This month I am entering Jamieanne's Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge for the first time! The theme is "Childhood Memories." Be sure to visit www.sweetestkitchen.com and click on the Childhood Memories Round-Up to vote for me between the 21st and the 26th! Please only vote for your two favorite cupcakes. Perhaps mine and my sister's tribute to our great-grandmother? :o) We're both Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge newbies!!!
Now back to cupcaking: I racked my brain, thinking on what memory I could turn into a yummy cupcake. I had been telling someone about this soft drink we used to get as kids...Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit. It was tart and fizzy and DELICIOUS. (As a side note, anyone know where you can still get this stuff?!) I had also run across a recipe for lime curd that I had been itching to put into a cupcake. The next week it was like the skies opened up and the angels sang...lime curd...kiwi-lime-grapefruit...hmmm. The idea was born! I then just had to figure out how to incorporate the other two flavors! But first allow me to explain the inspiration behind it a bit...
There were always a few constants growing up as a little girl in Champaign, IL. Softball, bowling, Joby's Pizza for strombolis/Bohemian Rhapsody/pepperoncini peppers, double chocolate cookies at the grocery store, "slice of lemon" (mine and my sister's concoction that we always requested from the bowling alley bartender). Come to think of it, I could have made a cupcake out of any of those! But the first one on that list, softball, is what really got the gears turning.
The year was probably 1991 or 1992. My dad and all his buddies had been on a softball team for several years together. They started playing out at Parkland College on a team sponsored by Commercial Builders. For some reason, someone got the hilarious idea to make their own t-shirts...tie-dye style...purple...with hot pink iron on letters. And no, I am NOT kidding! :o) "Grown" men (term used loosely! haha) running around the field in purple tie-dye shirts. Looking back, I bet it was pretty funny to some of the other teams. The night we all made the shirts was good times, as always. My sister and I even jumped in on the crafting for the evening! After all, we went to ALL the games...had to be the team cheerleaders!
Every night we were at the softball park, my sister and I each got $0.55 to buy ourselves a Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit soda. We would each BARELY crack ours open and slurp it out of the can to make it last all night (mom always hated that we did that, but we wanted to savor it!). I'd always climb up on the scorekeeper's bench on the fence behind home plate so I could see. I'd sit there, kicking my feet, swinging my jelly shoes, cheering on my dad and his friends while enjoying my Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit soda.
How can I do such a memory justice? Well, I tinkered with the ideas of incorporating the kiwi and the grapefruit (the lime was already taken care of!). Do I make a citrus cake and kiwi frosting? Vice versa? Do I enhance the flavors with flavored gelatin? After a lot of thinking and note taking and crossing things off, I narrowed it down. I used this recipe for the cake, doubling it and baking it in 24 cupcake liners at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (until a toothpick came out clean). I added 50 or so drops of neon green food coloring to enhance the aesthetic of the cake, as well. The recipe for the icing is found on the same page, however I also doubled the cream cheese and sugar, substituted the juice of a lemon for the juice of a whole grapefruit, and added 2 tablespoons of grapefruit zest. It also received some neon pink food coloring to make it pretty. :o)
Next was the filling. I'd seen this recipe for lime curd while perusing Jamieanne's challenge last month. It was actually pretty simple to do, although it had sounded like a huge undertaking. This stuff is so delicious; I think I could eat it with a spoon! (As a matter of fact...I have some left over, and I might just do that!) I filled them with the lime curd using the cone method. I was certain it was going to bring just the right tartness to the cupcake.
Here is a photographic journey of my first "out-of-my-own-head" cupcake creation!
Now back to cupcaking: I racked my brain, thinking on what memory I could turn into a yummy cupcake. I had been telling someone about this soft drink we used to get as kids...Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit. It was tart and fizzy and DELICIOUS. (As a side note, anyone know where you can still get this stuff?!) I had also run across a recipe for lime curd that I had been itching to put into a cupcake. The next week it was like the skies opened up and the angels sang...lime curd...kiwi-lime-grapefruit...hmmm. The idea was born! I then just had to figure out how to incorporate the other two flavors! But first allow me to explain the inspiration behind it a bit...
There were always a few constants growing up as a little girl in Champaign, IL. Softball, bowling, Joby's Pizza for strombolis/Bohemian Rhapsody/pepperoncini peppers, double chocolate cookies at the grocery store, "slice of lemon" (mine and my sister's concoction that we always requested from the bowling alley bartender). Come to think of it, I could have made a cupcake out of any of those! But the first one on that list, softball, is what really got the gears turning.
The year was probably 1991 or 1992. My dad and all his buddies had been on a softball team for several years together. They started playing out at Parkland College on a team sponsored by Commercial Builders. For some reason, someone got the hilarious idea to make their own t-shirts...tie-dye style...purple...with hot pink iron on letters. And no, I am NOT kidding! :o) "Grown" men (term used loosely! haha) running around the field in purple tie-dye shirts. Looking back, I bet it was pretty funny to some of the other teams. The night we all made the shirts was good times, as always. My sister and I even jumped in on the crafting for the evening! After all, we went to ALL the games...had to be the team cheerleaders!
Every night we were at the softball park, my sister and I each got $0.55 to buy ourselves a Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit soda. We would each BARELY crack ours open and slurp it out of the can to make it last all night (mom always hated that we did that, but we wanted to savor it!). I'd always climb up on the scorekeeper's bench on the fence behind home plate so I could see. I'd sit there, kicking my feet, swinging my jelly shoes, cheering on my dad and his friends while enjoying my Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit soda.
How can I do such a memory justice? Well, I tinkered with the ideas of incorporating the kiwi and the grapefruit (the lime was already taken care of!). Do I make a citrus cake and kiwi frosting? Vice versa? Do I enhance the flavors with flavored gelatin? After a lot of thinking and note taking and crossing things off, I narrowed it down. I used this recipe for the cake, doubling it and baking it in 24 cupcake liners at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (until a toothpick came out clean). I added 50 or so drops of neon green food coloring to enhance the aesthetic of the cake, as well. The recipe for the icing is found on the same page, however I also doubled the cream cheese and sugar, substituted the juice of a lemon for the juice of a whole grapefruit, and added 2 tablespoons of grapefruit zest. It also received some neon pink food coloring to make it pretty. :o)
Next was the filling. I'd seen this recipe for lime curd while perusing Jamieanne's challenge last month. It was actually pretty simple to do, although it had sounded like a huge undertaking. This stuff is so delicious; I think I could eat it with a spoon! (As a matter of fact...I have some left over, and I might just do that!) I filled them with the lime curd using the cone method. I was certain it was going to bring just the right tartness to the cupcake.
Here is a photographic journey of my first "out-of-my-own-head" cupcake creation!
Ingredient round-up!
Thick batter, almost muffin-like. Looked like guacamole with the food-coloring added!
Making the lime curd
Filling and icing the cupcakes
The finished product! Garnished with a slice of fresh kiwi!
This cupcake brings back the flavors of one of my favorite things as a kid...drinking my Koala Kiwi-Lime-Grapefruit at the softball park. I am very happy with how it turned out! If you think you would enjoy it, too, please go to www.sweetestkitchen.com between 9/21 and 9/26 to vote for my entry!
The winner of September’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:
- Bake It Pretty; a $5 electronic gift card
- Bakerella; an autographed copy of her new book Cake Pops
- Beanilla; 2 each of 4 special vanilla beans
- Hello Hanna; a pack of Sweet Stands cupcake stands
- Miss Kitty Creations; a handmade cupcake charm of your choice
- Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a prize pack worth $25
- Tundra Books; a selection 3 very sweet children’s books
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