OMG, you guys. The best thing ever happened to me on
Valentine’s Day. I know that was more
than a month ago but bear with me. Ironically, this best-thing-ever had nothing
to do with hearts, love, flowers, boys, diamonds, or anything like that.
No.
What happened was: I hacked a cupcake recipe and it WORKED.
Yeah. I’m totally, like, a rogue baker.
What. Up.
Maybe I should get a tattoo.
Ok, I’m being completely absurd but I’m not sure I can sufficiently
express the feelings of accomplishment and joy that accompanied this particular
endeavor. I want to put this on my resume.
I’m serious.
Here’s how it all went down.
I made the Strawberry Cupcakes, as directed. Only problem is
the author of said cookbook is militantly anti-refined sugar and so uses agave nectar. Well, I’m
not exactly pro-refined-anything but let me tell you something about agave: it
is off the charts high in fructose. And guess whose belly doesn’t appreciate
fructose?
That would be mine.
So first batch, I made by the book. Second batch, I subbed
in granulated sugar and a little extra water.
You can see these specimens below. They were fine but a
little odd-tasting and the strawberry flavor wasn't coming through as much as I'd hoped.
 |
| Agave on the left, granulated cane sugar on the right. |
 |
| Meh. |
I felt I could do
better.
I found a recipe on marthastewart.com (my go to for baking
– her recipes always, always come out
perfectly) for Strawberry Cupcakes that seemed to be popular among the
commenters.
There were just a few problems:
The recipe made 34 cupcakes, which was about three times
more than I needed.
The recipe used all-purpose flour and cake flour.
We’re still not totally clear on what my stomach issues are
but one thing I know for sure is that common wheat is not my friend. I can’t
eat it. Period. If I do, about an hour later, things get ugly. My stomach hurts
something awful, my joints ache, and I become exhausted with this overwhelming
feeling that I MUST go to bed IMMEDIATELY, at which point I literally cannot
think of anything else.
The only thing I can liken this reaction to is:…
You know when you have a long day of day-drinking? You start
at maybe 11am or so? And you’ve done a mediocre job drinking water in between?
And around about 8 or 9pm, you just crash?
It’s kind of a little bit like that feeling. The feeling
that you just HAVE TO go to bed. NOW. You stop talking to other people. You
pass out face down with your clothes and makeup on.
Except, also, pretend someone is stabbing you in the gut.
And that every movement of your limbs aches.
Those are just the immediate effects. The lingering gut
effects sometimes last for a few days. I’ll spare you the details.
Needless to say, I’m never willingly eating wheat again. The
doc thinks it’s fair to say I have a wheat allergy.
Obviously, it’s been hard for me to admit to myself that I
can’t eat wheat. Really hard. I’m sure this sounds petty, but I’m not lying
when I say it’s been a bit of an emotional battle. I really love croissants.
Always have. Always will. And there are times when all I want is a damn
burrito. Just a normal, Chipotle burrito for lunch. Is that too much to ask?
Unfortunately, yes. I went through denial and I’m working on
acceptance. It’s getting better.
But it got a lot better on Valentine’s Day. February 14,
2012 will forever be the Day I Realized That All Was Not Lost in My Baking
Future. That I could, and would continue to learn to, make delectable treats
that even people with normal, non-angry digestive systems would enjoy.
So here’s what I did:
I took the Martha recipe, cut it in one-third, subbed weirdo
flours (white spelt and coconut flour) for
the normal all-purpose and cake business, tweaked the liquids and the leaveners, and guess what?
THE RESULT WAS DELICIOUS. I actually wish I had a better
word than delicious because I say things are delicious all the time and even
though I do eat a lot of delicious foods, these cupcakes…they were sublime.
I couldn’t believe it. I am still scarred by the time I was
12 and made a chocolate cake with olive oil because I didn’t understand the
flavor the olive oil would impart vs. regular vegetable oil and my entire
family refused to eat it. As much as I’d like to think I was being
forward-thinking in my culinary ambitions, the truth was, I screwed up and
learned that you can’t just substitute things in baking and expect it to work.
It was a good lesson.
And all the more reason why I was absolutely gobsmacked – GOBSMACKED! – by the result of these Strawberry Cupcakes.
Let me be frank: I’m no cupcake expert. I don’t make
cupcakes all the time. Cupcakes, while tasty, are not my “thing.” But I loved
the idea of making cupcakes for my friends for the Valentine’s Party I was
throwing, and Strawberry Cupcakes seemed just perfect.
And in the end, they were.
Kate's Perfect Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry "Ice Cream" Frosting
1. These cupcakes are not gluten-free, just wheat-free. I
seem to be able to still tolerate spelt, and by God, I’m going to eat it for as
long as I can. But spelt has gluten. Not a lot of gluten, but gluten
nonetheless. So be warned.
and 2. It's called Strawberry "Ice Cream" frosting because - you guessed it - it tastes just like strawberry ice cream. Killer.
Makes and frosts 36 cupcakes
(I'm giving you the full recipe and not the fuzzy-math version as I just made full batch last night for the people at work and the quantities are much, much more normal.)
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
2 3/4 cups white spelt flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill
& measure using dip & sweep method)
3/4 cup coconut flour (same deal:
used Bob’s and dip & sweep)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups very finely chopped strawberries
3-4 drops red food coloring, optional (you may want to add this as the fresh strawberries have the peculiar quality of turning the batter a bit blue-grayish)
Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier (or you can sub vanilla extract, in a pinch)
3-4 drops red food coloring (optional)
6-8 large strawberries, stemmed, hulled, and pureed
8 ounces mascarpone
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with
paper liners. Whisk the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cream butter and
sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time,
followed by the egg yolk, beating after each addition. You may need to scrape down the bowl in between additions.
3. Reduce speed to low. Mix wet ingredients (milk and vanilla extract) in a bowl or pyrex liquid measurer. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions,
alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry.
4. Add strawberries and food coloring and mix until just combined. Scrape sides of
bowl to be sure.
5. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
6. Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out
clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.
7. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, make the frosting. Combine the butter, cream cheese, and confectioner's sugar with a hand mixer on high speed until fluffy. Blend in Grand Marnier. Add the strawberry puree and mascarpone and mix on low to medium speed until incorporated. Warning: if you overbeat the mascarpone, you'll cause it to curdle! If you are nervous about this, put the hand mixer down and use a wooden spoon to combine the mascarpone with the frosting mixture.
8. Frost the cupcakes using a table knife or pastry bag fitted with a wide tip. Add a strawberry bit on top of each cupcake if you want.
Frosted cupcakes will
keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
