Marti Gras! is the name of this cupcake! It’s a key lime cupcake made with real lime zest topped with lime zest cream cheese and adorned with margarita salt and a lime wedge.

Camille’s Cupcakes also feature their own Cupcake of the Month! This month it’s their spin on a classic flavor with a Gluten-Free Chocolate Fudge Cupcake topped with Chocolate Ganache.

Along with gluten-free cupcakes, Camille also makes dairy free! Sweet!

You can find Camille’s Cupcakes on the web via their website or you can connect with them on Facebook! When you visit their FB page, make sure you check out their “notes” tab for their Cupcake Collections and Frosting
Bon Bons!

February’s Cupcake of the Month comes to us from hello, cupcake in Tacoma, WA.  According to their Facebook page, this Chocolate Raspberry cupcake is “a moist and rich chocolate raspberry cake topped with a swirl of raspberry cream cheese frosting.”

Oh heaven’s to Betsy… that sounds DIVINE!  So please, run out to hello, cupcake in downtown Tacoma and test one of these out!

Thanks to hello, cupcake for these photos!

This cupcake is full of warm chai spices in a light cake and topped off with a chai buttercream.  Seriously, for you tea lovers, this cupcake is a MUST HAVE!

You can find this cupcake in Tacoma, WA at Jubilee Cupcakes & Vintage Candy… you can also find them on Facebook!

photo by Trophy Cupcakes

Trophy Cupcakes Candied Yam with Toasted Marshmallow meringue will be our Cupcake of the Month for November 2010!

“This garnet yam cupcake has toasted pecans and fall spices, reminiscent of sweet potato pie and the candied yams my mom loves to make!” – Trophy Cupcakes

Start your November with one of these perfect cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes!

You can find Trophy on the web, Twitter, and Facebook!

Chocolate Orange is chocolate cake topped with orange zest buttercream dippedin chocolate ganache and sprinkled with orange zest!

For all the details about when you can get this delectable cupcake, visit Retro Bakery on the web, on their Blog,  on Facebook or on Twitter!

“The Big Apple” by New York Cupcakes in Bellevue, WA is a moist fluffy vanilla cake topped with apple pie buttercream frosting and finished off with apple cobbler crumbs on top!  Oh Heavens!  It’s a MUST HAVE for September!

Photo by www.artofsubtlety.com

This Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake comes from the newly remodeled and re-branded Jubilee Cupcakes & Vintage Candy in Tacoma, WA and is a Valrhona dark chocolate cake filled with a homemade peanut butter and topped with peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and  fleur de sel.

To. Die. For.

Photo:  Jubilee Cupcakes webpage

Photo courtesy of Chef Chloe’s blog.

I chose this cupcake because of my own personal life changes and desire to find healthier alternatives to my favorite dessert, cupcakes!  Chloe bakes only 100% vegan masterpieces using the finest of ingredients!

For the recipe to this cupcake and to read all about Chef Chloe’s other delicious Vegan creations, make sure to visit her website and blog!

Make sure you put Wink on your list of places you MUST VISIT on your trip to Seattle this summer! Their cupcakes are TO. DIE. FOR.

Photos courtesy of Wink Cupcakes Blog

Makes approx 3 dozen (36) cupcakes.

Cupcakes:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
Zest of one lemon

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla
¾ cup milk
The juice of ½ a lemon

4 cups strawberries, roughly chopped + 1 cup sugar + 2 tbsp butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cupcake pans with 30 liners.

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter.  Add the strawberries and coat with melted butter.  Stir in sugar and cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes until strawberries begin to reduce and a thick strawberry sauce is made.  Divide in half and then set aside to cool.

Prepare the sugar by working the lemon zest into sugar by pressing the back of a spatula down into sugar, thus releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar.  This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant.

Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes using electric mixer and the paddle attachment.  Add the sugar to the butter mixture and continue creaming until fluffy.

While butter/sugar are creaming, in another bowl sift together flour, salt and baking powder and set aside. Sift at least twice to ensure all ingredients are combined.

Add eggs one at a time to butter and sugar, mixing thoroughly after each egg.

In a measuring cup that pours, mix together the milk, lemon juice and vanilla.

SLOWLY alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the butter/sugar.  Begin and end with the flour and make sure to mix very well after each addition.

Scrape sides of the bowl and fold in ½ the strawberries.  Do not over mix.

Fill liners 1/2 full with batter.

Bake for 13 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven. Bake another 3-6 minutes.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to completely cool.

Buttercream:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 lbs (approx 8 cups) powdered sugar
1/4 -1/2  cup milk
Zest of ½ a lemon
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 tbsp light corn syrup

Directions:
In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter.

One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar.  Between each cup, add a splash of milk.   Mix until smooth & scrape down the sides after each addition

Before the last cup of sugar, add the zest and juice of the lemon.  Mix until smooth.

Add the corn syrup.

Add any remaining milk until you get the texture and consistency you want.

Mix on high for 4-5 minutes.

Remove ½ the buttercream and set aside.  Add 5-7 drops of yellow food coloring to the remaining frosting and mix until it’s the color you want.

To Assemble:
Strain the second half of the strawberries, reserving the juice for later.

Spoon a small dollop of strawberry on top of each cupcake.  (NOTE:  My cupcakes sunk in the middle because I DIDN’T use ROOM TEMPERATURE butter!!! Eeeek)

Put half yellow/half white frosting into a pastry bag with a star tip and frost the cupcakes.

Drizzle cupcakes with reserved strawberry juice.

Top with a fresh, clean strawberry.

Take pretty pictures of your cupcakes!