Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Big Take Over

I'll admit it, my mind has been completely hijacked by cupcakes. I have had more than one frosting related dream in the past week, and have woken up several times with an intense desire to test out recipes. Insane, I know, but I'd rather have let my mind wander to cupcake land than to the things I should be thinking about (ie. unemployment, possible career paths, paying the bills, etc.). Frosting is bliss. Plus, we only have about 6 weeks until Nikkiehippie's big day, so testing cupcakes should most definitely be a priority.

Last week I had the pleasure of testing out the three recipes I plan on baking for the wedding and selling them at a benefit bake sale for Girls Rock! Chicago. For anyone out there who isn't familiar with GR!C or the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, you should check it out at www.girlsrockchicago.org. It's a fantastic organization that runs an annual rock & roll summer camp for girls (ages 9-16) with the intent to help these girls foster self esteem and community involvement through the art of rock & roll. I've been lucky enough to volunteer for the organization, and I have only wonderful things to say about what they do. Check them out!

Anyways, this was the perfect opportunity to test out the wedding cupcakes without eating all three dozen of them (which I COULD easily do, but probably shouldn't since I need to fit into a bridesmaids dress next month).

The three recipes I tested were for Raspberry Truffle, Mint Cookie, and Coconut Red Velvet Cakes and I'm happy to say that each recipes was damn close to the one I'll be using for the big day.

Here's a picture of the finished products with some lables that I whipped up. I'm going to do something similar for the wedding cupcakes (just one of each flavor) so people know what they're digging (or biting) into.



I think the only big change I'm going to make for the wedding is the frosting on the Raspberry Truffle Cakes. The cakes here are topped with a "stable" raspberry whipped cream frosting (somewhere between cream cheese frosting and whipped cream), but I think I'm going to use raspberry cream cheese frosting for the event. While this frosting was delicious, I think the tartness of the cream cheese will really bring out the raspberry flavor and help compliment the chocolate. I'm also going to give the whole red frosting idea another go. I ordered some powdered red food coloring which is much more intense than the paste variety, and should be receiving it later this week. I'll post some pictures of the outcome once I have a chance to play around with it!

I have to say that I really didn't want to love the red velvet cupcakes. Ok, maybe it wasn't that I didn't WANT to love them, it was more that I didn't expect to love them. I mean I just couldn't get behind the whole "not chocolate/not vanilla/pure novelty factor of the red food coloring in the batter/etc. I have issues with edible art that doesn't taste divine. Like all of the absolutely beautiful wedding cakes out there that are covered in three inches of fondant. Fondant doesn't taste good. I understand that it's a delicate balance of taste and visual appeal, but just because your body is capable of digesting your art doesn't really make it edible. It should be something that is visually stunning and also mouth wateringly good. I expected the red velvet cakes to be heavy on the pretty and low on taste, but this recipe forever changed my mind. It may even challenge my pumpkin cardamom cake to a best recipe duel.

The key to this recipe (based off of the Crimson Velveteen recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) is almond extract (imitation in this case because the groom is allergic to nuts). I used 1/2 cake flour for 1/2 of the total flour in the recipe along with buttermilk and the result was divine. Moist and light with a fine crumb and a wonderful almond flavor reminiscent of maraschino cherries. I topped these babies off with a swirl of coconut cream cheese frosting and a cherry. Delicious!

I'll post the recipes separately later. In the meantime, check out this video of Bad Brains playing Big Take Over. What with the cupcakes taking over my brain lately and the much needed shot of adrenaline that I could use right now (winter refuses to leave Chicago, body refuses to cooperate with basic requests for movement) this song is exactly what I need. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcspR0yCRLY&feature=related

This post brought to you by Bad Brains, cupcake jedi-mind tricks, and a healthy dose of sugar.

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