Birthday Cupcakes

So after all that talk about layer cakes and making big plans for an extravagant birthday cake, I ended up settling on cupcakes after all. Cupcakes and I have a rocky history--I think they know I'm a cookie girl and in turn, refuse to cooperate with me, especially the fricking frosting--but I was determined to make some summery, berry-filled ones this weekend with frosting that didn't melt before I could even put it on the cupcakes.

Also, since a friend of ours came into town from Munich to spend the weekend with us (hi Marie!), I didn't want to spend half our time together in the kitchen. So I picked up a couple boxes of good-looking raspberries from the store and decided to try my hand at these bad boys from Pâtisserie Natalie. And let me just say, although mine didn't turn out nearly as gorgeous as hers did (I also didn't find blackberries, so only made one frosting type), they made up for it with their incredible tart lemony offset by perfectly sweet-but-not-too-sweet raspberry flavor. Definitely a recipe I'll be making again!

 

Since I hadn't finished frosting them before my surprise party (YES! A surprise party! Best thing ever! More to come on that in my next post!), I ended up bringing these to work with me, as is tradition in Germany. (On your birthday, you bring treats for people or pay for a round or two, etc. I thought it was weird at first, but now I totally love it.) Here they are in their fancy little carrier--not suitable for bike transport, which I had previously learned the hard way.

And since it was post-Indepence Day too, I was pleased to realize that they were (accidentally) appropriately patriotically color-coordinated. Happy accidents are the best.