Monday, February 1, 2010

Cupkins: Valentines Edition!

It's the first Monday of the month - welcome to the February edition of CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  

This month's theme is Valentines Day, naturally!  To see Meg's Valentines muffins, click on the Cupkins logo at the bottom of this post!
(left) Joanne's Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes and (right) Meg's Strawberry & Chocolate Champagne Muffins

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes 
(strawberry filled chocolate cupcakes with sweet strawberry frosting)
To begin, bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes.  My favorite recipe is Martha's one bowl chocolate cupcakes, but if you're stretched for time you can go the easy route as well.  I used these cute cupcake liners by Wilton for my cupcakes...
Once your cupcakes are baked and cooled, grab your Wilton tip 230 and some strawberry jam.  Fill up a piping bag.  Insert the tip into the top of your cupcake and give it a good squeeze to fill it.
Yum!  Filled cupcake goodness!  Set them aside while you work on the frosting.
I used the basic buttercream recipe from the book Hello, Cupcake! with a few tweaks.  Whisk one 13oz container of marshmallow fluff, then add 3 sticks of softened butter gradually, and beat until well combined.  Next, add 1tbsp of strawberry extract, your food coloring and 1 cup of powdered sugar.  Beat until fluffy and set aside.

Next it's time to pipe your chocolate... a la Martha's valentine filagree hearts per her February issue of Living.  I used wax paper to pipe my chocolate on, and then key is to pipe out of the smallest hole possible.  Pipe into hearts... or whatever you like!
Put your chocolate in the freezer for fifteen minutes to set.  Then assemble your cupcakes!
And there you have it, a beautiful and delicious Valentines treat!  Don't they look gorgeous on my new cupcake stand?
 
 
Happy (early) Valentines Day, friends!  Now click on the Cupkins logo to head over to Meg's place!




13 comments:

Jeanette said...

That looks so pretty!

Lindsey Wolfe said...

Those are beautiful Joanne! And I think I recognize the "love" from one of your stamps? Maybe? Either way they are adorable!

So do you and Travis eat all your baking goodness or do you share the love around the GR area?

angelina la dawn said...

honestly, i just can't imagine how good these must be. you're amazing. truly!

Ryan and Erin Russell said...

Those are adorable.

Unknown said...

i want one. now, please! you live close by... maybe i could just jog on over and have a little taste... pretty please???

(oh, and i must confess that i have never made homemade cupcakes. you inspire me to try it out, lady!)

Elle said...

These look absolutely delicious AND beautiful!

Meg@MegaCrafty said...

YUM. Each Cupkins that goes by I want to be able to taste the cupcakes more and more.

Oh and that cupcake stand is too cute. Love it!

Joanne said...

Thanks you guys!

Lindsey - I rarely even eat one whole cupcake out of the batch! I usually split one with hubby as a taste test and then the rest go to his work, or to a get together with friends. If I ate half of what I baked I'd be HUGE!

Sarah - Next time I bake I'll bring one over. I'm dead serious.

Meg - Someday, as the end of the Cupkins project (whenever that may be!) we need to plan a get together (your state or mine?) and bake ourselves silly. Taste tests all around! :)

Charlene Juliani said...

Ahh, such talent...I bow to you :) Those are too pretty to eat.

M.E. Greene said...

Total uber super cuteness! I'm definitely going to try filling my cupcakes next time. We have to make ours gluten-free, but I think a little creamy filling would spice them up a bit!

AVinNYC said...

Those are so pretty- and I bet they taste delish!!

Caroline said...

Joanne!!! The cupcakes are a work of art!! They not only look delicious--but they are so romantically beautiful!!!

Gabrielle @ i.craft said...

Those are absolutely wonderful! WOW!