A Cupcake Party

I made these for Joe's visit to Atlanta, since he loves coconut. I never tried them because I can't stand coconut, but everyone seemed to enjoy them. I saved a bunch of them for Henry and Sonya's visit, and of course kept one aside for my niece. They all thought it was their favorite out of the bunch.

Ina Garten's cupcakes always turn out amazing! Of course, it's not that surprising considering the butter content, sigh. This is my favorite coconut cupcake recipe, and it's found here.
I matched it with my favorite cream cheese frosting instead of hers.

Then I also made red velvet cupcakes. So, I've been searching for the perfect red velvet cake recipe that can match Sprinkles Bakery in L.A. but I haven't found one yet. I found out that the bakery uses very expensive Callebaut cocoa powder and an increased amount of it, which is what makes it stand out among red velvet cakes. It's just a matter of taste, but it's what got me to fall in love with red velvet in the first place! So I thought I'd try the Sprinkles Mix, to see if it would be just as good as the bakery, and it really was!
It was a bit pricy but I decided to splurge. The box tells you that it makes only 12 cupcakes, but I managed to make 12 regular sized ones, and 12 mini cakes as well... hm.

I used my classic favorite cream cheese frosting on the mini ones since it was left over from the coconut almond cupcakes, and then used the flour frosting for the rest of them. I also buried one raspberry in the middle of each regular sized cupcakes. My friends thought that was the best part of it, and a nice surprise.

I really like raspberries with cupcakes, in case you can't tell. It's a perfect match! I even made some a while back and took them to Augusta for my girls.

Then I made pistachio cupcakes again, of course.

We went to the condo rooftop with a bottle of dessert wine and lounged while gorging on cupcakes and drinks. The weather was amazing! On a side note, I had no idea HLi could eat so many cupcakes in one sitting...