A Tale of Two Frostings

It's birthday celebration time at the office tomorrow and as usual, I was selected to bring the dessert. This usually means a cake of some sort but I wasn't very interested in that as I had just baked a cake a couple of weeks ago.

Instead, I opted for cupcakes which are ALL THE RAGE it seems around the country. What is it with the cupcake phenomenon? There are entire bakeries and blogs devoted solely to the subject. I think the appeal is that each person gets their own mini-cake and for me, they are so reminiscent of childhood lunches. You can hold the little darling in your hand with it's protective paper wrapper and nibble away. Also, when done correctly, it is such a wonderful vehicle for the frosting which after all is the most important part of any good cake.

The cupcake used for this cooking session was a basic yellow cake mix as I had no time to do scratch cupcakes. The frosting choice was difficult though so I decided on two different ones for people to choose from. I made a refreshing lemon buttercream frosting and a more rich, smooth peanut butter frosting. Both turned out to be tasty and I believe a nice contract to each other. I didn't use a particular recipe for either but I will leave you with approximate measurements for each. Peanut Butter Frosting
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk (more more to get desired spreadable consistency

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix on medium speed until a smooth and creamy consistency is achieved. Frosts 12-14 cupcakes.
Lemon Frosting
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup milk (or more to get desired spreadable consistency)

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Frosts 12-14 cupcakes.