First, I searched for mint chips. Now, I knew exactly what I wanted to use -- the green chips from King Arthur, but with the holidays and all, I knew I would never receive them in time. The local grocery stores had the usual boring selection, meaning no mint chips, so I settled on Andes mints, which I chopped up.
Next I thought about the cake part. I love chocolate, but I figured there would be lots of chocolate entries. I happened to make a trifle recently and had some leftover egg whites, so I chose a basic white cake for my cupcakes. Easy, right? Just fold in the chopped mints and bake.
Finally, to be really efficient, I decided against using paper cupcake holders, and chose to bake my cakes directly in a silicon muffin/cupcake pan. How clever! No greasing; no paper; easy! Hah, never again!
The cupcakes failed to rise (yes, the baking powder was new), so they look more like cupcake tops. (I should have been wary, though, because my muffins rarely rise in this pan.) So, now to remove the inch-high cupcakes from the non-stick pan. Clearly, this wasn't going to happen either. The first one came out in pieces. 11 to go. I waited a bit, until they were slightly cooler. Number two lost half its bottom. Goody. A 1/2-inch high cupcake. Better be patient and wait until they are completely cool. I tried. In the end, I had about 6 vertically challenged cupcakes that were usable.
And, in the midst of removing them, I decided against making the 7-minute icing, and opted instead for a simple buttercream, in a small amount, adding green color and peppermint flavor to complement the mint chips.
On the positive side, they actually taste delicious, but I think it will be a while before I bake cupcakes again. Better if I stick to bread and pies.
Thanks to Laurie of Quirky Cupcake and Natalie of Bake and Destroy for hosting the December event.
1 comment:
I think they look and sound delicious! I actually don't like my silicone pan that I have - more things stick to it than not!
Post a Comment