Lovey Cupcakes

OK, so they are not perfect. But the Bleeding Heart Cupcakes were way fun to make!

First, you're supposed to put a marble in the muffin pans right next to the foil liner so that it will press in the top to make a heart-shaped cupcake. Nice in theory. Didn't really work but this did in no way diminish our excitement. Btw, if you are following the Epicurious recipe (which I don't recommend, they are totally blah cupcakes, shhhh don't tell the children!) baking them for about 20 minutes works fine (no, they didn't include a cooking time, sigh).

Then, we cut a "dime-sized" square in the cupcake and hollowed out a tunnel for the blood-jam. Next time I would make a much bigger tunnel. Shoveled blood-jam in with a skinny steak knife. Replaced cap. Next, we made muted pink (beet juice! shhh....) frosting for the background organ. When we frosted the tops of the cupcakes, EGirl announced, "We are not going to tell anyone there is blood inside!!"


Finally, we made bright red (your grocery store generic bad news dye) and bright purple (Sur La Table highbrow frosting tint) for the veins and arteries. We even (gasp) used two small plastic bags to pipe them on the cupcakes, a major concession these days. As you can see, neither of us has a degree in anatomy.

Mwah! Kiss, kiss from our gooey house to yours.