Devil's Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting: BAKED Sunday Mornings

This is my second recipe with BAKED Sunday Mornings and already I'm turning into a delinquent poster! I made these a week ahead of schedule since I knew I would be out of town on the weekend they were scheduled. They were delicious! Zach even took pictures for me, and we ate them up and shared with co-workers all to rave reviews. Then I dropped the ball and didn't get them posted in time. I was super busy in the weeknights before going out of town for the weekend, and I really have no other excuse. I was rushing to complete this....

gorgeous (if I do say so myself ;-) ) baby blanket for a friend's baby shower. So, since the baby shower had a definite deadline and I didn't want to be finishing it off on the plane!, the cupcakes and their deliciousness slipped my mind. Oh well, such is life.

On to the cupcakes -- they were rich and perfectly chocolately. As stated in the book, even though the recipe has a decent amount of coffee in it, they don't taste coffee-y. The frosting, oooooh, the frosting! It was phenomenal! I hadn't ever made an Italian Meringue frosting before and it's probably a good idea I didn't read the directions very carefully before actually attempting the recipe. The idea of pouring boiling hot, 235 degree sugar syrup into egg whites is a bit scary to be honest. "Seriously, that's going to work? Won't it break??" you think; but, since I just jumped into the recipe I didn't really realize what I had to do until it was time to do it and there was no turning back. It tasted like marshmallow and was so nice and fluffy. Fabulous! For the last two cupcakes we ate Zach busted out his creme brulee torch to brown the tops, which lent even more of a toasty marshmallow flavor. I'll definitely be making Italian Meringue frosting in the future now that I know there's nothing to be scared of and only yummy results!  You can find the recipe and everyone else's links on BAKED Sunday Mornings.  

Coconut Cupcakes: Barefoot Bloggers

The first February recipe was Coconut Cupcakes.  I must admit I had mixed feelings upon seeing the recipe choice.  Zach and I had just started eating healthier and using the Weight Watchers program to drop a few pounds, so seeing this recipe with all the butter and sugar and cream cheese didn't exactly fit in with our plan to minimize temptations.  But, then I realized I was hosting a work meeting soon, and it would be a great opportunity to make the cupcakes and have one or two, but let someone else eat the majority of them!  So, these are a bit late (yes, almost a month!) since I wanted to make them for this meeting, so we wouldn't end up eating them all.  The people at the meeting really enjoyed them, several asked for teh recipe, and with still more leftover I sent them into with Zach to work.  I LOVED the cupcake recipe, and the combination of vanilla and almond flavors, they were moist and delicious.  I also loved the frosting, again with the vanilla and almond combination, a favorite in my family.  I really like the flavor of coconut (Malibu rum is one of my favorite spirits) but not so much the texture of shredded coconut.  So, I will definitely keep the recipe, minus the coconut as a great basic white cupcake and frosting.  

Ina's Coconut Cupcakes 

chosen by Jamie of Jamie’s Green Kitchen.