Avocado Update!

Ok. So yesterday was Binya's (from the previous post) bridal shower. I was asked to make cupcakes. I, of course, obliged. Duh... The theme was international travel, since they will be traveling about after the wedding, so we all brought food representing different places from around the world. Their first stop is Mexico, so I felt like the avocado cupcakes would be pretty appropriate... but with a little twist. I made them spicy-for a bunch of spicy ladies. :) Not to toot my own horn, but TOOT! They were deeee-licious!

I started out with the same basic recipe from before, but decided to tweak it a little. Oh, and I took some more process pictures.

*Side note: I think we accidentally didn't put in enough water last time, which is why the batter was so weird. It looked like totally normal batter this time around, but both times were delicious, so it doesn't matter all that much.*

So, everything starts out the same: avocados, cocoa, flour, etc... until we get to the water.
I thought it might be fun to add a little something extra for a little more flavor. So I subbed one of the two cups of water for COFFEE-mmmm, coffee... it tasted great, and gave it a little richer chocolatey color, which I think is quite nice. Speaking of nice, let's get to the spice... Oh man, I'm so lame. I love it. I decided to make up my own little blend. I used Mexican chili powder, cayenne pepper, this chile y limon mix, and some cinnamon. I was happy with the way they all tasted together.
I used pretty equal parts when putting it all together, I didn't really measure. I added about 1 tsp of the spice mixture to the batter, and it was just a little teeny bit of a kick, exactly what I wanted. Those were really the only changes I made to the batter. The cupcakes came out really great. They were nice and fluffy, and not too spicy.

Onto the frosting. This part was a little different. Since the frosting turns out so sweet I had to put a lot more spice in it than in the batter. I started out with 2 tsp, but then I just kept adding more to taste, which is probably a good idea since everybody has different tolerance levels for spicy stuff. Oh! I remembered to document the slime stage of the frosting this time.
mmmmm... slime... The consistency of the frosting came out almost exactly the same this time- nice, thick, gooey caramel-y, and it set really well again.

I would really call these a success. The complete cupcake, with frosting, was really tasty. At first you just taste chocolate, then the heat kind of sneaks up on you after a few seconds. I really, really enjoyed them, and they seemed to be a hit at the party. They ended up looking pretty much the same as the first batch.

I also had some extra batter, so I made a tiny cake for myself. hehehe. I was curious to see how it would hold up as a cake, but it turned out really well. Hooray for experiments.


p.s. I noticed that my dress and my apron, together were very similar to the colors of the spices, avocados, and chocolate. It made me laugh, so I thought I'd show you.

Farewell, Bon voyage!

We blinded ourselves with science!

Ok, maybe not blinded... but I did try out a new crazy cupcake experiment. I also tried to remember to take pictures so you can sort of go back in time and come along for the ride. P.s. how much cooler would Back to the Future be if Marty McFly had to stop somewhere in time and make crazy time machine cupcakes? Or if Hot Tub Time Machine was renamed Cupcake Time Machine...? A LOT COOLER.

Ok, sorry about that. So one day, I'm playing around on stumbleupon.com and I find this recipe: http://betchacanteatjustone.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/the-vegan-avocado-cake-as-a-cupcake/ . Whaaat? Yes, avocado chocolate cupcakes. Interesting, right? Well my almost-sister-in-law, Binya (over at http://heyhijabi.com/ ) , and I had been talking about having a cupcake date. Obviously I'm all over that, and Binya is vegan, so I was super interested in trying to make these cupcakes that she could actually eat.

I'm actually not the hugest fan of avocado, normally, but I've had it in some sweeter contexts before and really enjoyed it, i.e. BUBBLE TEA! yessss... So I had a little faith that these could be yummy.

Let's get down to it. First the batter. It looked... well... GROSS. There, I said it, gross. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little worried. Before we added the dry ingredients it looked like some sort of crazy swamp water or something. I kind of wish I'd been warned via the recipe. It's ok though, you're being warned here, once the dry stuff was added it wasn't as scary anymore. It did, however, take on a really strange consistency. It was similar to that of almost a pizza dough or something.

Again, I was a little worried. I was convinced they wouldn't bake, or rise correctly. It was really sticky and dense, and just kind of sat there in the cups. Apparently, though, I had no reason to worry. They came out perfectly! They were these lovely little chocolately domes. And they just popped right out of the papers. I was so excited!



Of course I had to do a tasting-well, two tastings... muahahaha. One pre-frosting, and one with frosting. They were so very, very interesting. There was almost this sort of little shell, or crust on the top, and the inside was wonderfully fluffy and really quite perfect. Not too mushy, not too dry. You could barely taste the avocado, and the chocolate wasn't overpowering (actually I put in a lot more cocoa than the recipe called for, so if you're into chocolate, I'd recommend going that route). They would be really good for people who like treats (and who doesn't?!) but aren't too big into super sweet stuff. Here's proof I took a bite, you know, in case you needed it... So pretty.

NOW, on to the frosting. Oh boy, was that fun. I really, really regret that I didn't think to take a picture before I put the cocoa in, because it looked a whole lot like this... Yeah... Nickelodeon slime, a little Double Dare, anyone?

Anyway, if you look at the picture of the frosting on the website where I found the recipe, mine didn't look ANYTHING LIKE THAT. Haha. I really have no idea how mine came out so different, I totally followed the recipe... Oh well, it was still totally delicious. It actually had the look and texture of a really dark, rich caramel- like the kind you'd dip an apple in to make caramel apples. So it didn't look like buttercream, but I'd say that's still pretty appealing.

It was kind of gooey and runny, so I added more sugar and cocoa to thicken it up a little, then stuck it in the freezer for maybe about 15 minutes? It set a little bit, and that's where the caramel thing happened. I definitely wasn't angry about it. It was super tasty, and actually pretty refreshing. It was also pretty, and when we tried to put it on the cupcakes it set really well. I kind of expected it to run all over the place and be a big disgusting ugly mess- but it wasn't... Hooray! The frosting tasted a lot more like avocado, but it was really, really good. So anyway, here we are, finished product (and yes they do sort of look like little pudding cups):


I would love to see how these work out for you, if anybody decides to try it out. Enjoy!

three strikes-you're out!

Oh, hello there friends. I've been well, thanks for asking. As you may have noticed, there's this thing that goes on during Spring and Summer called baseball. I know, sounds weird right? I think there's a stick and a ball or something like that...

All kidding aside, I'm not what you'd call a "sports fan" or even someone who "understands" sports. But I do actually enjoy going to baseball games. I'd never been to one until about two years ago, so this is still pretty new to me. Who knows-maybe one day I'll actually cheer for a specific team. It's more the experience of going to the game... finding your seats, pretending you know what's going on, people watching, drinking ridiculously over priced beer, all the food and-AHA! I bet you knew I had an ulterior motive here. I didn't really want to talk about baseball, I wanted to talk about food! What else is new, right?

Well let's get to it, then. First off, I think I really am going to have to write a letter or something. As a vegetarian, having to smell hot dogs all over the place and not being able to eat them is very sad... Veggie dogs, now! It's ok though, I had a soft pretzel. I've been appeased for the time being.

Now on to the point of this whole post/blog/my entire life... Cupcakes! Or... should I say CUBcakes?! Ahhhh, I love bad puns. Are there actually good puns? Who cares? Here we go. I actually made these a few years back for my future father in law's birthday. They were really fun to make, mostly because I really love writing in frosting. I have no idea why, but for some reason I have wayyy better handwriting in frosting than in pen or pencil. Maybe it's a subconscious thing, like I prefer cake to homework, or something... Anywhooo- Cupcakes! Yay!



P.s. the Cubs actually did win, at the game I attended on Sunday, so the picture at the top is not a lie.

Monsters, Part Deux

Well, well, well... we meet again, friends. I was trying to think what the subject of this second post should be, and I decided it should just be a continuation of the first one. Because, of course, I have more than one example of monster cupcakes. Well at least I think this qualifies as a monster... That's Muno, from Yo Gabba Gabba! I've never actually seen the show, but making the cupcakes was fun. I hope that doesn't make me lose any of my decorator street cred. Cause that's what I'm really concerned about-what they're saying about my cupcakes, you know, on the streets...

ANYWAY

Originally I was just supposed to make a cake for a two-year-old's birthday party, but it was really last minute and I ended up not having a box big enough for a cake big enough for the amount of people at the party, yadda, yadda, yadda... So I decided to make cupcakes as sort of "cake-cessories" to supplement the cake. And yes, I will take credit for making that up.

I know, I know, this is supposed to be a CUPcake blog. But hey, I got love for the big cakes, too, alright? Ok, great, thanks. First things first, le cake. Or I guess if I'm going the pretend French route I should go all in... Voila! Le Gateau- I thought he turned out pretty darn cute. So that was the main event. Although the wart-y type things on the "actual" guy on the show kind of creep me out, I sort of really like them on the cake version for some reason. This cake and the cupcakes were really some of my most favorite to decorate. They were so fun. I love doing kids' cakes.

Ok, onto the cupcakes! They were seriously so fun to make. Every big, goofy eyeball, each weird, pointy tooth, and kind of gross little monster wart I piped, the more excited I was.

The more I look at these little guys, the more they remind me of another fairly famous monster with only one eye, whom I would absolutely love to turn into cupcakes... I'll let you think about that one, and have to get back to you if/when it happens. So here they are, mini Munos! Hope you enjoy. :)

M is for new blog! wait, no it's not...

So this is my blog, people. I'll take this time to introduce myself to all you sugar addicts out there in the land of the internets. My name is Laura, and I like cupcakes. A lot. I love making them, decorating them, EATING THEM(nomnomnom), you know... the usual... Wow, this is really starting to sound more like a support group than a blog post... Oh well, I suppose we'll see where this takes us.

Anyway, I'm pretty much always thinking about cake in one way or another. What kind of cake can I make next? What kind of frosting? What can I turn into cupcakes? When's the next time I get to eat cupcakes? That sort of thing. Basically the point of this blog is to share ideas, get ideas, and show you what has become of ideas I've had.

So let's get down to business, and explain the title of this post... Lately I've been thinking HOLY CRAP I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S MAY ALREADY! That's where the M came in. M is for May aaaaaand Monsters! Which is what my latest project was. A good friend of mine has a little girl who just turned one and she loooooves Elmo. So for her party I made Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. As a lover of cupcakes and Muppets, I was really excited to try these bad boys out. I'd actually been wanting to try out some Sesame Street cupcakes for a while so I was happy to have this opportunity. Soooo without further ado, here they are! Happy monster viewing!