A Wonderful Weekend {Banana Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting}

What a wonderful weekend!  It started with a phone call from my Phi Mu sister Rachelle sharing the news that she and David are engaged, and ended with a call from my dad sharing the news of his engagement to Sherry!  I am so happy for all of them and excited for the celebrations to come! 

More weekend fun included a batch of cinnamon ice cream, pool-side Food & Wine magazine reading, a drink with Andrea and Gabe at the new Virtue Feed & Grain in Old Town Alexandria, and a quick cleaning of our apartment.  So maybe cleaning isn’t the most thrilling, but I sure felt good when it was done!

These banana cupcakes are perfect for a special celebration (like an engagement) or just for fun!  I made them last weekend to share with my in-laws in Pittsburgh and a few coworkers.  The recipe makes two dozen cupcakes, so there were plenty to go around!  I used a basic vanilla frosting, but they would also be delicious with a peanut butter frosting or the vanilla pastry cream that Michelle uses in the original recipe on Brown Eyed Baker. 

And don’t worry dad – I’ll make something banana-free for you!

Raspberry Cupcakes

After moving to our new apartment, travelling back and forth across the country a few times, and getting my new pink stand mixer, I am definitely back into the swing of baking goodies.  For my little sister Stacy’s graduation from San Francisco State University last month (I’m so proud of you!), I made white chocolate chip cookies with toasted walnuts.  The recipe, adapted from Michelle’s at Brown Eyed Baker, has become my new favorite white chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Over Memorial Day weekend, Dan and I had a special guest over for dinner, and I made a batch of these tasty raspberry cupcakes for dessert.  They were a great end to our dinner of pork tenderloin, salad, roasted new potatoes, and bottle of Cabernet Franc from Veramar vineyards (one of my favorites).  I adapted the recipe for these cupcakes from one for classic yellow cupcakes in The Art of Soul of Baking, a book Stacy gave me for Christmas last year.  The book is full of little sticky tabs on the recipes I want to try, including the soufflé on the cover; but that will have to wait for another day.  In the meantime, enjoy these little beauties!