Thursday, June 30, 2011

(Hidden) Raspberry Devil's Food Cupcakes - A recipe for cheaters

Rule No. 1 about making treats for school or daycare. Waiting until the last minute typically does not work, unless you're running through the checkout line.

I had great intentions about my daughter's cupcakes for daycare today. Planned a baking night for last night. Talked it up with my girl, down to how we'd decorate. And then reality hit: Later dinner than originally planned, stopped to chat with friends along our walk, need to scrub stinky cow smell off my kids (they went to a dairy farm for a field trip), and meltdowns thereafter.

The end result? Me waking up at the unholy time of 5:30 a.m. to crank out some cupcakes.

And it was with the best of intentions. I was prepared with my box mix and frosting picked out at the supermarket (I cave when it comes to daycare treats; the boxes are more tangible to my girl than a bunch of cocoa powder and powdered sugar!). I grab the eggs, the cake mix, and search for the vegetable oil.

And search. And search.

And we're out.

At this point I have two choices: Make a frantic run to the store, losing another half-hour, or run with it.

I ran. After all, you can always sub out applesauce, right?

Except I had no plain applesauce. I had blueberry pomegrante and raspberry acai. Not for the faint of heart! I reason that with enough frosting, no child will care, and I grab the raspberry acai, which in the container has a powerful flavor. (There's no "hint" of raspberry there.). I mix one 1/2-cup container raspberry applesauce with the cake mix, 3 eggs and 1 1/3 c. water and baked according to directions. Turned out beautiful. No strong raspberry taste to it.

I think we can celebrate after all!

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