Spring Fling Strawberry-Pineapple Cupcakes

Yesterday I made cupcakes - not just any cupcakes, though, as these ones:

• were made to have with family and friends along with some champagne to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary,
• were a trial-run of the recipe that we'll be using for Malcolm and Christie's wedding in May,
• and were used by me to practice taking food photographs.

If you recall in a previous post (here) I looked at eight ways to take better food photos.  I have never taken a picture of food that I was happy with, until now that is.  I'm not looking for perfection, just photos that make you want to try the food.  I knew I had done just that when William walked by the computer and said that my pictures made him want to go and eat a cupcake.

The cupcakes tasted fantastic and just in case you want to make some for your sweeties for Valentine's Day, I've posted the recipe. 

The recipe is from the recent Kraft Canada What's Cooking magazine.  Christie's Grandmother has used the recipe in the past and recommended it.  It's one of those recipes that is easy to make, yummy, and looks good.

The original recipe called for using an angel food cake mix, but I used a white cake mix - either way would be good. 

To make the icing you mix together:
1 pkg (4-serving size) Jell-O Vanilla instant pudding
1 can (14 fl oz/398mL) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

You gently stir the ingredients together and then spread it on the cooled cupcakes.  Top each cupcake with a half strawberry.

The photo-shoot of the finished cupcakes was a lot of fun.  Here's a look at my set-up.   I taped some craft paper to a chair and then changed the backgrounds in the pictures by using a couple of pieces of scrapbooking paper, a paper doily, and some different plates.  I made sure the light coming in from the window was at 10:00 as per the tips in my food photography post.  And that's as fancy as I got.

And just so you know - the cupcakes were sampled and come with our stamp of approval.

Linked to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style 
and Bokeh Party at Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures
and Friday Photo Challenge at Razmataz