What could be more fun for a garden party, or just a gossip session with your besties, than a cupcake in a teacup? I imagined high-spirited Emma Woodhouse sipping tea and plotting her next matchmaking scheme when I came up with these goodies. Wouldn’t it be an amusing distraction from our busy modern day lives to slow the pace down and enjoy a cup full of fanciful cake? As these treats are petite, you can declare with resolve Emma’s famous words “I may have lost my heart, but not my self-control.”
Decoration
2 rose shaped icing decorations per cupcake
6 raspberries per cupcake
Sliver edible heart shaped confetti
1 teacup with saucer per cupcake
Vanilla Cupcakes
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Next, in a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Then add in the rest of the ingredients, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour the batter into lined cupcake pans.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool so you can frost and decorate.
Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
Puréed raspberries (buy a 6oz container of fresh berries)
First, with an electric mixer, beat the vanilla extract and butter in a medium bowl. Then slowly mix in the powdered sugar, and beat. Now pour in the milk. Next, using the electric mixer, beat the mixture until it is smooth and fluffy. Lastly, purée three raspberries at a time and mix them in, testing as you go for desired color and to make sure the frosting doesn’t get too runny. Keep adding three puréed berries until you are happy with the look and feel of the frosting.
Spread frosting on the tops of all cupcakes. Then embellish the top of each cupcake with 2 icing roses, 3 raspberries and edible confetti. After placing each individual cupcake in a teacup, arrange 3 raspberries on its saucer.
Makes 14 cupcakes
Note: If you prefer an easier version use store bought cake mix and frosting. Or…just pick up undecorated cupcakes and add your fun toppings before placing them in teacups!
(You probably want to be kind to your teeth and refrain from eating the decorative roses!)
