The birds are chirping, it’s warm outside and your calendar’s quickly filling up with lots and lots of events. From Easter and Passover to girls luncheons, baby showers and birthday parties, Spring is the perfect time of the year to attend events and entertain for a handful of fabulous reasons! First off, not only is it finally nice outside (thank goodness) but Spring beats Summer entertaining hands down for a few reasons at least in my book…
1. The kids schedules are more manageable (they are in school, so you have a few free hours a day! Yay!)
2. Most of your friends are in town and not on Summer vacations.
3. Lets face it, after being cooped up during the winter months, it’s time to get out there, put on your cute new spring dress and spread your wings.
Bottom line, I’m truly excited because the social season has officially started! With that being said and with all of the fabulous entertaining ops coming up I’m always looking for fresh and innovative ways to reinvent and put my own spin on basic ideas and recipes that have been around forever. One trend I’ve noticed in the past few months from Paris fashion week to Oscar soirees was desserts infused with every girls favorite… a little bit of bubbly darling!
Today on How2Girl I’m going to show you how 2 turn super simple store bought cake mixes into works of art using my signature H2G simple, quick and idiot proof and mouthwatering Spring cupcake recipes that will not only blow your guests minds but I promise you… these sweet babies will make you the hostess with the mostess without breaking the bank!
To start off, we’ll be adorning our delectable cupcakes with crystalized edible flowers. You’ve seen these beauties on tons of wedding cakes and in lots of bridal magazines before, but surprise surprise, they are in fact extremely simple to do! Just cut off the stems off your chosen blossoms, dip the tops of the petals in egg whites, sprinkle with white sugar and let dry overnight on wax paper or plastic wrap.
In the morning the egg whites will have dried and the sugar will look like crystals.
This is a really beautiful and simple trick to dress up any dessert.
Next for the baking:
For my signature Key Lime Champagne Infused Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting you’ll need:
1 box Vanilla cake mix
1/2 box Lime flavored Jello powder
1 cup of Champagne (this will substitute the water)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 can Strawberry Frosting
an extra splash of Champagne for the frosting
Green food coloring if desired for the cake mix
For my signature Strawberry/Blackberry Rose Infused Cupcakes with Lilac Vanilla Frosting you’ll need:
1 box Strawberry cake mix
1 cup Rose wine (this will substitute the water)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 small container fresh Blackberries or Raspberries
1 can Vanilla Frosting
Blue and Red food coloring (to make it lilac)
an extra splash of Rose for the frosting
Heat your oven to 350. Follow the instructions on both boxes adding in Champagne and the Lime Jello powder, veggie oil and eggs to the Key Lime mixture. Bake and let cool.
For the Rose cupcakes, follow the instructions on the box, add in the Rose, veggie oil, eggs and Blackberries into the Strawberry cake mixture. Mix separately, bake and let cool.
Next with a spoon in a large bowl add a few splashes of your Champagne to the Strawberry frosting and mix (for the Key Lime cupcakes). At the same time in a separate bowl mix in Red and Blue food coloring to your Vanilla frosting until you get a pretty Lilac color then add a splash of Rose and mix. (For the Strawberry/Blackberry Cupcakes)
Next, using a spoon, add both of your frostings into two separate ziplock bags cutting a small hole out of the corner after they’re filled. If you want to use a frosting tip for texture or design be sure to first cut the edge off, add the tip and then fill with frosting. Either method works great depending on what look you’re going for.
Now for the fun part, ice your cupcakes! Normally this is the most annoying part of baking for me but using your handy ziplock baggies this method is much, much easier and less time consuming rather than attempting to frost with a spatula. With the zip locks, you just start in the middle and work your way out.
Last but not least, mix your crystalized flowers with fresh flowers without any sugar to the tops of my cupcakes for a beautiful and whimsical extra oomph to really make your guests jaws drop!
It’ that simple ladies! You’re all done. Serve with Champagne and Rose and enjoy! Trust me, these babies will be a huge hit at your next event and also make an amazing party favor because here at How2Girl, we all know you can’t show up to a party empty handed!
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