Adventures with Cupcakes

This last weekend was my last big cooking hurrah before the start of the semester (which is tomorrow). I went all out: cassler florentine (a Swedish dish), scones, and cupcakes (seen to the left). I got to finally inaugurate the stand mixer that Scooter got for me for Christmas, as well as the cupcake book that the sunflower cupcakes how-to comes from. The book is filled with all kinds of fun ideas, including gardening-themed cupcakes which I will have to do at some point this spring. One of the really spectacular designs (in my opinion) was a recreation of Van Gogh's Starry Night on the tops of a couple dozen cupcakes. Seeing that made be think of other artists I could emulate by using frosting on cupcakes the same way they use paint on canvas.

If anyone is interested in the book, here's the information: Tack, K. & Richardson, R. Hello, Cupcake! 2008. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. You can find it on Amazon, at most major bookstores, and even in some craft supply stores. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes being creative in the kitchen, and many of these recipes would make excellent projects for parents and kids to do together.

The cassler florentine was for my uncle's 70th birthday, which my parents, Scooter, and I were able to celebrate with him. Nini (my aunt) was a little hesitant about having me come to cook for them simply because she didn't want to put me out, and she knows how busy my days tend to be. It was considerate of her, but I let her know that cooking is a joy for me and I was more than happy to cook for them simply because I love making good food. I wonder if I don't have a little of my great-grandmother in me too, since I've heard many times about her wonderful cooking and how she loved to cook. I guess cooking could be considered a family tradition, as much as getting the family together for each major holiday is a tradition.

I know I've been a little lax on librarianship and issues going on in the profession, but I've been unable to read my ALA weekly newsletters lately, something I hope to rectify at the end of this week. Perhaps Friday I'll be able to post about some of the interesting bits of news I find.

For this week's recipe, I would like to share the cake-mix recipe from Hello, Cupcake! that I used to make my sunflower cupcakes. I'm not going to explain what to use for or how to make the sunflower cupcakes (I'll let the book do that since it does it so well!). So here we go: best cake-mix cupcakes ever.

What you'll need:
1 box of devil's food cake mix (a non-pudding mix)
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs

What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put paper liners in 24 cupcake tins (I like boldly-colored liners).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the cake mix, buttermilk and vegetable oil and mix together using an electric mixer. Add in the eggs one at a time, until each one has been fully incorporated. Increase the speed of the mixer and mix for 1-2 more minutes until you have a thick, smooth batter.
3. Fill the lined cupcake tins 2/3 of the way full. The recipe will make 24 cupcakes, but I tend to overfill them just a bit, so I always end up with fewer.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out of the center clean.
5. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and let them sit on racks to cool. If you plan on frosting them, let them cool completely before you start.

The book gave tips on getting the job done neatly (like getting batter into the cupcake tins without spilling), frosting, and creating different effects, but I couldn't find mention of the one thing I discovered in my "experiment": use two bags when frosting and put the one you're not using in the fridge to keep the frosting firm. When you're creating designs, the heat from your hands can make the frosting soft and bad for doing special effects (like flower petals). If this happens, you put the first bag in the fridge and switch to the second bag.

I hope you have your own fun adventures with cupcakes!