I need a vacation. I need tropical breezes, crystal clear waters and sand between my toes. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen any time soon. Prior obligations such as weddings and gainful employment have made it so that I can't drive down to Key West or Fly to Rio De Janeiro on a whim. Thus, leaving me with only one option: Vacation cupcakes. Delicious pineapple cupcakes with a citrus cream cheese frosting to be exact.........Mmmm. Or so I thought.
So, while on a trip to BAMM (Books A Million) I wandered over to the clearance section and perused the selection of marked down cookbooks. After deliberating for several minutes, one of my choices was a book simply titled, Cupcakes by Susanna Tee.
One evening, I decided to look through the book and see what it had to offer. After looking through nearly 40 pages of less than stellar cupcake recipes I came across what seemed to be the perfect "Tastebud Vacay": Tropical Pineapple Cupcakes w/ Citrus Cream Frosting. I decided that I would make these on Wednesday since I had a half-day at work (woot!) and enjoy a mini-vacation on my couch. Yeah right.
This is what came out of the oven:
(take note of their location.....the trash)
It turned out to a be a horrible, dry , mis-measured mess. I followed the recipe exactly and I ended up with pineapple biscuits. No.Thank.You. So, back to the drawing board* I went (I refuse to be defeated). I found a few pineapple cupcake recipes but due to my indecisiveness, I decided to just "wing it". The end result was a moist, delicious pineapple-y piece of heaven.
Pineapple Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup crushed pineapples (drained)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 eggs (separated)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing thoroughly. Add milk, pineapple juice and all dry ingredients, beating until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they began to form soft, shiny peaks. Fold egg whites into mixture. Fill cups 2/3 full and bake for approx. 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. Allow to cool (in the pan) on a rack for atleast 10 minutes.
Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting (courtesy of Cupcakes by Susanna Tee)
4oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tsp butter, softened
1 tsp lemon juice
grated rind of 1 lemon rind
Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add lemon rind and juice. Sift confectioner's sugar into mixture and blend well.
I had to make a few changes to the frosting so that I could use it for piping. Here's what I ended up with!
(Cupcakes awaiting shuttle from lavish resort to local beach) 
(Cupcakes relaxing oceanside)
(Cupcake soaking up a little sun)
(Cupcake posing for random photo op)
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