Happiness is...

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm warning you now...I think it may be a cupcake kind of summer.  As you can see from recent posts, they've been taking over my kitchen.

I took a break from them for a while (call it a temporary case of insanity), but I think it's now safe to say they're back.  After all, cupcakes make me happy, and we all need to be happy...right?

Frank and I had a wonderful engagement party and rather than having a typical party cake, we had cupcakes for our guests.  Beautiful, delicious cupcakes.  Happiness.

We threw Bella an amazing 1st birthday party, complete with all of family and friends to help celebrate our little miracle.  Instead of a typical birthday cake, we had (2 very large!) cupcake cakes.  Adorable, tasty cupcakes.  Happiness.

These cupcakes make me happy, too...

How about some cream cheese frosting with that?  Ummm, yes please. 

Fill these babies up with some strawberry preserves, and you've got happiness on a plate.

What kind of cupcakes make you happy?

Strawberry Filled Cupcakes

cake and frosting recipes from Martha Stewart 

For the cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temerature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Your favorite strawberry preserves for filling

Fresh sliced strawberries for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with liners.  

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.  In another bowl, mix milk and vanilla together; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well inbetween.  Turn mixer on low and add half the dry ingredients, followed by milk mixture, then remaining dry ingredients.  Do not overmix.

Fill muffin tin with batter and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from tin.

To make the frosting:  Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter; continue beating until smooth and well blended. 

Sift in confectioners' sugar and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla; stir to combine.

To assemble cupcakes:  Hollow out a small hole in the middle of the cupcakes (I used a baby spoon again) and fill cupcakes with strawberry preserves.  Add frosting and top with sliced strawberries.


Linked to: Sweets For A Saturday