How Alaska eats: Featherweight buttercream will make you the Easter cupcake boss

Newsletter #43: It really frosts my cupcakes

I love Easter cooking. Give me all the pastel, springy foods: ham, hot cross buns, this one super silly Easter bunny cake someone in my family always makes. This year, my obsession is cupcakes. The secret to winning in the cupcake world: mastering buttercream frosting, which is harder than it looks. I tested it (and went into a sugar coma) until I got it just perfect for you all. Then I found the most adorable designs for bunny and robin’s egg themes and wrote a little tutorial. Now, go, and win at Easter brunch.

Cake-wise, you might try Maya Wilson’s citrus cake or her almond-ricotta cake. If you’re in a pinch, go with a box mix, with festive pink strawberry flavor or, if you can find it, pistachio.

Look at that robin’s egg-y cuteness. It would also work great on a cake!

While we’re on the topic of winning at Easter, did you happen to see Maya Wilson’s oven method for hard-cooking eggs? And there is brunch to think about. How about a smoked salmon scramble? Or Kim Sunée’s smoked salmon quiche? Or, try your hand at my Alaskana-style sourdough pancakes. Celebrating Passover? Kim Sunée has a nice matzo farfel pudding.

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Also a fun brunch offering: this cool take on carrot cake. And, totally not brunch, but totally on my mind, this shepherd’s pie recipe you can make with wild game. (Part of Operation: Empty Freezer.)

[Read previous newsletters here. Find more Alaska recipes here.]

Oh, and this was a pretty sweet story on KTVA about how The Flying Dutchman has made its own chocolate Easter bunnies for years. I LOVED this story in The New York Times about spiral-cut ham. Also: Very much worth paying attention to, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget would put a serious strain on farming.

Anyway: I hope you’re hungry now. If you don’t already, support local cooking and local food news and subscribe.

Here’s hoping your buttercream is light as a flying dream.

RECIPES: PERFECT BUTTERCREAM + EASTER CUPCAKE TUTORIALS