Fancy Cupcakes :: Raspberry with Lemon Curd

These cupcakes are guaranteed to impress your friends and family, but they so easy to make it's gross, and there are SO many variations you could make!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

1 box of white cake mix + whatever the box says you need to make it

1 1/2 c. frozen and thawed or fresh raspberries (see variations below)

Lemon Curd

6 egg yolks

3/4 c. sugar

Juice of 5 large lemons (This can be adjusted along with the sugar for tartness)

Metal bowl & saucepan or double boiler

Directions:

1.  Prepare the cupcake batter as directed on the box.  You definitely want to use a white cake mix, the color of the berries is so pretty against the white.

2.  Rinse raspberries if using frozen.  

3.  Once the batter has been totally mixed, carefully fold in your raspberries.  You may see some color go into the batter, it's ok.  This happened on mine and I had no pink cupcakes!

4.  Bake as directed on the box.  

5.  Remove cupcakes from the oven and let them cool completely.  

6.  Once they are cooled, use a paring knife or an apple corer to remove a hole from the center of each cupcake, being careful not to go all the way through the bottom:

7.  Using a teaspoon, fill each hole with the lemon curd just to the top so that it's even with the rest of the cupcake.

8.  Frost as usual with the frosting of your choice!  I used a basic cream cheese frosting on mine and topped them with a strawberry. 

For the lemon curd: 

1.  Heat up about an inch of water to simmering/boiling in a saucepan that your metal bowl will fit in.

2.  Whisk yolks and sugar together in a metal bowl (it must. be. metal--you will be placing it over the saucepan with water to indirectly heat the yolks, sugar and lemon juice.)

3.  Add the lemon juice to your yolks and sugar and place metal bowl on top of sauce pan and get your whisking arm ready!

4.  Whisk/stir for about 8-10 minutes (depends on heat) or until curd begins to thicken and set.  

5.  Remove from heat, cover curd with saran wrap and place in fridge for later.

Variations:

Strawberries with lemon curd

Blueberries with lemon or orange curd

Mixed berries with lemon curd

These are such a perfect summer cupcake, I can't even tell you!  They taste sweet and dessert-like, but also refreshing and light at the same time. Enjoy! 

PS--Don't forget to come back on Thursday for a HUGE giveaway all about booze, beer, and wine!

Nom :: Banaynay/Paleo (?) Mug Cake!

Who doesn't love a mug cake?  If you haven't tried one, please do.  They are so good, and so easy and hit the spot when you're like, "damn, I want a warm dessert right now".  The only thing that annoys me is that most of the recipes I see call for 3-4 tbl. of flour, sugar, and require a lot of measuring.  I have nothing wrong with flour and sugar-we have tons of it in Oxo containers and all over the place, but basically I'm really impatient and too damn lazy to be hauling all of that out for a mug cake, which should be simple.

So I scoured the interwebs, which means I searched "mug cake" on Pinterest, and found a recipe for a Paleo Mug Cake.  I don't know a lot about the paleo diet, but I knew enough to know that this means "no flour".

world's worst picture of a mug cake, ever.

Here is your link to the original recipe, found at The Wannabe Chef.

So here's what it called for:

1 small banana (ripe, so it's mashable)
1 egg (you could get away with egg whites too probably)
1 1/2 tbl. of almond butter or any nut butter (ok I had peanut butter, so cool--I keep meaning to buy almond butter and then forget)
2 tbl. cocoa powder
Sweetener (optional--I used a packet of Truvia since I keep that around for my coffee)

Any add-ins you would like-chocolate chips (k, now is this paleo? no, i'm sure there is tons of refined sugar.), nuts, etc. whatever

Instructions:

1.  Mash up that NAYNAY (you guys know I love the naynays) in your mug! (Also, use a larger mug if you have one, not that cutesy little one that's good for taking artsy pics.)
2.  Add in your egg, nut butter, and mix that up well.
3.  Then add the cocoa powder and your sweetener if you're using it, as well as the add-ins.   I did put a few chocolate chips in, but it was honestly unnecessary.
4.  Microwave that bad boy for about 2 1/2 minutes.  Mine was set up nicely in the middle after that time, but this could vary.

Umm...the next step is fairly obvious, but go back to your couch, put on your Real Housewives, and eat a mug of delicious, warm chocolate cake.

Readers:  Can anyone confirm/disprove the paleo-ness of this mug cake?  I have no idea if I made it un-paleo by adding my peanut butter vs. almond butter.  I know the sweetener isn't ideal of course, but I do think it added just enough sweetness and is worth it!  

Linking up all over the place!