Dessert Week 3: Angel Food Sweethearts

My mom cut this recipe out of a magazine for me. It had me at: cream cheese frosting, cake, and strawberries. Than the real deal breaker: low fat! Prepared correctly, they are 123 calories each. That's the story, as simple as that!

Austin and I made them for our play date today so we wouldn't have 36 cupcakes in the house just for us. They aren't low fat anymore if you eat 12 of them :)

Angel Food Sweethearts
1 16oz box angel food cake mix
1 tsp almond extract
1 8oz low fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup frozen fat free whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup strawberry jam, warmed
fresh strawberries, halved

Step 1: Prepare and bake cake mix(as cupcakes) according to package directions. Add almond extract to mix.

Step 2: Let cool completely.

Step 3: In electric mixer, beat cream cheese, whipped topping, and confectioners' sugar in bowl on low speed for 1 minute.

Step 4: Pipe frosting into a heart shape onto each cupcake.

Step 5: Fill center of hearts with warmed strawberry jam and top with a fresh strawberry.

Note: Because of the cream cheese frosting, the cupcakes must stay refrigerated until ready to serve.

Kitchen Play by Play: I don't know why I am surprised that a boxed cake mix recipe kicked my ass, but I am. There needed to be almond extract added to the cake mix??? Yeah...totally did not see that until I just typed out the recipe. That sucks.

I switched it up a bit and bought Funfetti Angel Food cake mix since the cupcakes were mainly for the kids. Austin did a really good job helping put the liners in the muffin pan :) I, however, did not do a good job filling them with batter. Batch one blew up like a balloon and some were burnt. They were huge and came together to form one giant cupcake. Learned my lesson for batch 2. I only filled the liners half way. Much better. Although, batch one still tasted damn good, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to prep. The frosting mixture was super easy to make, but trying to pipe a heart onto the cupcake...not so much. I just put all the frosting in a Ziploc bag and cut off the tip, so clearly I was not working with professional decorating supplies. But who am I kidding? The demise of the hearts had little to do with the apparatus and everything to do with the user. I am artistically challenged. I almost failed kindergarten because I couldn't cut straight. True story, ask my mother. So after about 4 attempts at hearts, I gave up and just plopped some frosting on each cupcake. Since there weren't any hearts adding the jam seemed pointless, so I just stuck a strawberry on top and called it a day. Done and Done.

The Finished Product The only one that even resembled a heart
(This was also a Batch 1 cupcake. Hence, the largeness of it and ripped edges from trying to tear it apart from the others)

The Verdict:
Nicole- Note: Burnt Angel Food Cake muffins taste like a toasted marshmallow. Needless to say, I was not too sad about "ruining" some of the cupcakes. I LOVED the frosting. It was very yummy and got very thick as it sat in the fridge. I did not miss the jam at all. Plus, my rational is that if the jam isn't on there than that brings the calorie count to more like 100 calories per cupcake which means I can have 2 or 3 more without too much guilt. Overall, I give it a 4. Though it was a hassle at first, I have learned from my mistakes and will be ready to roll next time around.

Paul- gives it a 3. He liked them but is not a huge cake person.

Austin- Big thumbs up. In 2 days, he's had 5 cupcakes. Three without frosting.

Dianna-"4 for the cupcakes...I like angel food cake (and I may or may not have eaten two more), but I rate the icing a 5. Give me a spoon, and I would be happy eating the icing with (or without) the strawberries."

Natalie and Cara- give the cupcakes a 5; anything in cupcake form will always be a hit.