White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I think we can all agree that the best part of cupcakes is the icing. And that is definitely true of these white chocolate raspberry cupcakes, which are topped with a fluffy pink buttercream icing that includes raspberry extract and melted white chocolate. In fact, I made this recipe into mini cupcakes rather than full-size cupcakes just to have more of an icing to cupcake ratio!  These cupcakes complement the frosting perfectly, because they include pieces of real raspberries as well as raspberry extract, but I could see the frosting working on a simple vanilla cupcake too. And they're adorable with whole raspberries on top:

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

(Makes 24 cupcakes)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 teaspoons raspberry extract

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 eggs

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 package white chocolate pudding mix

½ cup milk

1 cup frozen raspberries

Raspberries or pearl sprinkles for garnishing

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a muffin tin with paper liners.  In a food processor, pulse frozen raspberries until finely chopped and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in lemon zest, raspberry extract, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time until incorporated.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pudding mix. Add half the dry ingredient mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mixing until combined. Mix in the milk and then the rest of the dry mixture.

4. Stir in raspberries. Fill muffin tins ¾ full and bake at 350 for about 18-20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

½ cup half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ teaspoons raspberry extract

Pinch of salt

2-3 drops red food coloring

4 cups powdered sugar

½ cup white chocolate

Directions:

1.  Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave and set aside to cool. Cream the butter, vanilla, and raspberry extract until the butter is soft. Beat in 2 cups of powdered sugar.

2. Beat in the half and half and red food coloring. Add the last 2 cups of powdered sugar. Beat until fluffy (this may take several minutes).

3. Beat in the melted white chocolate.  (If the frosting is not the desired consistency, you can add more half and half or more powdered sugar.)

4. Fill a decorator bag with icing and pipe swirls onto cupcakes (I use a Wilton large star tip). Garnish with fresh (or frozen) raspberries or pearl sprinkles.