Dream Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Gourmand wisdom:  When you have the time, and as often as you can, eat slooooooowly.  Chew your food mindfully and think about the taste, the texture, the spices and flavor.  Don't eat in front of the tv.  Sit down at your table, put your food on a plate instead of eating it out of the plastic tray, and enjoy it with deliberately small bites.  Make it last.  I cannot stress how much more enjoyment you will get out of the same food if you actually pay attention and give time to what you're eating.  Plus, you're giving your stomach more time to realize that there's food in there.  Give that food a little respect!

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There is nothing better than the smell of baking in a house.  There is something about the molecules that are released during cooking that just feed the soul when they fly up your nose (now that's a romantic image, yeah?)

So these are vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  I'll tell you right now that I cooked them too long.  I've put a reduced time in the recipe to reflect that.  In spite of their dark color, they weren't burnt, just not as moist and soft as I would have liked.

See?  They still look yummy, no?

I feel compelled to let you know that this is a low volume recipe, and intended as a once-in-a-while treat.  I got a cool dozen out of this batch, and that means you can eat four of these at a time, and it will count as one meal replacement.  I know what I'm having for breakfast the next three days.  Mmmm.

 Dream Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Ingredients:

For cupcakes:
3/8 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 vanilla shake
1 multi-grain cereal
couple drops of vanilla extract
couple drops of almond extract
couple shakes of cinnamon

For frosting:
1 chocolate 70+ shake
2 packets of non-caloric sweetener
1 teaspoon sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding
1 teaspoon non-caloric white chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon of water

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  

Start by working on the cakes.  Mix all of the cupcake ingredients together, except for water.  Add your water, and mix until combined.  Spray a mini cupcake pan with Pam, butter flavored works lovely.  Divide up your batter into twelve of the molds, filling them about 3/4 of the way.  I found that I got twelve fairly equal cakes out of this batter.  Cook for 20-25 minutes.  Watch carefully!  Like so many of these dishes, this stuff will burn fast.  Don't be alarmed if your pretty cakes deflate a bit after you take them out of the oven.  This is normal, and won't affect their taste a bit.  When they are done, take them out of the pan and put them on a cooling rack.

After placing your cute cakes in the oven, start on the frosting.   Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the water.  Stir and stir, and very quickly, you will have something that looks suspiciously like a frosting.  Refrigerate this while your cakes are baking.

After your cakes are mostly cool, frost them.  I put my frosting in a sandwich bag and snipped the corner, and attempted to pipe them creatively onto the cake, you know, so that the pictures would be spiffy?  It didn't work.  The consistency and the color of the frosting conspired against me, and led me to simply smooth on the frosting with a butter knife.

If you think these look good, watch my blog.  I have another version that I will post soon of chocolate cupcakes with a killer good frosting, and that time, the piping worked (mostly.)

This recipe counts as 2 shakes and 1 extra shake* on Decision Free.  That means you can have four at a time and count it as a shake!  Just make sure that one of those groups of four gets counted as an extra shake.

* An extra shake cannot count towards your prescription.  For instance, I'm supposed to have three shakes and two entrees per day.  If I have a 70+ pudding, I still have to drink three normal shakes, or a cereal and two normal shakes, etc.  The frosting can't go towards your minimum.  This is not as complicated as I'm making it sound...consult your coach if you're hopelessly confused now!