Raspberry Swirl Cupcakes

My mom and I threw my sister a bridal shower a couple of weekends ago, and one of my duties was to make dessert! Of course I decided to make cupcakes, but I wanted to try something different. I was browsing through one of my many cupcake books, and ran across and idea for raspberry swirl cupcakes.

The recipe is very simple. First, prepare cake mix as directed on the box. I used white, but you could use any flavor. Then, fill cupcake liners (I used these cute Wilton flower pleated baking cups I found at Home Goods). Then, take raspberry (or any other flavor) canned pie filling and scoop 1/2 tsp. into the center of each unbaked cupcake. Use a toothpick to swirl the pie filling around. Then, bake cupcakes as directed. The result is a really cool swirl on top of the cupcake.

To make the frosting, I used the Wilton chocolate buttercream recipe. Instead of water, I used the juice from a bag of frozen raspberries and then I added some chopped raspberries to the frosting. This gave the frosting a slight hint of raspberry flavoring.

Once the cupcakes were cooled and the frosting was ready to go, I frosted the cupcakes and topped with a fresh raspberry and some pink sprinkles. 

In case you were wondering, this is what the inside of the cupcake looks like with the pie filling. YUM!