Strawberry and Chocolate Cupcakes-A Celebration.

My daughter's baby shower was yesterday and we went with pink and brown for the theme. We wanted to do cupcakes instead of a boring cake.

We went with a mixture of strawberry and chocolate cupcakes and put chocolate frosting on the strawberry cupcakes and strawberry frosting on the chocolate cupcakes. I came up with the idea of putting fresh strawberries on top of each of them at the last minute and it really added to the look.

I love the cupcake holders that Michaels carries, so I picked up one and we made it the centerpiece.

The bowl at the bottom of the photo is just some salsa in case you were wondering. For variety, I wanted some simple appetizers, so I scoured the Internet and found a recipe for these.

They are called French Dip Appetizers. I used Ritz crackers instead of wheat thins. They went fast. We still ended up with lots of leftovers because we had a lot of girls cancel, so I sent them all home with little mama.

Big brother will surely help her with eating them!

Make it:

Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

4 large eggs

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cream together:
2 sticks unsalted butter (8 ounces)1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)1 cup light brown sugar (7-3/4 ounces)
Add:
4 large eggs (one at a time)6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (chocolate should be melted, then cooled for approximately 15 minutes before being added)
Add and alternate:
2 cups cake flour (9-1/4 ounces)1 teaspoon baking soda
With:
1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cupcake paper into each cup of 2 muffin pans (each pan yielding 12 muffins). Then fill each cup with 1 leveled off scoop of an ice cream scooper.
Bake at 350°F in regular oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
Yields 24 to 27 cupcakes

Strawberry Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon strawberry extract
1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries, drained

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease 12 cupcake pan cups or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the strawberry extract. Combine the self-rising flour and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in strawberries last. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. When cool, arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter. Frost with desired frosting.

Frosting-I used ready-made.

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French Dip Appetizers Recipe

Ingredients:

Roast beef lunch meat

Box of Ritz crackers

Block of chedder cheese

Container of fried onions

Directions: Place crackers on serving tray or plate. Tear off an inch of roast beef slice and fold over and place on cracker; repeat for all crackers. Slice thin slices of cheese and cut into one inch squares and place on each cracker. Place in microwave and set timer for 15 secs or just until cheese melts. Take out and put a couple of fried onions on each cracker as topping.