Eve Turow at NPR is as fascinated by cupcakes and their ubiquity as we are. She also serves up a healthier version with these recipes: Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes With Cream-Cheese Frosting, Banana Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting, Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cream-Cheese Frosting, and Orange Cardamom Cupcakes With Orange Yogurt Icing. Visit NPR to read the full article and get photos and all five recipes.
In their current iteration, cupcakes have become exceptionally diverse. They can be decorated for any occasion, wearing flowers for weddings, offering hearts to Valentines or four-leaf clovers on Saint Patrick's Day. The list of flavors is endless. The most popular combinations remain vanilla cake with vanilla icing, and chocolate cake with chocolate icing, but bakers have risen to the challenge of gourmet cupcakes with flavors such as strawberry shortcake, pumpkin, Oreo, peanut butter and even tequila. Many cupcakeries arrange cupcakes in the shapes of mascots or logos for teams and businesses. During a recent conversation with a friend about alternatives to a wedding cake, I suggested tiered cupcakes. "Oh, everyone is doing that," she said.
Easily portable, cupcakes are the perfect lunchbox addition for children. Many associate cupcakes with afternoons of baking with parents, birthday parties and middle school bake sales. I vividly remember eating Halloween cupcakes with plastic pumpkin rings on top. I recall the agonizing choice between vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, or chocolate with vanilla frosting, not to mention the anguish of choosing between jack-o'-lantern rings or spider rings.
As the cupcake has grown up, the food world has become more health-conscious. In an effort to apply new knowledge to an icon, I went through several experimental batches, afternoons of cake-battered aprons and sticky frosting-covered fingers. In the end, I came up with several healthful, friendly recipes. Many are flourless, all skip butter and oil, and some can even be prepared with nothing more than one bowl and a blender. Let the cupcake revolution continue.
In their current iteration, cupcakes have become exceptionally diverse. They can be decorated for any occasion, wearing flowers for weddings, offering hearts to Valentines or four-leaf clovers on Saint Patrick's Day. The list of flavors is endless. The most popular combinations remain vanilla cake with vanilla icing, and chocolate cake with chocolate icing, but bakers have risen to the challenge of gourmet cupcakes with flavors such as strawberry shortcake, pumpkin, Oreo, peanut butter and even tequila. Many cupcakeries arrange cupcakes in the shapes of mascots or logos for teams and businesses. During a recent conversation with a friend about alternatives to a wedding cake, I suggested tiered cupcakes. "Oh, everyone is doing that," she said.
Easily portable, cupcakes are the perfect lunchbox addition for children. Many associate cupcakes with afternoons of baking with parents, birthday parties and middle school bake sales. I vividly remember eating Halloween cupcakes with plastic pumpkin rings on top. I recall the agonizing choice between vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, or chocolate with vanilla frosting, not to mention the anguish of choosing between jack-o'-lantern rings or spider rings.
As the cupcake has grown up, the food world has become more health-conscious. In an effort to apply new knowledge to an icon, I went through several experimental batches, afternoons of cake-battered aprons and sticky frosting-covered fingers. In the end, I came up with several healthful, friendly recipes. Many are flourless, all skip butter and oil, and some can even be prepared with nothing more than one bowl and a blender. Let the cupcake revolution continue.
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