neapolitan cupcakes.
when i was a kid, my mom used to buy us neapolitan ice cream. you know, three flavors: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate all served together. it is the quintessential summertime kid-friendly ice cream flavor.
here’s a little history lesson for you:
Neapolitan ice cream was named in the late 19th century as a reflection of its presumed origins in the cuisine of the Italian city of Naples, and the many Neapolitan immigrants who brought their expertise in frozen desserts with them to the United States. Spumoni was introduced to the United States in the 1870s as Neapolitan-style ice cream.
veeeeeery interesting, you say. pull that little factoid out at parties. guaranteed to awe and please.
yesterday, i was baking away. making 100+ cupcakes to serve at my sister’s in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary reception. as pan after pan of chocolate, white, and strawberry cupcakes went into the oven, i started thinking about what i should do with my left over batter.
waste not want not. or so they say.
so i started pouring my remnants into the same bowl. thinking i’d swirl the flavors together. neapolitan ice cream style!
here’s how you can do it too:
dump your remaining batter into you bowl. with your knife, swirl {lightly} together.
with a measuring cup, scoop your batter {being careful to get a little of each flavor} into your cupcake tin.
bake as directed.
and now the icing.
i had a little left over canned icing on hand, so that’s what i used. but you can use homemade as well.
divide your white icing into thirds. leave one white. add cocoa to the next. and red food coloring to the third.
spoon into your icing bag, side by side.
your icing bag should look like this:
swirl onto your cupcakes. and look at the magic!
serve ’em up with some neapolitan ice cream on the side! and if that doesn’t scream summer, i don’t know what does!
