"Frost Yourself!" Sparkly Vanilla & Passion Fruit Jam-Filled Cupcakes for Food 'n Flix March: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

I love a good sparkly chick flick and I really love How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the Food 'n Flix selection for March. I don't own this movie, but it is one that I turn the channel to whenever I come across it on the television. Thus I have maybe watched the entire movie in a sitting only a couple of times but, I have seen the various bits and parts of it way too many times to count. 

 
Yes, it's silly and sappy, but it doesn't fail to make me smile. Kate Hudson, at her golden, sparkly best is Andie Anderson, the "How-To Girl" for Composure magazine, writing Cosmo-style articles on dating, fashion and other fluffy topics. Andie wants to be a serious journalist and write about more important things, but ends up assigned an article on How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days--using all the crazy dating mistakes women make that drive men away. Matthew McConaughey, all drawling cocky charm, is Benjamin Barry, an advertising executive who wants to handle more prestigious accounts than the sports and beer-related ones he has been getting. After a bet with his co-workers, Benjamin will get a chance to pitch a diamond campaign if he can make a woman fall in love with him before the company party in 10 days. Of course, the two end up dating each other under these false pretenses with Andie trying to figure out why Ben won't break up with her already and Ben trying to figure out why the cool girl he met keeps getting all psycho on him. Of course the usual rom-com antics ensue. 

The movie is predictable but fun. Andie's over the top antics like getting baby pictures from Ben's mom and making a scrapbook with wedding photo mock-ups and pictures morphing her and Ben to predict what their children will look like (pretty scary actually), getting them a little ugly/cute dog Krull and dressing them all up in matching Burberry plaid, and crying over their dead "love fern" ("Our love fern! You let it die!), etc. make me chuckle. Ben starts out as kind of a jerk in the beginning, but is quite likable by the end and it's entertaining to watch him squirm with Andie's bizarre behaviors.

Until our host for March, Tina of Squirrel Head Manor picked it, I never thought about How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days as a foodie movie, but surprisingly it does have a decent food presence--from Ben cooking his special lamb dinner and Andie pretending to be a vegetarian and singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb"--resulting in them ending up at a vegetarian restaurant the next date, to Andie exchanging all the typical poker party snacks at Ben's boys night with cucumber sandwiches and a veggie plate. 

When it came to picking a dish inspired by the movie, I went with sparkly frosted cupcakes in honor of the advertising tagline that Ben comes up with after Andie tells him diamonds are "frosting." So "Frost Yourself"--Vanilla Cupcakes filled with Passion Fruit Jam and frosted with Vanilla Buttercream and lots of bling. I went with white and gold sprinkles after the stunning golden diamond necklace Andie "frosts" herself with at Ben's company party. The green leafy background is my nod to Ben and Andie's "love fern"--looking much healthier than the poor fern in the movie ;-)

For my cupcakes: I used this recipe for Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes and Vanilla Buttercream found at Food Network. The recipe made a light cake, maybe slightly dry--but the jam filling helped. 

To fill the cupcakes, I cut small cones out of the center of the cooled cupcakes and removed the excess cake, filled the holes with a small spoonful of a locally-made lilikoi (passion fruit) jam, and put the top of the come back on the cupcake. (You could of course use any flavor jam but I was going for a golden color and the tangy flavor of the passion fruit cuts some of the sweet.) The amounts of sprinkles I used (on the cupcakes I photographed only) were a bit heavy handed for eating, but I wanted them as glitzy as possible. The frosting was sweet and creamy--next time I would make it a bit stiffer to hold the piping better. I'm not sure I would make this recipe again, I have had better vanilla cupcakes, but they were fun to play with. 

 
Thanks to Tina at Squirrel Head Manor for hosting this round of Food 'N Flix and making me look at an oft-watched film in a new way. Tina will be rounding up the entries on her blog soon. If you missed this round but love food, film and foodie films, join us for April's pick of Practical Magic, hosted at Can't Believe We Ate...