Sunday afternoon, I prepared a small buffet for a bridal shower. The shower was going to be at 3 in the afternoon. What to offer when it is so close to lunch?  I wanted to offer some light refreshments, and bite-size hors d’oeuvres. I also wanted to offer a variety of food, not just sweets. This is the menu I came up with:

• Gorgonzola wafer with red pepper jelly,
• Chicken salad on croissant,
• Tomato, bacon and purple onion tartlet,
• Vanilla, chocolate and raspberry macarons,
• Fruit tartlets
• Devil’s cupcakes
• and nuts.

Even though many people said that they were not very hungry, they helped themselves quite a bit to the hors d’oeuvres, and I am glad because I did not want my host to have lots of left-overs;-)
I will not share all the recipes today, but thought I would entice you with the Devil’s Cupcake Recipe. It was very well received at the party and at home.

( I had made a few extra at home, and my teenager son engulfed 5 at once- I would say he liked them:-)).
The cupcakes batter that I used is from a recipe taken from  a book entitled Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski.
The frosting is a creation of mine inspired by one of my favorite cake topping:-)

Ingredients for 24 big cupcakes or 60 mini or 90 extra mini ones.

2 cups of flour, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 cup of unsweetened chocolate powder, 2 eggs at room temperature, 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 cup of lukewarm water, 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

In a bowl, sieve the flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate powder,  and set aside.

In a mixer, place the butter and the granulated sugar and the brown sugar and beat until it becomes light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time and beat them in. Add the vanilla.  In a bowl, mix the water and the buttermilk. Incorporate the flour mixture in three times, mixing in the water mixture in between each time.
Beat at a very low-speed, just enough to mix the flour in well.
Beat on high for a minute until all the ingredients have been incorporated.  Empty the batter into a ziplock bag, cut a corner and fill each of the cupcake openings.

I used the square mini tray and the mini cupcakes. I cooked the mini for 8 minutes, and the mini  for 12 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool before piping the frosting.

Frosting. 2 bags of bittersweet Guiradhelli chocolate chips, 3 sticks of butter at room temperature, 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of sugar.
Place the chocolate in a microwaveable bowl and heat the chocolate up for 2 minutes.
Let the chocolate cool a bit, then add the butter and beat it. Add the sour cream and beat on high until it fluffed up. If it is still too soft, place it in the fridge for a few minutes to get cold.
Take it back out and beat it to fluff it up.
Place the frosting in a pastry bag and pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Use pearls candy to decorate. Et voila;-)

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!