Spumoni Cupcakes w/ Italian Meringue Buttercream.

With the holiday season behind us, I thought I would share some treats---

Friends will poke fun at my slight obsessive love of Christmas.

This year I realized that they just don't get it .

It's all about how you grew up and what you were exposed to.

It just so happens that I was exposed to crazy people with crazy traditions.

The crazy people being my father ( just kidding dad ! )

& one of those crazy traditions is  baking enough cookies to feed a small army.

Out of the dozens of possible family recipes, one of my most favorite is always Spumoni Cake.

This led to the creation of the cupcake version. --which in MY family recipe includes the triple threat of cherry, chocolate, & pistachio (or walnut).

You can use any basic vanilla cupcake recipe for the base--don't feel obligated to use the one provided in the recipe, however it is quite simple & delicious !



 Ingredients:

• 1 C sugar
• ½ C butter( room temp.) 
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ C flour
• 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
• ½ C milk
• ½ C chocolate chips
• ½ C maraschino cherries
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• ½ C walnuts
• Almond Extract
• Red & Green food coloring
• Extra maraschino cherries w/ stem for garnish 

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Beat in eggs one @ a time
3. Add vanilla
4. Combine flour & baking powder—add to creamed mix
5. Mix well—add in milk
6. Stir until batter is smooth
7. Separate equally into 3 bowls
8. Bowl 1 – chocolate chips & cocoa powder
9. Bowl 2—cherries & red coloring
10. Bowl 3—walnuts, almond extract & green coloring
11. Layer into pan –chocolate-walnut-cherry order
12. Bake 20-25 minutes
13. Let cool & frost*

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Now I have to admit --frosting ?
Not one my best attributes when it comes to baking qualities.

However, practice makes perfect, right?
I'de like to thank the far more experienced bakers who blog.

which brings me to : Joe Pastry .

He has provided a fabulous recipe/tutorial for Italian Meringue Buttercream !

I found buttercream works well with this recipe & the only tweak I made was adding almond extract for flavor.
Feel free to experiment with alternative types of frosting & let me know how it turns out !


Stay tuned for my next post which will include my first attempt @ baking  bread from scratch---Rosemary & Onion Foccacia.