Birthday Mini Cupcakes

Happy birthday, Mini!  These were so much fun to make.  I took them to work for a dear friend's birthday - her nickname is actually Mini, so of course I chose miniature cupcakes for her.  Upon interrogation, she voted down chocolate, citrus, or mint flavor involvement.  Berries were still in the game, and the bright, juicy raspberries at the grocery store this week made my decision.  A plain vanilla cupcake base contains homemade raspberry filling (pureed raspberries and a little sugar heated slowly and then cooled to set).  The tops are where we got creative - I made a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream, very lightly flavored vanilla, which was split into two bowls.  One received the seeds of a vanilla bean, and the other received the remaining strained raspberry puree.  I piped the frosting on with a small star tip.  The outer decorations were again designed and applied by my lovely friend Michelle.  So we ended up with vanilla cupcakes with raspberry filling, topped with vanilla bean or raspberry-vanilla frosting, adorned with fresh raspberries and chocolate shavings or rainbow sprinkles!  The three dozen I presented were gone within an hour among a fairly health-conscious assembly of physicians, and more importantly, the birthday girl enjoyed them.  I think I'll be making these again!