To make a look-alike cupcake without the recipe. I have been obsessed with this picture I found online over a year ago of a cupcake with a cherry sitting in perfectly pink, smooth frosting. I bought a bag of cherries last week and devoured them (I couldn't believe how delicious they were in January)! This picture kept coming to mind and I knew it wouldn't go away until I made them. I found a recipe in a cookbook in the checkout at the grocery store for vanilla cupcakes with cannellini beans and frosting that looked just like the picture! I used a recipe for cherry cupcakes from Baking Bites. Glaze adapted from the cookbook (the original can also be found on MarthaStewart.com).
1/4 cup cranberries (frozen and drained)
up to 1/4 cup cream
up to 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Methods
1. Put the cranberries in a blender and begin to blend and gradually increase the speed, stopping to scrape the sides when necessary. If it is too dry, add small amounts of cream to keep the blades moving. When you have a cranberry puree, pour it into a mixing bowl, set aside.
2. Sift a couple of cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Gradually whisk the powdered sugar into the cranberry puree until you get an ever-so-slightly runny paste.
3. Spoon a heaping tablespoon onto your cupcake (or put in a pastry bag and pipe enough so that when it spreads, it just barely reaches the edges of your cupcake.
Results
Not quite as pretty as the picture, but close!
Discussion and Future Directions
First, to comment on the cupcakes: they are delicious! They are incredibly moist and not too muffin-like. Next, to comment on the frosting: it, too, is delicious! Martha's recipe says that she used a cherry/raspberry puree to make the frosting. I simply do not believe her. When I made cherry puree, it was reddish brown and I will refrain from saying what it looked like because it made me gag. No amount of raspberries could have saved it. The cranberries worked wonderfully! I could have used raspberries, but the cranberries were the same price, but made in Wisconsin (so how could I resist?). Plus, by using cranberries, I didn't have to strain out any raspberry seeds (a task that I always swear I'll never do again, but always do). My glaze didn't turn out as pretty as the picture, but I think it's because it needed more powdered sugar. You want the consistency thin enough to be able to pool and spread on top of the cupcake but thick enough to dry. I was quite pleased with the outcome. Even if they weren't as pretty, they were absolutely delicious! These would be perfect to make for your valentine!
Supplementary Materials
No comments:
Post a Comment