Peach-Mango Cupcakes

The goofball in the photo is my 17 year old Son , Will.
It's all about trying and testing and making do , discovering you can, substitute, when you can't find that 14.00 per LB. Mascarpone cheese. Knowing that you ,can make a boxed cake mix taste like it's not. Some , such as myself, feel that a cake mix is, sometimes, just worth it....
Now there are the purist , who would really say that isn't the best ingredient , BUT , who cares . I am in it for the taste and I'm telling you these cupcakes taste as good as they look.

Really , who are we kidding even the Barefoot Contessa sells box mixes and if that's good enough for her well its good enough for me !
And trust me, her mixes sell for high prices. I'm thinking I will buy a box and see how she fares against my Betty Crocker . Now don't get me wrong I LOVE the Barefoot Contessa , She is someone I watch all the time on the Food network .

I want to tell you the madness it takes to hunt something down and then put it into action! I looked for these cupcake papers for 3 days , I spent countless hours on the Internet looking for "Cupcake papers", "Vintage cups" for cupcakes and in the end ,I found out if I were to type in "Nut cups" or "Candy cups' I might have fared better . I also searched this town for them, well, Palm Coast and Daytona. In the end the party store in Daytona had 2 oz. cups and I tell you I think they make the perfect Cupcake . Of course they are called "Portion control cups".
The girl had 1 box of 250 and no more . She said they wont be getting them back. So I had to find a place to buy them. I found them here .
and here.

OK now for the Mascarpone cheese . This is what I did to get the cheese, here in Palm Coast, you can find only it at Albertsons .
Well they want way to much! , For a small timer like me.
I was thinking it was reasonably priced by the way the Contessa and others use it. But let me tell you, its NOT. It costs a fortune, but tastes grand ! I ended up buying 1, 8 ounce container for a mere 7.00.....
I will tell you that I made my own, here's the recipe or recipe's.
I ended up using the cream cheese and whipping cream one, it tastes great. I also used this "faux mascarpone cheese" in my cream cheese olive spread for bagels.

In the end Everyone who tasted the cupcakes raved about how good they tasted and how the "cream cheese" frosting had just the right amount of cream cheese , I was thinking "mascarpone" fools get it right ! Naw, really I gave this much thought and decided this :
To a normal every day Joe or Jane , as it were, its cream cheese...
But to all the Contessa's, the Martha's and the Gourmet Chefs its Mascarpone Cheese!

So this is what I say , Never give up , try and bend just a bit when you want to make something special ,Just try and persevere.
Find it on the Internet ! I really don't think there isn't anything you cant find there !