Meringue Frosting & Fun Centerpiece

Last weekend we had a fun little dessert/drinks gathering with friends to celebrate Mr. Veen's birthday.  Probably my favorite way to entertain a group is by throwing food/drinks out on the table and letting everyone help themselves.  After all - I want to enjoy the party too!  For Mr Veen's party I decided to do a dessert buffet.  Although I'm happy with the end result in retrospect I would have switched out a few of the things I made and focused on a more "manly" theme.  Maybe Guinness cupcakes instead of strawberry?  Hmm....maybe next year!

Two of my favorite things on the above table were the wine-cork flower centerpiece and the meringue frosting on the strawberry cupcakes.  The centerpiece is an idea I spotted in a wine shop last week and I loved it and knew immediately I'd copy.  My yard has some great flowers for making arrangements right now so all I had to do was run outside to snip the lilac and columbine.  I thought it looked extra pretty with the votives around the base.

The meringue frosting is so fun and easy and it worked especially well on the mini sized cupcakes.  Here's the recipe:

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Beat the eggs and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.  Add one-third of the sugar and beat for 1 minute.  Repeat until all the sugar has been added.  Increase the oven temp. to 450.  Spoon or pipe the meringue on top of the cupcakes.  Bake for 5 minutes until golden.  Store for no more than 1 day in an airtight container.

It worked well for me to place the baked cupcakes on a cookie sheet to pipe the meringue (I just used a plastic baggy with small hole), and then bake for 5 minutes.

Easy- peasy!