Cupcake Buffet

I hosted book club at my home last month.  I couldn't help myself to doing a cupcake buffet for the evening.  I've been wanting to try a few more recipes out of the book 101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes,where all the recipes are doctored up cake mix recipes, and I came across this andes mint chocolate cupcake recipe and wanted to try it out.  I must admit, though, that I used one of the basic doctored chocolate cupcake recipes from my book, and then tried out her mint buttercream and chocolate mint filling to go with it.  For this chocolate mint fanatic, the filling and buttercream paired perfectly together with the cupcake for the most glorious mint chocolate explosion of flavor.  I was won over at first bite.

I chose 4 different recipes to make--the aforementioned divine Andes mint chocolate cupcake, as well as a scrumptious pina colada cupcake topped with coconut whipped cream and garnished with coconut and a pineapple slice, a black forest cupcake with an amaretto truffle icing and cherry pie filling on top, and a lemon blueberry cupcake topped with whipped cream and blueberry pie filling.  The great thing about these doctored cake mix cupcakes is I can half a recipe, using half of a box of cake mix, and save the other half for another day when I just need a few cupcakes.  Or in this case, I could split the cake mix between two different recipes and have more varieties (like using one chocolate cake mix for the basis of the andes mint chocolate cupcake recipe and the black forest cupcake recipe).

The overall verdict from my friends was that the pina colada cupcake was the favorite (although I was routing for the andes mint cupcake).  One of the tricks that I learned as a little girl from my mom whenever working with cherry pie filling is to add a little bit of almond flavoring to the can of filling--the almond flavoring pairs perfectly with the cherry and helps enhance the flavor.  Just one of those little advices from Mom that I hang onto now that she is gone.

It was a fun book club night.  We talked, laughed, and ate, and thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

Oh, and incase you were wondering, the book we read was Anthem by Ayn Rand.  If you like dystopian type novels, you will enjoy this one.