Spaghetti & Meatballs

The Occasion
Nothing special... I wanted to make cupcakes and I received Hello Cupcake for Christmas so I flipped through it for ideas. This was the only food-related cupcake design that I had all the ingredients for without needing a run to the store. I modified the recipe a bit- homemade raspberry tart instead of strawberry jam and brownie meatballs instead of chocolate candy.

Cupcakes: White Almond Wedding Cake
Frosting: Buttercream
Spaghetti Sauce: Raspberry Tart - the raspberry texture looked like chunky marina sauce.
Meatballs: Brownies, slightly undercooked and rolled into a ball.
Cheese (on top): Bakers white chocolate, shaved

Changes for next time

• Make enough meatballs for each cupcake- they were delicious and added a lot to the look.
• The frosting would do well to be refrigerated overnight so that it is thicker. The noodles didn't turn out well when the frosting was getting warm.
• Refrigerate the cupcakes after adding one layer of noodles helped the frosting to retain it's 'noodle' shape and not melt together. Props to Nate for this idea... unfortunately I had already finished most of this batch by the time we tried it!
  

Raspberry Filling

A favorite filling recipe and one that has been used enough, I figure it has earned its own post. Recipe makes about 2 cups.

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen raspberries packed in sugar thawed
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions:

Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir thawed raspberries into cooled mixture.

Original recipe from Wilton.com