Parmesan Sour Cream Cupcakes with Raspberry Whipped Cream Frosting

Cross a cheese biscuit with angel food cake and you get Parmesan sour cream cupcakes.  They're buttery, airy, sticky and sugary on the edges, and they have a tang from Parmesan that works in a cupcake so much better than you would ever expect.  If you like the combination of sweet and salty, this is a cupcake for you. 

The Parmesan sour cream cake recipe came from Susan at LunaCafe.  She was inspired to develop the recipe after trying Parmesan pound cake at Metrovino in Portland, Oregon.  Susan had the following to say about her version of the Parmesan cake:

This is one of the most delectable butter cakes in my repertoire. It’s unlikely that anyone will detect the parmesan if not told in advance of its presence. It adds an extra something though that is irresistible (umami), and yes, possibly addictive.

After reading her description of the Parmesan cake, I had to turn it into cupcakes and share the recipe with you! 

Business Time: Announcing New Save Recipe and Pinterest Buttons - Plus a MOO Card Giveaway

My MOO cards

Let's talk business for a few minutes.  Cupcake Project has a couple of new features designed to make your life easier.  First, I'll share them with you, and then I'll tell you about a sweet MOO card giveaway (MOO cards are business cards, but you'll love them even if you don't have a business - I'll explain why later).

Buffalo Chicken Super Bowl Cupcakes

After hearing that I was going to bake buffalo chicken Super Bowl cupcakes (with hot sauce and blue cheese in the cake and a blue cheese buttercream frosting), one of my friends asked if I would be baking the cupcakes as as a joke.  "Are they just supposed to be funny, or will you actually enjoy eating buffalo chicken cupcakes?"  Having not yet baked the Super Bowl cupcakes, I told them that I was baking them mostly for the fun of it.  I didn't expect them to be particularly good.

When my house started to smell like buffalo wings (there was no chicken involved at this point), I knew I had the flavor right.  When I took a lick of my cupcake batter-laden finger, I began to suspect that I was going to like the buffalo chicken cupcakes.  When I tasted the cupcakes hot out of the oven, I realized that I had created a new crowd-pleasing Super Bowl tradition.

Shoofly Pie Cupcakes

If you saw my post on shoofly pie bars, you now know what shoofly pie is (if you didn't see the post, have a look).  I could say that shoofly pie cupcakes are my cupcake interpretation of shoofly pie.  But, it's more fun to say that shoofly pie cupcakes are the cupcake version of shoofly pie bars, which are the bar version of shoofly pie.

Shoofly pie cupcakes are sticky sweet cupcakes made with sugar syrup and brown sugar crumbs.  They are best served warm with whipped cream or à la mode.