Lions and Lace: Your New Favorite Cupcake.

**It's Valentine's Week here at Vessel Handmade. 5 Days of holiday themed posts. We'll have tutorials, recipes, decor and DIY. So follow along and fall in love. All projects and recipes will be linked at the bottom of each blog as they are posted.**

Today is my favorite day of Valentines Week. Dessert. Confession:I have not met a dessert I could pass up. I think meals should start and end with it. Eating healthy doesn't always allow for it but Valentine's Day is such a good excuse to indulge.

When it comes to sweets and Valentine's day, I instantly think chocolate and fruit. Something romantic about the combo of the two. I, however, love to bake. So I wanted to do something by meshing the two. Thus, the Raspberry Bliss cupcake was born. Thank me now.

Usually, I try to share more simple recipes here. This recipe is not that but it is worth the work.

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

1 box of white cake mix ( I prefer the box with pudding)

3 egg whites

1/3 cup vegetable oil

6oz chocolate chopped up really fine

Filling:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1/4 cup chocolate covered toffee

1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Frosting:

12oz white chocolate chips

1 cup softened unsalted butter

16oz softened cream cheese

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

6 oz bittersweet chocolate

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Grab your cake mix and ignore what the box says. Combine the ingredients listed above. Mix on low 30 sec. and Medium speed an additional 2 or so minutes.

Fill lined cupcake pan about 2/3 full.Bake until cupcake springs back. About 15-18 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

Now for our filling. Beat the whipping cream (1 cup) on med-high speed until it has thickened. Usually takes just a minute. Add powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Stir in remaining filling ingredients.

Remove the center of cooled cupcakes using an apple corer. Fill center with filling. I use a ziplock bag to avoid messes.

Next up is our ganache. Start by boiling the heavy cream. Once it reaches a boil, remove from heat and pour over chocolate in a separate bowl. Cover and let sit for 4-5 min. Mix until well combined. Let your ganache completely cool...about one hour. Then spread evenly over each cupcake.

Lastly, our frosting. Cream together butter and cream cheese. Melt white chocolate according to packaging. Allow to cool to room temp but still liquid like. Once cooled mix chocolate, cream mixture and vanilla together. Add to top of cupcake.