Yogurt Cupcakes with Black Sesame Chocolate Frosting and Cranberry Creamcheese Frosting

Yay! A birthday party! An excuse to make cupcakes and there will be people eating them! What to do! What to do! I was told to make something simple. But... but... I want to try something new - something exciting!

First - new cake recipe - Yogurt Cake from Chocolate & Zucchini. It was extremely simple to make with all the ingredients I already have. I made one and a half times the recipe and got 28 cupcakes. They came out just ok by themselves - a little leathery and bland compared to the vanilla cupcake recipe that I always use. Maybe I over mixed the batter. Oh well - it gave me more incentive to make fancy frosting.


Black Sesame Chocolate Frosting - Doesn't look pretty but was delicious.

Black Sesame Chocolate Frosting

• 1/2 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder


• 4 tablespoons black sesame seeds - ground (I ground mine in a coffee grinder.)


• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• About 1 tablespoon milk

Directions

1. With an electric mixer, whip butter until fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Beat with low setting first and slowly increase the setting. At the same time sprinkle milk over as needed to get the right consistency.


2. Add cocoa powder, ground black sesame, sesame oil and vanilla extract. Beat until blended with medium high setting. Add more milk if needed.

Fresh Cranberry Creamcheese Frosting - The perfect blend of tart - sweet - and creamy.

Cranberry Creamcheese Frosting
I got the idea from the Apple Cranberry Crisp. I prepared cranberries exactly like the crisp recipe but then added cooled cranberries into whipped creamcheese and I got delicious cranberry creamcheese frosting.

• 1 cup fresh cranberries


• 1/4 cup 100% pomegranate juice


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 1 package of 8 oz. creamcheese - room temperature


• 1/2 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar

Directions

1. Over medium heat, boil pomegranate juice and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Stir frequently until sugar melts. Add cranberries. Cover during the first few minutes so that bursting cranberries won't make anymore mess. Stir occasionally. Simmer until the liquid reduces. Let cool completely.


2. Beat creamcheese and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar. Beat until combined. Add cranberry mixture. Beat at medium setting until blended.