Friday Recipe: Tea Cake Cupcakes with Frog Decorations

I recently made a tea cake as cupcakes then decorated them as frogs. I admit, I couldn't find a step-by-step on how to make what I saw and have absolutely no artistic talent for taking what I see and recreating it. I improvised but it didn't come out exactly. And I still have no idea how they got the fly wings on the mini-chocolate chip!

To the right of the screen is what I found. To the left is what I made. Everyone loved them, though!

I used spearmint leaf candies for the eyes with mini-chocolate chips. Blue colored Buttercream Icing:

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Ready In: 15 Minutes Servings: 20

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and vanilla. Blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the milk, and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Keep icing covered until ready to decorate.

Irish Tea Cake

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 40 Minutes Ready In: 50 Minutes Servings: 10

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch round pan.
2.	In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. If the batter is too stiff, a tablespoon or two of milk may be added. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
3.	Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack, then turn out onto a serving plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar right before serving.

Friday Recipe: Lemon Cupcake with Blackberry Buttercream

Totally stole the picture from the All Recipes site too because the cupcakes look so delicious I needed to share! And boy did they taste delicious, too! Now that fruit season is upon us, most of my recipes will include fresh fruits and veggies. I'll show you pictures of my backyard garden when there are some worth taking.

(Left picture is theirs, right picture is my last cupcake before it disappeared. Didn't grab the camera in time to take pretty pictures of all the cup cakes!)

Prep Time:30 Min
Cook Time:20 Min
Ready In:1 Hr 20 Min

Ingredients for cupcake:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter (I use unsalted but it really doesn't matter)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 lemon, juice and zest

Ingredients for icing:

1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup seedless blackberry jam (I didn't have jam, so I used fresh blackberries in stead. Man, they were delicious!)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream sugar and 1/2 cup butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and mix 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract into mixture with the second egg.

Beat in flour and baking powder until thoroughly combined; beat in milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest to make a smooth batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake in the preheated oven until cupcake edges are slightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes completely.

Beat 1 cup butter with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and salt until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, to make a creamy frosting. Beat in blackberry jam. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 272 Total Fat: 12.1g Cholesterol: 48mg