Cupcake Love

I have a confession....I'm addicted to cupcakes...and making cupcakes. Not necessarily the worst addiction to have, but not always friendly on the waistline. If my friends or family have a birthday, promotion, or celebration of any kind, they can be sure that cupcakes are what they are going to get from me. Not that they are complaining! I recently made some cupcakes that have turned out to be that absolute easiest and best cupcakes I've made so far, and it doesn't even involve making cupcakes from scratch. We're talking boxed cake mix here, folks! Well, with a slight twist. 




Ghirardelli Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

-One box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake mix
-1 1/3 Cup of water
-1/2 cup of Vegetable Oil
-3 eggs
-One teaspoon of raspberry extract
-Ghirardelli Dark and Raspberry Chocolate Squares

This part is pretty self explanatory ....just follow the mixing directions on the back of the box, but add the tsp of raspberry extract. If you want a less subtle taste of raspberry you can always substitute the water with Torani Raspberry Syrup. Now pour a small amount of batter into your cupcake liners, only about 1/4 of the way full. Place one piece of the Ghirardelli chocolate in each cup and then add more batter about 3/4ths of the way full.  Now bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened

1 tsp Vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)

2 tablespoons milk

One cup of chopped raspberries

In a large bowl cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add extracts and mix. Add Confectioner's sugar one cup at a time, at this point the frosting should appear dry. Add your 2 tbsps of milk and mix until light and fluffy. Now mix in your chopped raspberries until your frosting is a beautiful pink color.

And afterwards you should have a beautiful chocolate raspberry filled explosion of goodness....



And if you are anything like me then you're kitchen will look like this


Ha,Obviously I didn't take this on the day I made these Raspberry cupcakes, but rather when I was making my Margarita Cupcakes...but the kitchen basically looked the same after both...A tornado of powdered sugar and various dirty utensils.

Thanks for stopping by!