Day 244 – Vanilla Raspberry “Surprise” Cupcakes

Ok.  April 1st.  April Fools Day.  (Ok.  Not a “real” day, but you get my point.)  So how could I resist a cupcake with “Surprise” in the name?!  Obviously…I couldn’t!  Vanilla Raspberry “Surprise” Cupcakes (recipe below from Snacking in the Kitchen).

    

The cupcakes are dense and moist. A little like a corn muffin. They have a sweet vanilla flavor with the tart raspberry at the bottom.
Note: They are a little hard to eat because all of the preserves sink to the bottom. The original baker acknowledged this issue too. I think for the future the cupcakes should be baked and the preserves added as a filling post-baking to avoid sinking.

The frosting is creamy and smooth. It looks like it’s on the soft side, but it pipes nicely. It has a nice, sweet buttercream flavor with a little tartness from the lemon zest and the raspberry. This would be a good frosting for any vanilla or lemon-based cupcake.
Note: I’d advise a bigger piping tip – a little of my lemon zest got stuck in the small tip I started with.

    

Together this is a beautiful spring cupcake. Sweet and a little tart. I would also add a little lemon juice or lemon zest to the cupcake, just to bring it all together. But it’s a nice, sweet, pretty little cupcake.

    

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 3.5
• Frosting Taste: 4.5
• Overall Taste: 4
• Appearance: 4
• Ease of Making: 4
• TOTAL: 20

RECIPE

Vanilla Raspberry “Surprise” Cupcakes (recipe from Snacking in the Kitchen)

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Frosting:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
• zest of 1 lemon

For directions visit Snacking in the Kitchen.

*Tomorrow: Chocolate Sundae Cupcakes*