Nurse on the Run

So I had a GLORIOUS weekend at work (mark my words, you might never hear them again!) because I got sent home at 7pm on both Saturday and Sunday!  I had a nightmare of a night on Friday (really….no words.  It was terrible…but I did get out on time!), so I put my name on the call of list for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  I didn’t get called for an entire shift, but they asked me if I wanted to go home at 7pm on both weekend days…yes, please!!  Nursing isn’t so bad when it’s only a four hour shift.    A break was what I really  needed, and I definitely feel better after the weekend. 

Anyway, when I got sent home on Saturday, I was a zombie on the couch and watched Food Network Challenge (bakery versions!), where bakers come in and are given the challenge of making a cake to fit a certain theme…I’m hoping they have a super amateur version and invite me to be on it…hint hint!!  I was too out of it to bake on Saturday, but when I got sent home on Sunday, I knew exactly what I wanted to do….baaaaake!  It’s been way too long.

I’m not sure where I got the inspiration, but my little baker heart was set on making Lemon Raspberry cupcakes…perhaps because that sounds like a lovely summer combination and it was a hot, hot weekend?  Possibly.  I started searching the internet like nuts for a recipe that sounded delightful (they all do, let’s not fool ourselves), but I decided on this Raspberry Cupcake with Lemon and Chocolate Recipe from The Cupcake Project.

The main crisis involved here was the almond flour…the first grocery store I went to didn’t have it, and when I got to the second grocery store, a small bag was TEN DOLLARS.  I’m cheap, my bloggy friends, so I was not going to buy that!!  A little googling told me to substitute 1.5 cups of all purpose flour for 1 cup of almond flour, so I went with that…probably sacrificed a little taste, but no worries…they were still yummy. 

Onto pictures, but that’s the real reason you read my baking posts:

Ready for the oven!  Check out those raspberry and chocolate chunks!

All baked up and ready to eat!

  Decorated with homemade chocolate whipped cream and topped with raspberries!

Rudolph. 

Raspberries make everything prettier!

The inside…full raspberry chunks…love it!!

These cupcakes were great!  I wish they had a little bit more of a lemon flavor to the cake, as it wasn’t as strong as I was hoping.  Definitely something to experiment for before it gets added to the list for the REAL bakery.    I took them to work and everyone loved them…always a good sign, but then again, no one says no to free baked goods!  

Definitely a success that reminds me of summer.