A Birthday Request: Cupcakes

I should probably add right now
that I am terrible at decorating.

I have a little bit of a reputation among my friends for my cupcake baking. So, naturally, when my best friend Dréa's birthday comes up I am required to provide dessert. The great thing about Dréa's birthday is that it's also Halloween and we tend to combine festivities. This year, she made a couple of requests of me which was great because I like the challenge of fulfilling someone's requests with my own style. First, I was given this picture to work with:

Then, Dréa asked me for a combination I've never attempted before: some kind of citrus cupcake with a cream cheese frosting, if I can incorporate alcohol, bonus points. Challenge accepted.

My original plan had been to perfect a recipe I had been working on modifying a couple of years ago, but time and money became factors, so I chose to spruce up a from-the-box lemon cake and frosting instead.

The Cake:

The ingredients I was working
with. I wanted to incorporate
crushed pineapple, so I used the
vegan trick of replacing the egg
with applesauce (but used the
pineapple instead).

I also replaced the water called
for with 2/3 rum and 1/3 juice.
I used a little less since the
pineapple does add its own
moisture to the batter.

When I was done beating the
batter, it did look lumpy but
that was due to the fruit and
not the dry ingredients.

The Frosting:

Since I wanted the frosting to
go with the cupcakes, I had to
find a way to make cream
cheese frosting more "tropical".
I accomplished this by adding
rum and juice for flavor, then
refined coconut oil (the solid)
to counter the extra liquid.

I wish I had a hand mixer
because I did find a couple of
lumps of coconut oil that
hadn't incorporated later.

Because of all the extra liquid, baking
time was a little longer than anticipated.
It would probably help to not overfill
your cupcake papers, too.

I let the cupcakes cool overnight since
it was ridiculously late when they were
done baking. I need to take cupcake
frosting lessons.

Now, I may have mentioned before that decorating is not my forte. In the least. But, the birthday girl requested spiderwebs, so that's what she got. Unfortunately the store was out of the stupid little plastic spider rings, so she just got webs and no spiders.

To make the spiderwebs, I
took the black writing icing
from a can and drew circles
around a dot. Well, attempted
circles.

The picture is terrible because
it's morning and I was half-
awake. I took a chopstick
(some people use toothpicks)
and drew straight lines out from
the center dot.

This is the tray of my finished
cupcakes. As you can see,
uniformity is not my strong
point.

Drea's birthday cupcake!
Maybe not picture-perfect,
but they came out deliciously.

In the end, the cupcakes may have not been the prettiest, but I'm very proud of the flavor and texture. The only problem I came across is that the cupcakes are so soft, they lack structural integrity. All in all, it was a successful venture.

A Family Favorite: Warm Pear Walnut Salad

When trying to think of something tasty, light, and easy to make I always defer to this salad. It's from a "recipe" given to my parents by a family friend when I was much younger. Every time you make it, it comes out just slightly differently, but always delicious!

These are all the ingredients
needed. The original recipe
calls for sliced black olives as
well, but I always forget them
and, honestly, don't feel like
much is missed.

Tear the lettuce into decently
bite-sized chunks. The recipe
says to use both green and red
leaf lettuce and, if you're making
a large batch, you definitely
should. I was cooking for 3 so
I only used green leaf. Slice enough
red onion for your taste and choose a
soft pear. Drizzle with balsamic
vinegar to your heart's content.

This is another way I deviate
from the recipe: I think the walnuts
are the best part so I always cook
more than called for. You want
the olive oil to cover a little more
than halfway and watch
the nuts carefully, as they burn
easily!

As soon as the walnuts are
toasted, throw them on top of
the salad and toss quickly. The hot
oil will melt the bleu cheese and mix
with the balsamic vinegar to
make the dressing.

Enjoy while still warm with
sliced sourdough!