Thoughts on flavor

I know, I know, I still need to finish part 2 of "When I think of summer...." and I will get to it but I've been thinking about taste/flavor a lot lately and so that is the journey I plan to take you on today, if you want to go.

Last week my husband and I were off celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in Washington's wine country and happened across a little cupcake shop (very much like the one I hope to own someday).  For research purposes we bought 4 cupcakes. 

The 4 flavors were - Maple Bacon, Cosmopolitan, Strawberry Lemonade, & Chocolate Raspberry.  (I make all of these except the maple bacon - my bacon cupcake is a smokey chocolate cupcake with caramel and bacon) Here were our thoughts:

Looks - they say you eat with your eyes first - true, I wouldn't eat something that looked like poop or something equally as gross.  Well, over all the cupcakes were OK in appearance - the decorations were cop-outs in my opinion: a gummy strawberry, bacon bits from a bag but whatever - I'm not big on decorations but anything that I do put on my cupcakes I want to have a great flavor that enhances the cupcake.  The looks of the frostings - not bad except one looked very waxy which was unappealing but the others were fine.

The frostings - the waxy one did not offer the bold flavors they were selling, the flavors were there, just very subtle and it tasted of shortening.  The chocolate raspberry used an artificial raspberry which I don't care for, the maple frosting was fine, tasted like a Swiss buttercream meringue and the strawberry lemonade tasted like strawberry lemonade but was soooooo sweet I could not enjoy it.  I realize these are my preferences and may not be shared by all.

The cakes - The Maple cupcake was a bit dry and airy with big chunks of pecans - not sure why the pecans, I think it distracted from the overall cupcake.  Cosmo - blah flavor and dense.  Strawberry lemonade - probably the best texture and flavor - not too bad.  And lastly the chocolate raspberry - not sure how they did this but it looked like a dark chocolate (almost black) but it had very little chocolate flavor - the texture was good and it was moist but where did the chocolate go?  The tops of the cakes were all over cooked as well.

The chocolate raspberry did have a filling, but again, it was like a cheap store bought raspberry filling - jelly maybe - not impressive.

I don't mean to be rude but when I first started this whole crazy cupcake baking thing, I promised myself that I would make really great tasting cupcakes and frostings and so as I tried these cupcakes, I thought to myself, "if they can make it, then I most certainly can make it!".

As a kid, my dad was a professional photographer, my mom was his assistant and on the weekends, they were wedding photographers.  I was an only child and well behaved so I went with them almost every weekend.  Going to hundreds of weddings, meant that I ate a lot of cake.  Back in the 70's, wedding receptions were pretty basic: bowls of mixed nuts, bowls of mints, punch (spiked and non spiked) and white wedding cake with stiff white frosting and inedible sugar flowers.  If I was lucky, there would be chocolate cake but most of the time not.  I would get my slice, eat the cake and leave the nasty frosting (which could stand on it's own). I grew up on store bought birthday cakes and cupcakes and would always pick the frosting off and just eat the cake. But later in life when I realized that frosting can be good, I started to enjoy the entire dessert and that is what I want with my cupcakes! 

I want people to walk away having had some of my cupcakes and having enjoyed the entire thing, the frosting, the cake, the toppings, etc.  If I use some kind of filling I want it to have great flavor but to compliment the cake, not just an afterthought or a way of trying to hide something. My challenge in making cupcakes that are inspired by drinks or other fun things to eat, is to re-invent but capture the flavor - when you have my Lime Margarita cuptail I want you to feel like you just had a Lime Margarita not a lime cupcake with a jelly filling.  When you enjoy a S'mores cupcake - I want you to feel like someone just handed you a freshly made s'more - different but the flavor is all there!

As far as decorations go, I am not into decorations that are edible but don't taste good.  I would rather  have frosting swirled on then try to make some fancy fondant bug or use stiff pure sugar frostings to make pretty flowers - I realize this is the craze right now and that is fine for cakes, but cupcakes are so small I think it really should be mostly about the flavor.

So I was watching an episode of Cupcake Wars yesterday and was impressed with the decorations of this one guy (he was pretty impressed with himself too).  He was so sure that the judges would love his decorations that he was surprised that he didn't make it  to the next round, but the judges were all very honest that his cakes didn't cut it in the flavor category.  So while you may eat first with your eyes, it's ultimately the flavor that will keep you coming back.  I have had some great looking meals in my day but the flavor wasn't there so I don't go back.  It reminds me of the episode in "I Love Lucy" where she tried to eat a wax apple, pretty and appealing but not good to eat.

When I think of summer, I think of _________. Part 1

Fill in the blank.  When I think of summer, I think of beautiful sunsets, crisp mornings and hot afternoons, the smell of freshly cut grass and camp outs.  NOW for the food portion: When I think of summer I think of s'mores, firecracker Popsicles, strawberry shortcake, strawberry milk, strawberry lemonade, banana splits and banana pudding.....can you tell where this is going?

Some things are just synonymous with summer - S'mores for example.  Does anyone eat s'mores in the winter?  Our local grocery store creates a whole display with s'more items every summer but I have never seen that same display during the winter, so last summer I created the S'more cupcake (previously blogged about).

Last summer I also created my Firecracker cupcake.  As a kid I can remember the ice cream truck coming down my street playing a horrible version of The Entertainer, but that was the cue to drop what I was doing, beg mom for a dollar and run into the street.  Ever since I can remember, the Firecracker Popsicle has been my favorite - I mean 3 flavors for the price of 1; blue raspberry, white lemon and red cherry.  Cherry being my least favorite was perfectly placed on top so of course was the first to be eaten, followed by my 2nd favorite, and then the finale, - artificial raspberry!  When I was done my poor tongue was a grotesque hue of purply blue.  But it was worth it, so of course in my obsession for new cupcakes, I had to create this one.
(on a side note, I had to have a real Firecracker Popsicle for "picture" purposes and just about sprained my ankle running to the icecream truck - must have been quite the picture since I'm not quite a child anymore).

Also, a creation from last summer - the Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake.  Honestly, as a kid, this was not one of my favorite desserts - the cake part always became so soggy that it wasn't appealing, but I loved strawberries and whipped cream so there must be another way to enjoy this.  Well, I have since discovered, as an adult, that I LOVE this dessert with angel food cake and if the strawberries are fresh and haven't been soaking in sugared strawberry juice for a day, then you can have your cake, strawberries and whipped cream all together and it creates a delightful, light summer treat.  So, I made  an angel food cupcake, filled with strawberry puree, topped with strawberry whip cream and a strawberry, delightful!

All 3 summer delights - Strawberry shortcake, Firecracker, & S'mores

Warning - not a picture of a cupcake, this is my ankle after running for the icecream truck! Ouch!



THAT CUPCAKE IS THE S***!

The things people will say when describing my cupcakes.  "Mmmmm", "WOW", "This is sooooo goooood", "Yum", "This tastes just like the drink", "This is a home run", etc.. Usually it's very positive and makes me happy that I have brought joy through my cupcakes but I think one of the best ones so far was someone who was telling her friend how great one of my cupcakes was and the way she described it was, "This cupcake is the s***!!!!". 

The cupake she was describing is my Butterbeer cupcake. I originally made this one about a year ago and thought I had perfected my recipe but when I made it this year, I made some changes to it and based on her response, I think they were good changes.

I have not had a butterbeer though I understand that they do serve them at the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando - which is about as far from Seattle as you can get and stay in the country - so my chances of trying one soon are not good.  Anyway, I always imagined it tasting like a thick creamy, butterscotchy treat when when Harry Potter and his friends would have one at the Leaky Caldron.  So my original cupcake had a whipped topping and some butterscotch drizzle and the cake was a subtle butterscotch flavor - good but not quite what I thought the drink would be like.

The original version

Then a wonderful thing happened!  A Root Beer store opened up in my neighborhood, so my hubby and I went to check it out.  They have 100's of types of root beers, but that's not all, they also have sasparilla, cream sodas, fruity flavors and a butterscotch soda that has a caldron on it and a light bulb went on - ooooh, this would be good in my butterbeer cupcake, and it was.  I also changed up the frosting and drizzle and well, if you believe what you hear, this cupcake really is the s***.

The New Improved Butterbeer

Suggestions, suggestions, suggestions

Quite often I will have someone say, "You should make a cupcake that tastes like________?"  or "Can you make a cupcake with________" or "You should make a ________________ cupcake".   I love a challenge, I often put myself in my imaginary "Cupcake Wars" situation and quickly think, "ok, how would I incorporate that ingredient and make it the star?"

Well, my friend Andrea has given me some great ideas - The PB & J cupcake, the Brown Cow and most recently, Caramel Popcorn. 

The PB & J - This one was pretty easy but the part that surprised me was just how good it was.  I was never much for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches growing up, but then when I was pregnant with my son I ate one almost everyday.  The day she came over, I was in a rush to clean up and get the cupcakes frosted, I didn't even take the time to try the cupcake in it's entirety.  She ate one, said exclaimed how great it was and then asked me what I thought.  When I said I hadn't tried it yet, she shoved one at me and demanded that I try it and yes, I will toot my own horn - it was GREAT! 


Peanut Butter & Jelly!

Brown Cow - What is this, you make be asking yourself.  Well, she described it as white chocolate mixed with milk chocolate.  Easy enough right?  Well, my first batch was not good, it was heavy and dense and fell in on itself.  I had used melted white chocolate in the batter and it just didn't work very well.  But listen carefully because I'm about to share one of my secrets - Ghirardelli makes a white chocolate powder - it's intended for making hot white chocolates, frappacinos and other delicious drinks but I use it for baking and yum, it's good.  So a litte milk chocolate, a little white chocolate, a white chocolate frosting with chocolate sprinkles and there you have it, the Brown Cow!  I tend to think of this as a "kid" cupcake but most of the time, it's adults who order it.


Brow Cow



And last but not least, the Caramel Popcorn cupcake!
If you are thinking what I was thinking, then you are thinking, "ok, this is a weird idea".  But like I stated earlier, I love a challenge.  I thought about this one for a little bit, contemplated ingredients, and finally just went for it.  I knew I wanted more than just a caramel cupcake that I would call a "caramel popcorn" cupcake, I wanted it to taste like you were eating caramel popcorn.....and cake. 

I am one of the taste testers here at Happy Hour Cuptails, as I should be, and when I tried this cupcake the first time, I giggled!  It is not only a great tasting cupcake but it's really fun to eat!  I love this cupcake and can't wait for my friend, who suggested it, to try it. 

Caramel Popcorn



Barenaked Ladies Loved My Cupcakes!

Do not adjust your screen.  Yes I'm talking about barenaked ladies but sorry to disappoint, they are all fully clothed dudes that I am actually referring to.

Back in the 90's my best friend Erica was dating a hockey player.  We lived very close to the Canadian border, so most of his games took place in Canada.  It was through this that he was introduced to a Canadian band called the Barenaked Ladies.  Well Erica heard them and liked them so much that she made me a mixed tape with 3 of their songs from their Gordon CD.  I fell for them right away and became a devoted fan, introducing them to friends and even doing a presentation on them for my 6th grade music students. 

I have now seen them in concert 7 times.  About (a boat) 6 years ago, one of the lead guys did a solo tour and I went to see him and meet him.  I told him at the time, I just needed to meet the other 4 guys!  It became part of my bucket list and when the opportunity arose to meet them before a concert, my husband made it happen.  Then my next thought, what kind of cupcakes do I make them?

I thought long and hard about what to make them.  They have a song called "Alcohol" and they mention "Malibu and Coke" and "G & T" and so I tried to make the Malibu and Coke cupcake but my bad dog ate about half of the trial batch so I didn't bother making a frosting to complete them - but the cupcakes were good. I decided that because they seem to have a thing for monkeys (Another Postcard and 1,000,000 Dollars) that my Banana Cream Cupcake would have to be one, then I thought about how they like to take songs that are not theirs but sing them anyway for fun, that Pina Colada would lend itself to that.  Lastly, my husband is crazy about the Strawberry Habanero cupcake and said that would have to be the 3rd cupcake.  Done, I made them, boxed them and then proceeded to give them to Ed, Jim, Kevin, and Tyler at the meet and greet!

Before the concert began, I was told by a few of the other people that were also at the meet and greet that the band had looked for me to tell me that they liked my cupcakes but I had left too quickly.

One gal even said, "I bet he's going to mention them during the concert" and sure enough they did - I guess the Strawberry Habanero made quite an impression on them!

(having issues uploading the video - hope to get it up and running soon - of course, if you must see it now, you can go to Happy Hour Cuptails on Facebook to view it.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Happy-Hour-Cuptails/190488407664266#!/pages/Happy-Hour-Cuptails/190488407664266

How awesome is that! 

Big things on the horizon

Talk about being in the right place at the right time.  I met someone tonight who could drastically change my life and my cupcake business, but I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch!  Stay tuned!