The Perfect Bridal Shower Cupcake

Recently I hosted a bridal shower for a dear friend of mine. I wanted the shower to be similar to afternoon tea, complete with dainty finger foods and champagne (note: no one drank the tea). I'm not normally a huge fan of cake but based on the ghastly reaction I received from my Maid of Honor when she asked what kind of cake I wanted at my own shower and I responded with "fruit tart," I wanted to be sure we had a cake in some form. Apparently this is appropriate "shower etiquette." So I set out to find The Perfect Bridal Shower Cupcake. And I think I found it... but not on the first try.

About the time I began planning the event (for a bride who is an event planner, no less) my mother gave me a cupcake cookbook with pictures to die for. After salivating over each page, I decided on the most girly and yet indulgent looking cupcake: the Frou Frou cupcake. The surprise is that it doesn't have chocolate - I dare say a staple among the female species and sure-fire winner- but instead is a delicate raspberry-coconut cake covered in coconut cream cheese frosting and topped with toasted coconut and raspberries.

Thankfully I planned to make the cakes ahead of time, "just in case," and freeze them unfrosted if they turned out well. I'm not sure if it was the suffocating heat and humidity that day or a mistake along the way, but the cakes didn't rise at all and looked and tasted more like a dense fruit cobbler. The husband found them to be buttery-rich and very tasty, but they weren't exactly what I was going for. So I headed back to the store for more ingredients and "just in case," I picked up a couple boxes of Trader Joe's Vanilla Cake mix with madagascar bourbon vanilla flavor.

Running short on time and energy with my almost-one year old in tow, I decided to cheat n use the cake mix, and adding raspberries and coconut to the batter. OH MY GAWD. Perfectly light and fluffy cakes, and the bourbon vanilla bean was a fantastic flavor addition and one I'm not sure if I could recreate on my own without some pricey ingredients. And then there was frosting. When I do eat cake I generally avoid the frosting but this homemade cake paint was To. Die. For. All together the constructed cupcake was a hit and friends are still talking about it... but shhh... they don't know it came from a mix!

So I'm including the original recipe from Cupcakes by Pamela Clark. Perhaps you'll have better luck with Frou Frou than I did, but if not, there's always T.J.'s cake mix!

Frou Frou Cupcakes

• 1 stick butter softened

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup Self-rising Flour

• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

• 1/3 cup sour cream

• 5 oz frozen raspberries

Cream cheese frosting

• 5 T butter softened

• 12 oz cream cheese softened

• 2 tsp coconut extract

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• Decorations

• 1 cup flaked coconut, toasted

• 15 fresh raspberries halved

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350 degrees. Line 6 hole texas or 12 hole standard muffin pan with paper cups.

2. Beat butter, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

3. Stir in sifted flour, coconut, cream and frozen raspberries. Divide mixture among cases, smooth surface.

4. Bake large cakes about 30 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.

5. Make cream cheese frosting.

6. Remove paper from cake, spread cake sides with frosting

7. Roll sides in coconut and then spread frosting on top surface and top with raspberries.

Cream cheese frosting:

Beat buttter, cream cheese and essence in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sifted icing sugar.