~Bona Vita~

The theme for today’s meme is “Celebrating Christmas” once again. Share your photos that depict the sights and sounds of this holiday season . Remember, the simple and the ordinary are full of beauty if gazed upon from the correct angle.

Here’s how to participate:

 1. Photograph an object, room, or person in keeping with the posted topic.

2. Post one picture on your blog.

3. Include a link to Bona Vita’s Photographic Friday in your post.

4. Through Bona Vita’s Mr. Linky, link to your Photographic Friday blog post (not to your main site). Remember, I reserve the right to delete inappropriate links!

5. Be sure to leave a comment!

 

Christmas celebrations are all about delicious desserts.  Last weekend I served these simple but festive lemon-raspberry cupcakes. They proved to be sophisticated enough for adults when sitting side by side a caramel cheesecake. Yet, children delighted in them as well. I was initially inspired by these petite cakes as they graced the cover of  Bon Appetit’s April 2008 cover. Here is my customized version.

 

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes

1 white cake mix

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup lemon juice

8 tblsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Lemon Icing

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

4 – 6 tblsp lemon juice

Whisk the sugar and lemon juice together. You should start with 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and add additional juice as you need it. The icing should be fairly viscous.

Place the cake mix, water, lemon juice, butter and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend on medium speed until combined, about 20 seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the cake batter mixing after each addition.  Once all of the eggs have been added,  continue mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed.  Pour the batter into prepared cupcake pans. You can either grease and flour your pans or utilize cupcake liners. Silver liners always look festive. Bake in a 350° oven for 17 – 20 minutes. Do not over bake the cupcakes. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack. Spread lemon icing evenly over the cupcakes and top with a plump raspberry.

You can utilize raspberry jam or preserves as a filling in these cupcakes. Simply add 1 or 2 tablespoons of cake batter to the cupcake pan, then add 1 tablespoon of jam and cover with additional cake batter. 

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds, / While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads . . . ” – Clement Clarke Moore, The Night Before Christmas 

 

Tags: meme, photography

This entry was posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am and is filed under Photographic Frday, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.