It's almost.......FALL!

That's right! Only 2 more days until the most glorious season of the year. The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing and the gourds are starting to show themselves at the farmers markets. This is such an inspiring time of year. Keep checking back for some fun fall-inspired recipes. Squash casserole, baked apple surprises and LOTS of soup.

Screw you humidity! Bring on the chilly air and changing leaves!

OMG Cupcakes Galore!

Cupcakes. I obsess over them. I adore them. It's a perfect little piece of heaven that is super versatile. I received a book of cupcake recipes for my birthday this year from Rotem. All I can say is BEST GIFT EVER. This book is amazing!



So, my plan is to work my way through the book and test my baking abilities. The first cupcake in the book is VeryBerry Cakes. I made a couple adjustments to the recipe because I was having trouble finding the fresh berries and I do not use frozen fruit. Just a personal preference, but I think it takes away from the flavor. If that's all you have, that's cool, but if you can, go out of your way and get the fresh stuff.

Here you go!

Berry Buttercake
1 stick butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I highly recommend Penzeys for this ingredient)
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. dried mixed berries or 1 c. fresh berries (I used diced strawberries)
1/2 c. slivered almonds
2/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. self rising flour
1/4 c. milk

Sugared Fruit
5 oz. fresh blueberries
4 oz. fresh raspberries
1 egg white
3 tbsp. vanilla sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese
2 tbsp. butter
3/4 c. - 1 c. confectioners sugar

Prepare the sugared fruit by lightly brushing the berries with the egg white and rolling them in the sugar. Place on a parchment lined tray and leave out for about an hour.

Preheat the oven between 315-325 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with paper baking cups. Beat butter, vanilla, sugar and eggs in a small bowl until light and fluffy. stir in fruit and nuts, then sifted flour and milk. Divide mixture amoung baking cups and smooth the surface.

Now the tricky part. Depending on your oven, the baking times will vary. The recipe says to bake for 35 minutes. If you like burnt cupcakes, you do that. But I baked them for about 15-17 minutes. Maybe my oven is just boiling lava hot, but this baking time worked for me. When cakes are done baking, turn on a wire rack to cool.

Make cream cheese frosting. Beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sifted powdered sugar.

Once cakes have cooled, decorate with frosting and sugared fruit. Eat. Enjoy. Share with friends because lets face it, it's not a good idea to eat all 12 by yourself.