Cecelia's Birthday Cupcakes; Double Chocolate Raspberry Drizzle

     This past Thursday was my sweet friend Cecelia's birthday! We went and ate Chinese food, and then came back to our house for some cupcakes that I had made for her. I asked her earlier in the week what type of dessert she liked and she said anything chocolate-- a girl after my own heart. Also, I remembered her saying she liked raspberries and chocolate when we went raspberry picking. After dwelling on what to make for her I decided on chocolate cupcakes, dolloped with white chocolate buttercream, drizzled with homemade raspberry sauce and chocolate sauce, topped with a fresh sweet raspberry. I call them double chocolate raspberry drizzle cupcakes. "You said a moooouuuuthful."-Buckwheat

Aren't they cute?!

I chose to make the cake using a recipe most people call Texas Sheet Cake. I've heard it called other things, but most everyone knows it as that. You'll need flour, sugar, buttermilk, butter, eggs, cocoa powder, water, vanilla, baking soda, and salt.

For the full recipe with measurements click here: Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe.*

*Do not use the frosting from this recipe for these cupcakes. But do yourself a favor and make this recipe as is sometime. You will thank me.

Also, because I knew it would just be Cecelia and I eating these cupcakes I halved the recipe. It yielded about one dozen cupcakes.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Set aside.

In a small saucepan bring water, butter, and cocoa powder to a boil.

Pour the hot liquid over the flour/sugar mixture.

Add in the buttermilk...

the egg...

and the vanilla.

Whisk to combine

Line the pan with cupcake liners.

I use an ice cream scoop to make pretty, uniform cupcakes.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way up. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I felt a little froggy so I dropped a few mini chocolate chips right in the center of the cupcakes while they were baking.

Whah-lah! beautiful chocolate cupcakes! But this is only the beginning...

For the White Chocolate Buttercream you will need:

a cup of butter, half a cup of white chocolate chips, one teaspoon of vanilla, and a cup and a half of powdered sugar.

Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave.

Let the butter soften to room temperature.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, white chocolate, and vanilla using a hand mixer.

Add in the powdered sugar.

Beat well to combine.

For the Raspberry Drizzle:

In a medium saucepan combine raspberries, sugar, and water.

For full recipe with measurements click here: Raspberry Sauce. The only thing I didn't use from this recipe was the orange juice. I wanted the raspberries to sing all by themselves.

Using a fork break down all of the raspberries.

Pour the raspberries into a strainer to remove all of the seeds.

You will be left with a beautifully bright sauce.

Return the sauce to the pan and continue cooking.

Mix a little cornstarch in water and add to the pan.

Whisk until slightly thick, but still pourable. Let cool to room temperature.

Now, to assemble the cupcakes!

Gather your supplies...

Put your white chocolate buttercream, homemade raspberry sauce, and chocolate sauce into zip-lock bags. Clip off the corners and now you have piping bags! When cutting the corners of the raspberry and chocolate bags, only cut a very tiny portion of the corner off. This will allow you to control the flow better.

Pipe a large dollop of white chocolate buttercream onto the cupcakes.

I personally like mine like this. But hey-- it wasn't my birthday now was it?

Drizzle with raspberry sauce, then chocolate, and top with a juicy raspberry! Repeat until they are all decorated.

Aren't they adorable?!

I do believe I will help myself to one... Yum!

Now if you are stuck inside like I am today because of all this rain go bake something! Maybe these cupcakes, or maybe the Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe I posted at the beginning. Treat yourself!

Love y'all!