Just got a tweet from The Sporkful with a link to a crazy experiment of cupcake baking. The goal was to make cupcakes concave like a crater instead of the normally puffy convex shape. Instead of using pie weights or beans, Sporkful reader David from Arlington use coins to weigh down the cupcake while they are baking. The result is a concave cupcake to facilitate more frosting, but the look of the cupcake is dubious to me.
See the full slide show to get the story.
It is a cupcake with a built-in frosting shot. I'm thinking baking quarters would affect the taste of the cupcake. Metal anyone?! Next time I suggest baking them the regular way and get your extra frosting fix by injection of custard or jam in the middle of the cake. Do not use a hypodermic needle! ;)
Comments
I certainly wouldn't ever bake with dirty, used coins anyway. Pie weights or dry beans, maybe, but actual coins that hundreds of people have touched? I'm not at all germophobic, and I still wouldn't consider that!
Personally, filled cupcakes are my favorite, but not because I can add more of the same frosting that's already on top, but because I can add a third element to my cupcakes - a different flavor to add more complexity. I rarely, if ever, fill my cupcakes with the same frosting I top them with unless I reduce the amount of frosting on top.
The method shown here reduces the amount of cake risking that perfect ratio of cake/frosting that many cupcake lovers enjoy about cupcakes in the first place. Yes, we love our frosting, but some of it is about cake too. :)