Cupcakealicious!

So today I'm co-hosting a baby shower for one of my girls! I'm so excited....the theme is vintage tea party! Of course there will be photos of all the decor later, but for now, I just had to share about cupcakes.

I like to think I'm a pretty darn good cook. I can create all kinds of goodness. But baking, well baking is a completely different beast. It's my inner desire to be a marvelous baker, but it makes me nervous.

I was going to buy cupcakes for this little event. However, in our town, there's not any spectacular places and I didn't want to go with Publix. So I decided I'd handle this myself!

I wasn't ready to do everything from scratch, so I did box mix cupcakes and frosting from scratch.

The flavors I went with: Strawberry filled vanilla cupcakes with fresh strawberry frosting and moist fudge cake with mint frosting filling with a milk chocolate frosting

So I made a disaster in my kitchen, which for me, was to be expected! I filled the strawberry cupcakes with Smuckers Simply Fruit strawberry spread. It's delicious. I put the fillings in both after the cupcakes baked and cooled.

I'm not totally smitten with the chocolate buttercream frosting that I made. I'll probably try to find a different recipe next time I do this.

However......the strawberry frosting was by far the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!

I'm not even joking.

So good that I just have to share it with you, so take a look at these few pics and then write down the recipe that follows them. You don't want to miss this!

World's most delicious strawberry frosting ever:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries, rinsed and chopped

4 large egg whites

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions:

Place strawberries in a blender or food processor. Puree until completely smooth. Set aside.

Combine the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F and the sugar has dissolved (this may take a while, so don't give up). Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes (the bowl should be cool to the touch). 

Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. If the mixture looks clumpy, soupy or curdled, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again. Blend in strawberry puree. This will make the mixture curdle, so just beat on high for a few minutes and it will come together. Stop and scrape sides of bowl as needed. I promise...it will come together! Then frost your cooled cupcakes. I just put mine in a baggie and cut the corner off for a make-shift pastry bag. Simply delicious!