WHITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH RASPBERRY FILLING AND WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

My baby turned 2 this last week...

which means I did a lot of baking. He is obsessed with cars right now so I bought a Wilton 3D car cake pan and baked him a car cake.

I made caramel corn and found these cute popcorn holders at Target...

and I made sugar cookies...


I also made Ina's chocolate cake (which I will be sharing with you soon) and after all that I thought I needed more cupcakes just in case but I was low on flour. I usually try to make everything from scratch, especially baked goods but sometimes there isn't enough time in the day or ingredients on hand and a box mix has to do. This is my favorite doctored box cake mix recipe!

WHITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH RASPBERRY FILLING AND WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
Adapted from Peggy Weaver
Yeilds 6 cups of batter, about 36 cupcakes

Cake:
6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 box plain white cake mix (Duncan Hines preferred)
2/3 cup water
4 ounces room temp softened butter
3 extra large whole eggs
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
small jar of raspberry jam
chambord (optional)

FROSTING: (enough to frost 24 cupcakes)
10 oz white chocolate
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
approximately 4 cups powdered sugar
approximately 1/4 cup cream

Preheat oven to 325 Degrees. Place rack in center of the oven. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

Melt the white chocolate in microwave stirring every 30 seconds until melted or according to package directions.

Place the cake mix, water, butter, whole eggs, egg white and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the slightly cooled white chocolate. Blend with a mixer on low for 2 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix for an additional 2 minutes. Scrape down again if needed. The batter should look well blended.

Line the cupcake pan with liners and fill approx 1/2 way to 2/3 full. The cupcakes have a flat top once baked so you don't want to overfill with batter or your cupcakes will spill over when baking.

Bake the cupcakes until they are golden brown and spring back slightly when lightly pressed with your finger, about 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes or more before decorating.

Meanwhile stir the raspberry jam in a bowl add a little chambord if desired, to taste. Fill each cupcake with a little jam. I have a tool for this but you can also use the cone method. Basically, you cut a cone out of the center of the cupcake, spoon in jam, cut off the tip of the cone and put the cone top back on. Once you frost you won't see the cone (circle) that you just cut.

FROSTING:
Melt white chocolate over double boiler (or in microwave), stirring often. Once melted removed from heat and let cool almost completely. Meanwhile cream butter for about a minute. Add chocolate to butter. Continue to mix at low to medium speed while adding vanilla. Gradually add in cream and sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost the cupcakes once they are cooled. Decorate each cupcake with a fresh raspberry.

PRINTABLE RECIPE