Monday, April 19, 2010

Cupcakes and the Martha Stewart Mafia

This is my long awaited for cupcake post! I know you were just all waiting with baited breath, right? Right? And really, what is baited breath? Sounds stinky.

Back to the cupcakes. I made cupcakes for Easter this year. And yes, I know it was weeks ago, but these cupcakes can be made any time of year! Make them right now! Go on, I dare you to make them now!

No, I won’t make these cupcakes and bring them to your house for you…

At any rate, I decided that Johnny (my stepdad) needed coconut cake for Easter. You see, his mom made a coconut cake for Easter every year and I still remember that cake and I knew it was one of his favorites. So I decided to follow that theme and make coconut cupcakes. Unfortunately, my mom does not like coconut. Normally I’d just let it go, make the cupcakes and let her fend for herself (what a fabulous daughter), but this was for Easter which signifies the end of Lent, for which my mom gives up sweets every year. And that truly is a sacrifice since that woman loves her sweets! One of her favorite cakes is carrot, so carrot cupcakes and coconut cupcakes it was! I pulled out my favorite cupcakes book which just so happens to be Martha Stewart's book (it's the only cupcake book I own, but even if I had more this would be my favorite) and I found her coconut and carrot cupcake recipes. Not too shabby, huh?

So now, about the cupcakes. First of all, we all know that Martha never does anything simple. You look through the book and see recipes that call for specific brands of chocolate, unsweetened coconut, specific cocoa powders and a wonder called the seven minute frosting. The carrot cake recipe called for a pound of carrots....finely shredded. Yeah...so I was really happy that Jack brought home the mini pre-peeled carrots, that is until I started shredding those little bad boys.Yeah...
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So I  shredded and I shredded, all the while cursing Martha under my breath and thinking what a sadist she is. But then it occurred to me. Martha has people. She has people who provide whatever she needs at that exact moment. One pound of shredded carrots...done. A package of some fancy dark chocolate....they run right out. A pound of peruvian pickled pears....on the next flight. Whack some other home/craft/decorating guru...no question. Yes, I am jumping to the conclusion that there is a Martha Stewart mafia and there is a legion of people....let's just call them minions who stand ready to fetch whatever it is she needs. Which brings me to my next point...I need minions. They don't have to be particularly well trained or even do things quickly, just someone to pick the pacifier up twenty times, wipe Jay's hiney when he goes to the bathroom, pick up the hundreds of toys left on the floor by my children. I'm not asking for much. I wouldn't even make them grate carrots!

Back to cupcakes. I finally did get smart and throw my carrots in the food processor and that worked just fine.
IMG_2762These cupcakes were so delicious that you didn’t even need icing. We ate a couple for breakfast the next morning.IMG_2764
But of course there has to be cream cheese frosting and Martha’s recipe for that was pretty easy and it turned out so yummy!! I could just eat it straight out of the bowl without putting it on the cupcakes…oh wait, I did!  IMG_2803But I also iced cupcakes…
Hello precious little cuppycake…
IMG_2804 Oh my…IMG_2805
And then there’s the seven minute frosting…I actually saw Martha make this on her show one day and was very intimidated. It looked a little complicated. Using candy thermometers, and streaming things and lots of whipping. If I didn't have my Kitchen Aid I would never have tried this. But it was actually much easier than I had thought it would be. I was a little worried after adding the sugar syrup in that everything had deflated and liquefied, but amazingly enough it came back together and made this beautiful shiny frosting.
IMG_2794 One thing about it is that you really need to eat the cupcakes the day you frost them. As they sat around for a day, the frosting didn't look so hot. But it's good and not too sweet so paired with these sweet coconut cupcakes it was wonderful.
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And then the flaked unsweetened coconut on top looked so fresh and clean. These I will also make again, but I think I'll have to or Johnny will get angry...and no one wants to see Johnny angry...
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So that's cupcakes. Here’s the part where I would normally post a recipe for these treats, but to be honest, I feel the far reaching arms of her private mafia would find me and break my kneecaps. So just buy this book. I promise you won’t regret it! 

2 comments:

  1. Yes, Martha Stewart has lots of minions... I am glad your cupcakes came out so good! I used to be adventurous and spend all day in the kitchen trying out new, complicated recipes. I just can't find the time for that since I had my daughter 4 months ago. One day there will be time again. Right???

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  2. mmm sounds delish! I'll have to try soon!

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