cupcake basking in the sunlight

Erin had a birthday recently, and naturally I offered to make her boozy cupcakes.  (One cannot  make their own birthday cupcakes; its just not done.  It is just not done.)    Erin is a very special lady, so I wanted to make a very special boozy cupcake.  But being me, I had to work late/take a final exam/have celebratory drinks the night before, my incredible indecisiveness and aforementioned flurry of activity left no time to ponder what kind of cupcake Erin would be if Erin were a cupcake.

So I made a batch of yellow butter cake mini cupcakes  while waiting for inspiration to hit. While those baked I needed to shower/clean my apt/fight crime so good thing even minis take about 15 minutes and I had to do 2 batches because I don’t own enough mini tins.  (Dear Mom…for Christmas I would like…)

I also decided that Erin would be something sweet/summery/awesome, which to me equals daiquiri.  Also, birthdays make me nostalgic, and strawberry daiquiris are the best kind of virgin cocktail since essentially, they’re a smoothie.  We were allowed to drink virgin daiquiris at our 8^th grad graduation dance and we thought we were so cool.  Who doesn’t want to think they are that cool again?

Since cupcakes were baked, I glazed and frosted with boozy.  And tears.  (While the cupcakes were cooling, a very evil hairdresser decided the thing I really needed in a time crunch was a fashion mullet.)  So after some sniffling/a great number of bobby pins/a very carful subway ride, (I oddly do not own a cupcake carrier….Dear Mom…), the little pink happy swirls of frosting were able to toast a very happy birthday to a very wonderful Erin.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes

• 1 batch yellow butter cake cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Martha S tewart here) baked as mini cupcakes
  
  

  mmm boozy glaze is boozy

Ingredients

For the glaze

• 6 oz frozen strawberries, defrosted and pureed in a food processor
• 2 oz white rum
• 1 teas lime juice
• 1/4 c sugar

For the frosting:

• 1  1/2 sticks butter (12 Tbs)
• 5-6 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teas vanilla extract
• 1 Tbs white rum
• 1 teas lime juice
• 2 Tbs frozen strawberry puree (left over from the glaze)
• pink sugar spinkles for garnish (optional)

in Russia, cupcakes glaze you

Set aside 2 Tbs of strawberry puree for the frosting.  In a heavy bottomed sauce pan on medium high heat, combine remaining strawberry puree, rum, lime juice and sugar and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.

Poke holes in cupcakes with a skewer or fork and spoon glaze onto cupcakes.  Use the back of a spoon to spread glaze into holes.  Let cool.

Prepare frosting.  Using an electric hand mixer, cream butter and 1 cup confectioners sugar in a high sided bowl until fluffy.  Add rum, lime juice and strawberry puree.  Mix in remaining sugar, adding more if necessary to reach desired consistency, if piping, it should be a little stiffer.

Sprinkle with pink sugar sprinkles.

Eat.  Can be refrigerated up to 3 days.