microwaved Marshmallow Fluff for 1 minute (I used some of it to put the layers together) and drizzled it on top of each cupcake. I decorated the cupcakes with strawberries, blueberries, mini-marshmallows and the chewey Legos (red and blue).
This is a very messy cupcake to eat...you'll probably need a knife and fork....but it's worth it!
Happy Fourth!
CQ
Yeah, Baby...They're Vanilla Baby Cupcakes!
These cupcakes are in honor of mommy-to-be Melissa and daddy-to-be Chris Brown...my neice and nephew-in-law, from New Market, New Hamphire. They came down this weekend and visited my mom and I went down to Prince Frederick to hang out with them. Melissa has three months to go and I just had to see them! We had such a ball. 
I brought cupcakes, because that's what I do! I found the babies at Michaels and I loaded the cupcakes up with frosting and used some chewey life savers as life preservers in the frosting. 
Now back to the visit: first we...Mom, Melissa, Chris and Jimmy (their best man who now lives in Fairfax, Va) went to dinner at a restaurant on Solomon's Island called Stoneys, which was awesome. They make the best Gold Margaritas! But, the fun part began when we hit Vera's White Sands Beach Club. Here's a story about the past of Vera's the way it used to be. Vera sold her place in 2006. This is a story in the Washington Post. We had a couple of drinks, danced a dance on the way out and headed home to my Mom's house. The first stop in the morning was to be in honor of Bob Evans. YES! What a weekend!
We hit Bob's around 8:45 a.m. Sunday morning. Here's what I ordered in Bob's honor: scrambled eggs, grits, bacon, two hotcakes with honey, a biscuit and a diet coke. I found out that my Mom goes there so often that the waiter didn't even have to ask her what she wanted. He called out her order (completely) before the words were out of her mouth. The picture above is my Mom, mommie-to-be Melissa, and Chris. We had the funniest discussion about the baby's name, which I firmly believe could be Vera Beverly Linda Sparky Brown!
These cupcakes were French Vanilla cakemix, Creamy vanilla Pillsbury Frosting and plastic babies from Michaels!
Enjoy and Rock On! And, if you see Melissa and Chris, say hi!
CQ
Ohh La La! Aunt Florence's Frozen Lemon Cupcakes
If you like lemon anything, I guarantee that you will LOVE these "frozen concoctions" to quote Jimmy Buffett! No baking involved in this one either....this recipe is sooooo easy. It involves only a few ingredients: sugar, lemon, whipping cream for the "cupcake." Butter, graham crackers, sugar and corn flakes for the bottom! 
I found the recipe in Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. She has lots of other fun ones, too, but this is by far the easiest, most elegant, and at the same time, phun cupcake. I made 12 and only this one was left to be photographed! I made six using silicone cupcake holders and another six using these chocolate "cups". Believe it or not, everyone wanted the regular ones...not the chocolate...well, obviously the chocolate ones got eaten in the end!
The glass that the cupcake is in with the initials EC belonged to my Nana's "gentlemen friend", "Chappy"...whose real name was Edmund Chapman. This glass reminds me of the fun times we had with both of them. I think he would have loved this photo!
And, then we have Layla...the LayLays....aka the Baby...the Queen...our Diva...Wiggles...gazing longingly at the Frozen Lemon Cupcake! What a sight! I wish I could have shared them with all of you.
Here's the recipe...the easiest cupcake I've ever made:
Aunt Florence's Frozen Lemon Cupcakes
Makes: About 12 cupcakes
Lemon Cream
1 cup sugar
Juice and finely grated rind of one lemon
2 cups whipping cream
"Crust"
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup crushed grahma crackers
1/2 cup crushed corn flakes
2 tablespoons sugar
Jellied lemon sliced or small berry for topping.
1. Making lemon cream: combine sugar and lemon juice and rind in a large bowl. Gradually beat in cream.
2. To make the bottom crust: melt butter in a pan over low heat and stir in crushed graham crackers, corn flakes, and sugar. Remove from heat.
3. Press down crust mixture into the bottom of a silicon cupcake holder or cupcake liner. I used the silicon holder because it was more rigid and removed it after the cupcakes were frozen. Freeze for at least 3 hours. Unmold and top with a jellied lemon slice or a small berry of some kind.
4. These will make you very happy! :)
Rock On!
CQ
A Birthday Cupcake for Steph: Inspired by "The Tale of One Cool Cookie"
This past Wednesday I found the most awesome salt-topped oatmeal cookie recipe that I just had to try. It was in the Washington Post Food Section and it's by Leigh Lambert. You know...I'm not really a cookie baker, but her article was so enticing that I couldn't stand it. That very morning...before work...if you can believe it...I whipped up the cookie batter and and let it sit in the fridge all day, baked those puppies that evening and took a few of them to work on Thursday...and the "testers" couldn't get enough! They agreed it was the B. E. S. T. oatmeal cookie they ever ate! I love the way Layla's blinking...she's so cute!
So, of course, I needed to bake more and figure out how to incorporate them into a cupcake. I decided that a dark chocolate one would be best because I added chocolate chips to this batch of the oatmeal cookies. Yum! And, this cupcake is dedicated to Stephanie Harvill for her birthday which is today! If you see her, say Happy Birthday! She lives in Pittsburgh. Steph: I promise I'll make you these cupcakes when you guys come to visit...yes, it's a bribe!
I used both chocolate and vanilla frosting...because some people like chocolate and some like vanilla! I had such a good time stuffing these puppies with frosting. One of them collapsed over night! Here it is...and it still tasted great! You might need a fork to eat these!
The cupcake is from a Duncan HInes cakemix with some chocolate chips thrown in. The frosting is Duncan's too. It's all too easy! But, the fun of this one is making the cookies. If you make this cupcake, remember that the cookies need to be in the fridge (recommended by Leigh) for at least an hour. Here's the link to the recipe: Salted Oatmeal Cookies. Believe me, you won't regret making them!
Rock On and enjoy yourself!
CQ
Yabba-Dabba Do! Nectarine Cupcakes with Hot Pink Frosting!
You would not believe the week the Cupcake Queen had LAST week! Work...work...work! So, last week there were no cupcakes. no cupcakes=bad :(....Here's the way it went: I was working no a video for the University of Maryland. Fun, yes...but very time-consuming. Monday was more work on the video. Tuesday we had a directors' retreat in Baltimore at a VERY FUN place called the "American Visionary Art Museum." Here's how cool it is: Have you heard of the Ace of Cakes? Well, Duff will be there on June 16th for an event they are having called: Home and Beast Feast! Here's the description: "A GALA EXTRAVAGANZA featuring Ace-of-Cakes Duff Goldman, Charm City's very own Homeboy and Food Network's #1 star! Yes, you can have your cake and eat it, too! Dress Country Chic & Comfortable. Beware of Roaming Cameras–you may be captured in an episode of "Ace of Cakes." Vittles by Charles Levine Caterers & Events. Country Music Dancing with a dash of Polka. Contact Katie: 410.244.1900 x238 or katie@avam.org."
Now that would be fun go to! Then, on Wednesday, I had signed up to go to a conference on campus called "The Disney Keys to Excellence". It was all day and was an awesome experience! If you ever get a chance to go to one of these...DO IT!
And, now we're (the royal we) back on a semi-regular schedule and we made cupcakes this weekend! All is right with the world! I had some nectarines and decided to use them in one of my yellow box cakemixes. So, I pureed a really ripe nectarine and added it to a cake mix, along with a box of vanilla instant pudding. 
I did the same thing with the frosting (I used Billy's Vanilla Vanilla frosting recipe) and also added some La Grande Passion liqueur (which Layla, above, just loved...just kidding.... These cupcakes were very moist. They were a big hit at the office today and quickly disappeared! That makes us very happy! But, the best thing is that the cupcakes were pretty much right out of the box! I just added a couple of ingredients and a got a really cool cupcake!
ROCK ON!
CQ
p.s. hope you like Fred!
