i heart cupcakes

This is what we had for dessert last night.

It's hard not to love a cupcake. Especially a vanilla cupcake with not-too-sweet buttercream, filled with raspberry jam, enrobed in a pink zebra print liner, with multi-colored heart sprinkles. HEART SPRINKLES, people!!!

I absolutely HAD to try a new buttercream recipe I'd come across. One thing about buttercream is that it can be so darn sweet that it makes your toes curl. But, I'd found a tip online (I pink puffy heart LOVE the internets) to add a couple pinches of salt and lemon juice to cut the sweet. Oh. My. Goodness. IT WORKED! I've made buttercream about a hundred times, and this was, by far, the best buttercream EVAH. I could have eaten it straight from the bowl with a spoon. *swoon* *double swoon*

On another baking note, I  heard through the grapevine that the infamous Alton Brown said it's okay to use cake mixes because they've come a long way and are pretty darn awesome these days. Perhaps it's an urban legend perpetuated by exhausted, want-to-do-it-all moms that just don't have the time to do scratch baking, bring all the ingredients to room temp, etc. Or maybe he really DID say it!? The world might never know. Either way, it makes me feel a tiny more justified in my use of box mixes.

Have a happy Wednesday, folks!