Spumoni Cupcakes

San Francisco. 1995. Old Spaghetti Factory. Sales Training. Large group of friends. There is a first time for everything, including a single serving of complimentary "Spumoni" ice cream. After my carbohydrate infused meal, the polite and patient server asked me what my choice of dessert would be...Chocolate or Spumoni ice cream, he asked. I replied with a "Spumoni who?" being it the first time I'd ever heard that such a word existed. He stood there with a sly grin on his face as if he were thinking "how could anyone not know Spumoni". He then described what this funny and mysterious word consisted of. Cherry, pistachio and almond flavors all layered into a creamy cool goodness. Well, must I say more? I will never forget the flavors my palate danced to on that cool summer San Francisco night.

My spumoni flavored cupcake inspiration- see recipe below.

Who says milk only goes with cookies? Enjoy a cold glass of milk for a well balanced dessert.

Cake and frosting recipe created by Michelle S.N. Sasamoto
http://www.blogger.com/www.favoritesbymichelle.blogspot.com

Shelly's Spumoni Cupcake
1 box white cake mix-follow cake mix
instructions, eggs, oil and water may vary
(I prefer Duncan Hines)
1 box pistachio pudding
1 jar 8 oz. Marachino Cherries in syrup
(divided and save juice)
1/2 cup chopped pistachio nuts (reserve 1/4 cup
for sprinkles)
1 teas. cherry extract
1 teas. almond or pistachio extract
1 teas. vanilla extract
pink, green and yellow gel paste or food
coloring
18 cupcake liners
2 cupcake pans (makes 18 cupcakes)

Champs Cherry Butter Cream Frosting
1 cup butter (room
temperature)
1 cup shortening
2 teas. juice of marachino
cherries
1 teas. cherry extract
3.5 cups confectioner's
sugar (powdered sugar)
1/4 cup chopped marachino
cherries
Cake Preparation

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Follow cake mix instructions, in seperate bowls-divide cake mix into 3
equal parts.

Step 2
Cherry flavored cake
batter-add 1 teas. cherry extract and 2-3 drops of pink gel paste, mix lightly
until colors blend.

Pistachio flavored cake
batter-add 1/4 cup chopped pistachio nuts, 1 teas. almond or pistachio extract
and 2-3 drops of green gel paste, mix lightly until colors blend.

Vanilla flavored cake
batter-add 1 teas. vanialla extract and 1 drop yellow gel paste, mix lightly
until colors blend.

Step 3
Line cupcake pan with
liners, In a layering effect-scoop about 1.5 tablespoons of each batter and
layer on top of each other. Pink, yellow and green on top.

Step 4
Bake as directed on box
and cool completely. Set aside.

Frosting Preparation
In a large mixing bowl
cream together butter and shortening.
Add 2 teas. marachino cherry juice, cherry extract and 1/4 chopped
marachino cherries-mix on low speed until blended, add 3.5 cups of powdered
sugar and mix on lowspeed until you get a creamy consistency.
Decorating Cupackes
Using a star tip, fill pastry bag 3/4 full.
Pipe frosting starting from the outside of the cupcake until you fill
the middle, lift piping bag straight up and squeeze more icing as you lift to
give it a high peak. Sprinkle with
remaining chopped pistachio and top with hald a marachino cherry.

Enjoy and please share recipe success and challenges.

Much Sweet Love,

Michelle

"Sweets for My Sweets" V-Day Treats

Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown

The average person spent over $100.00 last year buying some kind of gift for loved ones, whether it be chocolates, flowers or anything marketed for this romantic day. According to the National Retail Federation, Valentines Day is the 3rd biggest holiday when it comes to consumer spending. As retail chains have already begun to inundate store real estate with red, pinks and white messages of love and have lured lovers to purchase multiple over-priced items with excitement, I hope you have begun to think of creative possibilities on the homemade end.

You all know I'm all puppy dog eyed about sugar cookies, mostly making them verses eating them...thank goodness for that:)

This inspiration came last V-Day but I didn't have time to get to it. I've always loved the little heart Valentine candies with the phrases on them...I didn't particularly like the way they tasted though. These are miniature heart candy cookies and are tasty and adorable all at once. Be sure to scroll to the end of the blog to view all the photos. I hope this blog gives you ample time to experiment with your own gift ideas. I would love to hear about some of your V-Day gift ideas.

I used a 1 inch heart sugar cookie cutter.

This is a perfect idea for your children's classmates or friends because of the little finger bites they get instead of a whole giant cookie.

Of course snail mail still exist so why not make an envelope of love to hand deliver to that special someone.

I love this and I love Love Letters.

You can place the peewee size cookies in cute containers as well. How I dream of Guam have a Dollar Store.

I just adore this packaging. I picked up this KISS container from a Dollar Tree several years ago on one of my trips to the mainland.

I'm a fan of recycled containers. This is a container for chocolate candy from a retail store. Don't they just look to sweet to eat?

I found a set of these heart shaped bowls at a thrift store. For the sole purpose of storing Valentine yummies.

The mini hearts drying after there icing massage.

Heart cookies cooling off after 7 minutes in Baker's Heaven.