Kids, Raspberry Cupcakes and Traveling Home

This weekend we are leaving for a two week trip home. I will be traveling alone with our little one and then C. will join us a week later. I have always been one to travel light and never took long to pack and go. Things have changed now, so the days before we travel overseas, I have to make sure I have everything in place so that we have a successful, smooth trip.

It has been busy around here, but I wanted to make sure we had one last play date with our good friend S. Blowing bubbles, balloons, spring weather and of course, cupcakes.

When Jill was here, she introduced me to xylitol. I had seen it at Whole Foods before, but never baked with it. Because I always try to cook and bake very healthy for kids, I decided to make the cupcakes with xylitol and fresh raspberries.

I didn’t notice much of a difference once the cupcakes were baked. Xylitol is coarser than granulated sugar so when creaming the butter, there is a slight difference and perhaps doesn’t become as fluffy, but the final product had great texture and what’s most important, no after taste.

I will be blogging during this trip and will keep updating with photos from our trip. We will be definitely eating here, shopping here, visiting here and hopefully, watching this. I hope the weather helps. The Basque Country in Spring can be quite unpredictable!

Raspberry Cupcakes

adapted from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

4 oz butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups xylitol
2 cups self rising flour
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Cream the butter and xylitol for about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and mix. While continuing to mix, add the flour and milk alternatively, finishing with the milk. Mix until incorporated.

Separately, whip the egg whites to semi stiff peaks and fold them into the batter gently. Fold in the raspberries.

Divide the batter amongst 24 baking cups and bake at 350 for about 14 minutes until done.

Vanilla Buttercream

150 grams of egg whites
300 grams of granulated sugar
450 grams of room temperature unsalted butter
1 Tbs vanilla extract
Natural red food coloring

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together egg whites and the sugar lightly. Place over a water bath until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is hot to the touch. It will look like light marshmallow.

Bring bowl to the electric mixer and whip until stiff peaks form and the bottom of the bowl feels cool.

Add butter, a tablespoon at a time while whipping. It might look like it is curdling at one point but continue to whip until it comes together.

Add vanilla extract and red food coloring and mix until incorporated.