“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” –Dr. Seuss

We look for inspiration in all parts of our life. It is inspiration that makes life worth living. Inspiration is the reason we get up in the morning, and the reason we smile and push through our day. The inspiration for today’s recipe comes from a few places. It started with a package of Japanese jelly beans that a friend bought me. Japanese jelly beans are not like the American kind. They look the same, but then when you bite into them you find them to be very different, but just as wonderful. This made me think of my niece, Dianna Marie.

Dianna is one of those souls that was born to stand out. When she was little she could always be found moving and shaking. She would dance when there was no music, and when asked about it she once said, “I’m dancing to the music in my head.” She has also told her mother that she has trouble hearing, “because the music in my head is too loud.” To which my sister must tell her to turn it down. Who ever thought a parent would have to tell their child to turn down the music that only they can hear? This is Dianna. She is weird and amazing, beautiful and kind, goofy and sweet. She dances when no one is watching, and she dances when everyone is watching and she doesn’t care what others think. Dianna is a teenager now, and I hope that the world doesn’t crush her free spirit. She has a soul that needs to be cultivated and not stifled, and like she says, “I’m my own kind of special.” To make a recipe for her I knew it had to be different. There is a picture of Dianna that always makes me smile, where she has a lemon wedge in her mouth. Dianna always liked lemons when she was little, so the cupcake had to be a lemon cupcake. I also decided to add in the jelly beans and make the cake tie –dyed to symbolize her colorful soul. Then I topped it with a banana whipped frosting, some jelly beans and a peach slice. These cupcakes are a reflection of Dianna; sweet and fun, and special in their own way.

Lemon cupcake with Jelly beans

1 ½ cups butter- softened

1 ½ cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsps. Lemon extract

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup milk

2 ½ cups flour

2 ½ tsps. Baking powder

*In mixer with whisk attachment, mix butter and sugar until smooth, add in eggs lemon, cream and milk, whip for 1 minute, and add in flour and baking powder

*Bake 350 F/180 C

For 20-25 minutes

Banana Whipped Frosting

8 ounces Heavy Whip Cream

¼ cup confectioner sugar

2 tsp banana extract

*In mixer with whisk attachment, whip the cream until soft peaks form; add in banana extract and confectioner sugar, whip until hard peaks form.

*If hard peaks are not forming, you can add in confectioner’s sugar 1 tbsp. at a time until they do.

*Chill one hour

*Baker’s Notes:

To get the tie-dyed effect, I separated the batter into four bowls, and added food coloring. I choose four colors; you could do more or less. I then added one major color to about ¼ of the baking container, and then added a small soup spoon amount of the remaining colors. I then took a tooth pick and swirled it to give it the tie-dyed look. I had to use my convection microwave (it is not worthy of the name oven anymore), and it’s Japanese so I was working in degrees Celsius. My first batch backed for 24 minutes, and came out perfect, and the second set baked for 22 minutes and again turned out perfect. The recipe will make about 36-48 cupcakes depending on how much you put in each cupcake well.

I used mini cake pans to make the cupcake part for these, and they turned out cute. I do have to say that I didn’t remove them from their individual pans because when I tried the jelly beans stuck and ruined the cake, so instead I frosted and decorated in their individual pan and served them this way (after they cooled for 30 minutes). Overall, this was an easy recipe to make and with baking and preparing everything it took me about an hour and a half to complete. When I saw the finished product it reminded me of Dianna and I will have to make them for her the next time I see her.

#baking #recipes