I’m Feeling… Nerdy!!

Everybody knows that I love making cupcakes. The first time that I made a batch was not so long ago, maybe two years or so. I bought this really cute beginners kit that included a decorators bag, liners, and some tips. I made chocolate cupcakes with strawberry marmalade frosting. Needless to say they came out looking horrendous; the cake didn’t rise up, and I never really mastered the frosting until somewhere around my 100th cupcake. Despite my repeated early failures I eventually came around and now their turn out pretty cute.

I love making cupcakes because they smell delicious when they are baking, they are the cutest dessert ever, and they are so versatile that you can put almost anything you have around in your kitchen and make it work. Of course I wouldn’t put a piece of meat on a cupcake, but you know what I mean. What might come as a surprise though is that cupcakes are absolutely not my favorite dessert to eat… they are a little too sweet for me. Don’t get me wrong, I KNOW they are delicious, but I can’t handle the taste of buttercream frosting, it’s just too much sugar for me at once. Thats why I always use cream cheese frosting; it’s not that sweet, and it let all the other flavors you add shine.

Anyways, the other day I was sitting in this super long class, and I was really hungry and craving something sweet and yummy. So when the class was finally over I stopped by the grocery store and although I rather buy chocolate than candy, the big box of rainbow Nerds candy was on sale, so I bought it… and chocolate. And I kept wondering all the way home how good would the Nerds taste on a cupcake, since they are kind of sour I thought they would blend nicely with the sweetness of the cake. I also had in mind that raspberry frosting would go good with the nerds, and it actually did, so here’s the recipe!

NERDS CUPCAKES WITH RASPBERRY FROSTING

For the Cupcakes (this is the recipe that I always use, it yields 12 cupcakes and it can be doubled easily) 

• 1/2 cup butter at room temp
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs at room temp
• 1 cup cake flour (1 cup AP flour minus 2 tablespoons, plus two tablespoons cornstarch)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/4 milk/buttermilk
• salt

Preheat oven at 350F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Cream the butter with the sugar at medium speed until pale yellow. Add the eggs one at a time waiting until they are fully incorporated to the mix. Add vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, and add slowly to the eggs/butter mixture. Add the milk and beat until combined (do not over mix!). Pour into the cupcake liners and bake for 17-20 minutes.

tip: do not open the oven on the first 17 minutes to allow the cupcakes to rise nicely. After that you can begin to check with a toothpick until it comes out dry.

Raspberry Ice Cream Cheese Frosting (yields about two cups, you might want to double it)

• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese at room temp
• 1/4 butter
• 1 – 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 packet Crystal Light Raspberry Ice disolved in 1/4 water
• Rainbow Nerds for garnish

Beat the cream cheese and the butter together until light and creamy. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar until desired flavor and consistency achieved. Slowly add the Raspberry Ice water, and beat until incorporated. Let cupcakes cool down, frost, and sprinkle generously with Nerds.

Enjoy!

Diana.