First Cupcake Hero Entry!

Sooo this is my very first Cupcake Hero Entry!

I was verrry excited to join just cause I love cupcakes...DUH! 

Who doesnt?..Any one who doesn't like cupcakes, is absolutely insane, if you ask me.

When I saw this months "theme" was anything including Red,White, and Blue, I got a little scared. There were SOO many ideas flying through my head..I didnt know what to chose from?!

So I finally decided on a Raspberry Swirl cake, for the base, then topped it off with a little white "fluffy" frosting, and finished it with a blue heart, made out of fondant. 

I got the recipes from this book called Cupcakes by Pamela Clark, and tweaked them a bit.

They came out sooo good!...that raspberry swirl added such a great flavor to the cake, and the fluffy frosting tasted EXACTLY like plain, old marshmellow fluff!

I'm going to call these "Sweetheart Cupcakes"...

adapted from "Cupcakes" by Pamela Clark

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup self-rising flour

1/3 cup milk

pink food coloring (i used red)

3 tblsp. raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350F Degrees. Line 6-hole oversize or 12-hole standard muffin pan with paper baking cups.

Beat butter, vanilla, sugar, and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flour and milk in 2 batches.

Divide mixture evenly between 2 bowls. Tint one mixture pink(red); leave other mixture plain. Drop alternate spoonfuls of the 2 mixtures into baking cups.

Divide jam among cakes, pull skewer backwards and forwards through mixtures for a swirling effect; smooth surface.

Bake large cakes about 30 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.

"Fluffy Frosting":

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

2 egg whites

Combine sugar and water in a small pot; stir over medium heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, without stirring about 5 minutes or until syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Syrup should be thick but not colored. Remove from heat, allow bubbles to subside. Beat egg whites in a small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. While mixer is running, add hot syrup in thin stream; beat on high speed about 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and cool.

Spread cakes with frosting, top with fondant heart!

Hope I did it right!