April 4, 2010

Easter Sunday.  I enjoyed putting together an easter basket for Paul.  I'm not sure what was so satisfying about it, but it was just fun. 

Paul went to Japantown in San Jose and got me one of my favorite treats - strawberry pocky sticks.

Also, I made cupcakes - Fresh Strawberry and Chocolate Fudge with Sweet Tooth Fairy Frosting - then we took them around to neighbors and to easter dinner. 

Here are the recipes.  Try the strawberry - they never fail to impress.  Only be careful not to add too many strawberries to your frosting or it will be really runny.  If I am taking the time to make homemade frosting, I usually like to put it in a plastic bag, snip off the end, and pipe it onto the cupcakes.  The chocolate cupcakes were just a Duncan Hines mix.

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups cake flour* (I never have cake flour on hand, but you can make your own by mixing 1/4 cup cornstarch with 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour to get the 2 1/2 cups flour you need for this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (or a little less)
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup chopped strawberries

Fresh Strawberry Frosting

1/4 cup strawberries
1/2 tsp lemon juice
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1/2 stick butter, room temp
3 cups powdered sugar (or more - I haven't perfected the measurements on this frosting yet)
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 cupcake pans. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl. In bowl of mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in berries.

Fill cupcake pans 3/4 way. Bake for 20 minutes.

For frosting, mix cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add sugar, then vanilla. Add berries until smooth. Frost cupcakes when they are completely cooled.

Sweet Tooth Fairy Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add flavorings, milk and powdered sugar and whip. This is my go-to frosting that I pair with chocolate cupcakes or vanilla or coconut cupcakes. I will sometimes toast coconut and roll the frosted cupcake in the coconut right after frosting it.
 
After spending the day listening to General Conference and spending time with Paul's aunt, uncle and cousins in Dublin, we came home and packed up the easter eggs.