Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Mix butter and cream cheese together until completely mixed. Butter should be at room temperature. I used pretty cold cream cheese, but do whatever you want.

Add the eggs and sugar alternately, mixing well between additions. Add SIFTED flour by cups and finish it up with the vanilla. I almost forgot the vanilla. Don’t be like me. Remember your vanilla. It remembers you.

This batter is pretty thick and really doesn’t rise that much in the oven, so you should fill up those muffin cups. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. They turn VERY brown, so get ready for them to start looking overdone before they are actually done.

For buttercream:

Cream together the shortening and butter. Add powdered sugar and raspberry extract; beat until well mixed. At this point, just dip your hand into the bowl and eat all of the frosting right away. You’ll thank me later. With whatever you can pry out of your hands, go ahead and frost those cupcakes.

I used some leftover fondant I had made the week before (16 oz bag of mini marshmallows + 2 Tbsp water, melt marshmallows then add 2lb bag of powdered sugar, knead until smooth and elastic – refer to my blog for details at www.firethehousewife.com.)