Hungry Hungry Highness: Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

I've been losing sleep lately.
I've been losing sleep because I have been HARDCORE craving raspberries for two weeks! I didn't know you could lose sleep over cravings!
I went to four stores looking for raspberries, and the only one that had them was the BYU creamery, which had a teeeeeny tiny container for $6.89.

I thought it was a joke. Seven bucks for raspberries?

Thankfully, my roommate Lexie is a sweetheart and used her meal plan to pay for them because I was bound and determined to not pay that much for raspberries. (She's the best.)

So I had dreamed up (literally had a dream about them) a recipe for Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle cupcakes. I looked everywhere and they just didn't exist.

So I went on an adventure to invent them.

And man, are these winners!!! They are just as good as they sound.

I wanted the base of the cupcake to be a really, really fluffy vanilla. I wanted them to be filled with white chocolate mousse. I wanted the frosting to be really fluffy raspberry buttercream with a hint of white chocolate. And I wanted them to be adorable.

I tweaked my white cupcake recipe from Couple Of Cooks.

White Cupcakes

Yields 18-20 deliciously full-sized cupcakes

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour (I used 1 cup minus 2 tbsp all purpose flour, then added 2 tbsp corn starch. This is my go-to cake flour recipe. Make sure to mix the flour and corn starch together really well.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
4 large egg whites, room temperature (I put my cold eggs soaking in warm water for 3 minutes or so)
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 fahrenheit (If you're at high altitude, preheat to 385). Line cupcake tins with adorable cupcake liners.

2. Mix together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk until incorporated.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, and egg whites. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

5. Add the vanilla extract to the butter mixture. While the mixer is on low, add the flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk/sour cream mixture. (You'll start and end with flour mixture).

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (If you make mini cupcakes, they take about 13 minutes.)

White Chocolate Filling

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I used Guittard's white chocolate chips-- they're so delicious!)

Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Melt the white chocolate really slowly (15 seconds at a time, stirring between each time). Add the melted chocolate to the whipped cream and whip it until it's really stiff and incorporated. Set aside about 1 cup for the frosting recipe.

Filling the Cupcakes

Cut a cone shape out of the top of each cupcake. Cut the bottom tip of the cone shape off and discard (AKA eat that sucker before someone else does). Pipe some of the filling into the hole and put the flat top back on.

White Chocolate Raspberry Frosting

1 cup of the white chocolate mousse filling

1 stick butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup frozen raspberries, microwaved for about 20 seconds (I had fresh but I used frozen because when you thaw them in the microwave, they release so many juices. If you use fresh, microwave them to release the juices, enhance the flavor, and enhance the color.)

Cream the butter and add the powdered sugar. Add the raspberries slowly and then lastly add the mousse filling. Beat until it's really fluffy and tasty.