raspberry & chocolate = the perfect combination

Raspberries are one of my favorite fruits... they're so delicious - I love them plain, mixed in with yogurt, ice cream or in desserts! See my blog entry on chocolate raspberry cheesecake for a super delicious chocolate/raspberry combination. In fact, I ate a piece of that tonight BEFORE dinner... my mom made it on Sunday and I'm still snacking on leftovers! Yumm...

Anyway, back to my raspberry & chocolate cupcakes. I decided to concoct a raspberry icing recipe and try it on a basic chocolate cupcake. I used seedless raspberry jam for the flavoring, as well as a touch of raspberry syrup. I'm not completely satisfied with the result - the icing looks pretty, and I like the color (no food coloring added), but the icing tastes too much like jam. I wanted more of a natural, raspberry flavor, so next time I'm going to use the real thing. I was in the mood to experiment tonight, and I didn't have any fresh raspberries on hand, so I had to improvise! Hey, you live and learn... right? Here are a few pictures: