New Cupcakes with Beautiful Texture

I am not much of a cupcake fan, all in all, usually figuring it isn't necessary to dirty a muffin tin and have to wash all those little wells when I can just make a cake, even two-layers and only have to wash two items. Just me. Still, every so often I just want to make something small. Yesterday was one of those days. I wanted to make "Key Lime" cupcakes, but only had regular limes, so Lime Cupcakes they turned out to be. Going on a concept of what goes into a Key Lime Pie for example, I wanted something creamy in the frosting, so of course I used cream cheese. Then I wondered if using Malibu Rum would up the tropical flavors. Usually with any type of alcohol added, and most especially if it is one of the regular alcohols and not a liqueur, the alcohol flavor really shines through. Not this time. The frosting is delicious, but I do not detect any rum or coconut flavor.

The lime flavors used in the cupcakes were fresh lime zest, some lime juice and a few drops of lime oil to reinforce the flavor. I have little bottles of Boyajian Citrus Oils; Orange, Lime and Lemon. These are pure citrus oils and not extracts. The flavor is really true and very strong. Lime is my favorite of them all. I used a little measuring spoon that is deemed "just a smidgen" and holds 1/32 of a teaspoon. This turned out to be 4 very tiny drops. The overall lime flavor is lovely in the cupcakes; just enough, but not overwhelming.

Lime Cupcakes with Malibu Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

The cake itself started when I created a white cake recipe. I used 4 drops of green food color to simulate the "lime" color, otherwise it would have just been a white cake with little green flecks of lime zest in it. No matter the color, the texture of the cake is just perfect. It is very tender, with an exceedingly fine texture and crumb. I almost wish I had just made it in cake form. Oh well. Though less an exciting flavor combination than I had hoped for, they are most delicious to eat.

Lime Cupcakes

Lime Cupcakes with Malibu Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes

2¼ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime zest
½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1⅓ cup buttermilk
1½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 drops green food color, optional
1 - 4 drops lime oil, optional
½ cup egg whites (about 4), room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection Bake). Prepare cupcake tins by either greasing the individual cups or lining with muffin papers. Alternatively, if making cake layers, grease two 8 or 9-inch baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment. Grease the parchment. Set aside.

Sift or whisk together the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, salt and lime zest. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, or use the whisk attachment on a heavy duty stand mixer until the mixture is just making crumbs. Set aside.

In a measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, lime juice, vanilla, food color and lime oil if using and set this aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they are just starting to have a little bit of form to them in the wake of the mixer. Begin beating in the remaining cup of sugar a little at a time until the meringue is just at stiff peaks and still very glossy.

Now go back to the flour and butter mixture and add in the wet ingredients, mixing until well combined and no dry ingredients remain. Fold in the meringue gently until no streaks remain. Divide the batter into prepared muffin tins or cake pans. Bake cupcakes for about 20 to 25 minutes. Bake cake layers for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cake layers to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out to a rack to finish cooling.
As an alternative to using rum or Malibu Rum, coconut flavoring would be great in this frosting. Start with ½ teaspoon and go from there. The coconut flavor along with regular rum would also be good.

Malibu Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or one two layer cake

Malibu Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks butter at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh lime zest
2 teaspoons Malibu Rum, optional

It is highly important the butter and cream cheese be at room temperature before starting with this frosting. It will not beat properly otherwise.

Place the butter and cream cheese into the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat these ingredients for 8 minutes on medium speed, until the mixture is almost white and very soft. Separately, sift together the confectioners' sugar and salt and add all at once to the mixer bowl, along with the lime zest. Start the mixer on the lowest speed for about 1 minute, until most of the confectioners' sugar is moistened enough to not fly all about the room. Increase speed to medium again and beat for another 6 minutes, adding in any flavorings before this time is elapsed. Be careful to not add more liquid than needed or the frosting will be too soft to hold together nicely. Taste for flavor.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Filled, Frosted Cupcakes: Finishing my Valentine Labor of Love

Yesterday, I wrote of the process involved in the creating of the recipes for these cupcakes, and the fact that the flavor combination was from a vaguely Middle Eastern palette; cardamom, black pepper, orange, pistachio, rosewater. I wanted to make filled and frosted cupcakes, something I had not yet tried. Pureed sweet potato would go in the cake, knowing this would give a great moist texture. I settled on a Pistachio Cream Filling, which was made in 2 steps. First the Pastry Cream, which is also wonderful as a pudding. Since the Pistachio Cream Filling recipe only needs a small part of the Pastry Cream recipe, you can give this a try as a pudding and taste its wonderful flavor. The frosting used freeze-dried strawberries, processed fine and added to the confectioners' sugar for the frosting. Rosewater was the combination with the strawberries to bring that Middle Eastern flavor to the frosting.

Sweet Potato Cardamom Cupcakes with Pistachio Cream Filling & Strawberry Rosewater Frosting

Rosewater is not something just everyone has at home, I realize. If looking for it, you will likely need to find a specialty store or order online. It can be found on Amazon, of course; look for it under culinary - not health and beauty. This is not "rosewater and glycerin" for the face, but one made for ingesting. Even Nielson-Massey, whose vanilla extracts I adore (and buy by the pint!) has rosewater now, though I did try it and did not like it at all. I far prefer Cortas brand, the flavor is more authentic. While culinary rosewater can be used for beauty purposes, do not buy cosmetic rosewater to use for cooking.

Inside the Cupcakes

This whole set of recipes may seem like a lot of work, and making everything on the same day can certainly be work. Instead, break the recipes up into components and make them ahead. The pastry cream can be made a couple of days in advance and kept chilled until needed. The Pistachio Cream can be completed and chilled 2 to 3 days in advance and kept tightly covered and chilled until needed. The frosting could possibly be kept for a day, though I am unsure of how the texture would fare. It may need to be beaten again to bring it back to usable form. 

Coring & Extracting

All the cores & closeup of cupcake

Making the cupcakes with the intent to core and fill was something I had never attempted. On TV I saw someone using the exact same kind of apple corer that I own to take the core out of cupcakes. AHA! It was very simple. My corer, seen in these photos, has a little serration to the edge. Obviously this helps with coring an apple, and helps as well with taking the center from a cupcake. By gently twisting the corer as you work it into the cupcake, you can easily bring out the core without crushing the cupcake. Just as with slicing bread with a serrated knife, the object is to gently saw back and forth, rather than press down and crush the bread. A gentle twisting of the corer will do the same for the cupcakes without crushing. Just remember that you do not want to go all the way out the bottom of the cupcake when coring. Check the approximate height of the cupcake and then keep an eye out for the height when using the corer.

To finalize the cupcakes, use a piping bag, or a freezer-strength zip top bag with a corner cut out to fill in the centers with the Pistachio Cream. Make the filling mounded just slightly, as the filling will soak into the cupcake. Once the frosting is ready, use a piping bag and large star tip, or other open star tip to pipe a pretty design. The icing can just as easily be spread on with an icing spatula. Use a pinch of the reserved crushed freeze-dried strawberry over the top of the icing; see yesterday's post about the Strawberry Rosewater Frosting. 

Sweet Potato Cardamom Cupcakes

Makes about 24 cupcakes, or two 8-inch round layers, or one 9 x 13-inch cake
 
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

Cardamom Seeds & Pods

1½2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup cooked, peeled, pureed sweet potato
fresh zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange (about ⅓ cup)
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely ground cardamom
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup buttermilk
 
Preheat oven to 350 (325 on Convection). With a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Add the pureed sweet potato, orange juice and zest and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and black pepper. Add these ingredients to the creamed mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk until all combined.
 
Set cupcake papers into two 12-cup muffin tins. Fill the papers about 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before attempting to core and fill.
 
If baking round cakes, the baking time may be 25 to 35 minutes. For a 9 x 13-inch cake, the bake time may be 35 to 45 minutes.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Valentine Labor Of love

Sweet Potato Cardamom Cupcakes 

Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows I love experimenting with recipes, trying different flavor combinations, and looking for things that are pushing the edge of where my husband will go with his food. I love trying new and different flavors, new spices or herbs, combining things in different ways. As I watch TV and hear about some of the more "out there" flavor combinations, I long to try them. So, in the back of my mind, I am always running through different flavors and how to combine them and in what. 

For some weeks now I have wanted to make cupcakes, core them, fill them with something and then frost them. In general I am not over fond of making cupcakes at all. I like eating them; they are cake, after all, and I love cake. However, I prefer to make one large something as opposed to lots of small somethings, at least in the cake or pie department. But, I had never "cored" or filled a cupcake, and wanted to try this out. The flavors and combinations were what was keeping me from starting, because I couldn't settle on a combination I liked. Yesterday morning, since I had not gotten my husband a Valentine gift, I sat down and focused. The process of creating the recipes and making all the components were almost a 6 hour job. Another time, with recipes already created, I know that much of it can be made over the course of days and finished easily in a short period of time when needed.

I settled on a sort of Middle Eastern set of flavors to work with. I had been thinking of a pistachio cream for the filling for a long while, but the rest of the equation had escaped me. So, pistachio filling was a start. Then I focused on the cupcake component. I prefer white cake. My husband also loves white cake. We will both eat chocolate, but it is not generally our first choice. I did not want to make a carrot cake, despite how much he loves that. With the Middle Eastern flavors I was going for, it was the wrong canvas. I wanted a moist cake, and had once made a cake with squash in it. I had a 10-ounce sweet potato in the fridge. I set it in a pan of water and boiled it for an hour, then cooled slightly and peeled it. I put it through a ricer and ended up with a perfect 1-cup. I decided on a yellow cake, as no  matter what, it would be yellow with the sweet potato. For the flavors, I went with cardamom, black pepper, orange zest and juice, all Middle Eastern flavors.

A couple of months back, when grocery shopping, I found freeze dried strawberries, in among the regular dried fruits. I do not care for strawberries. I abhor anything fake strawberry "flavored." I like the real flavored cream that results from strawberries soaking in cream - but not the berries themselves. So, since I had freeze dried strawberries, and my husband is a real strawberry fiend, I figured the flavor was real enough and I was not actually eating the fresh berries I do not care for. To give the frosting vaguely Middle Eastern flavor, I added rosewater. So, my stage was set. Then I started working on recipes.

I wanted to make the pistachio filling with an idea I saw on TV. They added pastry cream to a mixture with ground pistachios. I have a recipe for a pastry cream I have used for years. As a matter of fact, long ago I used to make it as a cooked pudding for my kids, as the flavor is so delightful. I made a batch of that first, while the sweet potato was cooking. Then, I worked on how to proceed with the pistachio part. I took some raw, shelled, unsalted pistachios I have had for a while and placed them in the food processor with some confectioners' sugar and processed that for about 5 minutes. It resulted in a pretty green powder. While it was already finely ground, I still worked the powder through a colander to take out any larger pistachio bits that might remain, though there was not much. I creamed some butter for about 5 minutes, then added in the pistachio powder. Once that was well creamed, I added in some of the cooled pastry cream and mixed. That went in the fridge to set.

I am going to post here the Pastry Cream, Pistachio Cream Filling and the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting recipes. Tomorrow I will post the recipe for the cupcakes and the finalizing.

Pastry Cream

Pastry Cream

Makes about 1 5/8 cups (you will need ½ cup for the Pistachio Cream Filling)

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, whisk together the egg with the yolk and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. Using a whisk, mix in the milk. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat and whisking constantly, allow the mixture to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes to cook out the raw starch taste. With a small ladle, scoop some of the hot mixture into the eggs and whisk quickly to temper the eggs. Add in another ladle of the hot mixture and whisk. Off the heat, add the whole egg mixture back into the hot pan. Place the pan back over very low heat, whisking constantly for 30 seconds to one minute, or until the mixture just begins to bubble. Remove from heat immediately, or the eggs will scramble If desired, strain the mixture. Place plastic wrap directly onto the hot surface of the pastry cream and chill completely before using. This can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated.

Pistachio Cream Filling

Makes enough to fill 24 cupcakes

1/2 cup preferably raw, shelled, unsalted pistachios (or rinse salt off of regular pistachios and dry completely before proceeding)
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Pistachio Cream Filling

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pastry cream

Set the pistachios with the confectioners' sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process for at least 5 minutes, or until the mixture is a fine powder. With a mixer, cream the butter until very light. Add in the pistachio mixture with the salt and beat until well combined. Add the pastry cream and mix well. Chill. This recipe can be made 2 - 3 days in advance and kept refrigerated.

Strawberry Rosewater Frosting

Strawberry Rosewater Frosting

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes
 
1 (1-ounce) package freeze dried strawberries
6 ounces softened cream cheese
1 stick (4-ounces) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rosewater
 
Place 1 cup of the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor and process to a very fine powder. (Save the remaining few bits to crush and sprinkle over the finished cupcakes). Sift this powder with the confectioners' sugar and salt into a bowl and set aside. In a standing mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter for about 8 to 10 minutes, until light and creamy. Stop the mixer and add all the sifted ingredients. Start on very slow to incorporate the dry ingredients, then add the rosewater and increase speed and beat well. Can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature and beat to bring back the texture before using. 



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Cake Worth Making: Hazelnut Sweet Potato Torte

It's been a few days since I have been on this blog. I have been busy with a few new recipes, photo shoots and other things. I had this idea for a cake; it had been percolating through my brain for a couple of weeks, and wanted to give it a try. I finally got down to it and had some excellent results. I had found a recipe some time back by Chef Eddy Van Damme for a carrot cake made with nut meals. I wondered, though.

Hazelnut Sweet Potato Tortes

I made a cake using sweet potato about a year ago, and it was an excellent cake. The sweet potato was cooked and then pureed and used in the cake, making it very moist. But, I wondered, what if I didn't cook the sweet potato? What if I just shredded it like the carrots for a carrot cake? I wanted to put this idea to the test, though I couldn't imagine why it wouldn't work. I love the idea of using nut meal as the basis for a cake, as it is more like a torte; a heavier, but moist and rich torte cake. Flavors were another consideration. What flavors would go well with sweet potato and nut meal? Ginger, for sure. Vanilla is always a great background flavor. One other thought was that the cake uses one cup of regular flour, to bind everything together. Once cup is not a lot, and I decided to go with a Gluten-Free flour mixture instead, making the cake completely gluten-free.

I went ahead with the cake, but decided to utilize a square cupcake tin my sister-in-law had given me. I knew the cake would not grow a lot. Being a nut torte, if it did rise too high, it would just deflate. I had in my mind the picture of cute little square tortes. I went ahead with the recipe as I amended. I used half hazelnut meal and half almond meal. Next time I will use all hazelnut meal, as I think it would define the flavors more. Not that there was a single thing wrong with the flavors I ended up with!

The baking time for the square cupcakes was 20 minutes at 375 degrees. I had some batter left over after filling the square pans, so I put it into regular round cupcake tins and got 6 more. These were slightly smaller that the squares and were done in 15 minutes. The cake batter could be spread onto a half sheet pan and made about 1/2 inch thick. This way the cake can be cut into bar or square shapes and topped with icing in some decorative manner, just like the cupcakes I made. Another option, and one I would like to try, is using round cake pans, either three or four, for thin torte layers, and stacking them with orange curd between the layers. I am making myself salivate, and we haven't yet finished with the last cake yet. Ideas for another day.

Hazelnut Sweet Potato Tortes with Matcha Green Tea Ginger Icing

Meanwhile, I had the little cupcakes in the oven and turned my mind to icing. What would go well topping these flavors? I have wanted to try using matcha green tea powder in an icing for a while, so that was my first idea. Then, because there was ginger in the cake, and ginger and green tea sounded heavenly together, I decided on adding ginger. At the last minute I thought of a praline pecan flavor extract I had in the cabinet and used about 3 drops of that. It made the frosting taste absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, it totally eclipsed the flavor of green tea and ginger. Next time I make that combo, I will not use the praline extract, or just use it alone. It was exquisite with the cakes.

Hazelnut Sweet Potato Torte

Makes 3 - 4 thin 8-inch round torte layers,

Hazelnut Sweet Potato Tortes
with Matcha Green Tea Ginger Icing

 
OR 16 square "cupcakes" 
OR 20 - 24 regular cupcakes

1¼ cups brown sugar
1½ cups almond flour / almond meal
1½ cups hazelnut flour / hazelnut meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup flour of choice (I used gluten free)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
3 eggs
1½ cup melted unsalted butter
12 ounces finely grated sweet potato (about 3 cups grated)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl combine the first 8 ingredients and whisk together to combine; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs for 5 minutes at high speed, until thick and pale. Lower speed to very low and pour in the melted butter and the vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.

If using a half-sheet pan, line it with parchment and spray the parchment with cooking spray. (I lined the square cupcake pans with little parchment squares also, just as added insurance.) If using half-sheet pan, spread the batter evenly over the surface. Cake will be very thin. It can later be sliced and stacked, if desired.

It can be made in 8 or 9-inch round pans; line the pans and spread batter thinly in 3 or 4 (8 or 9-inch) round pans. If using cupcake tins, this will make about 20 - 24 cupcakes, depending on how full they are. Bake for about 20 minutes for either the half-sheet pan or the square cupcake pans. For smaller round cupcakes, bake for approximately 15 minutes. Cakes are done with they spring back when lightly pressed, or use the toothpick inserted in center to test for doneness.

NOTES: This cake was made entirely gluten free. I made a Matcha Green Tea Buttercream icing with matcha green tea powder, powdered ginger and a few drops of Praline flavor. Plain vanilla buttercream would be equally as good. Use your favorite icing. 

Whipped Buttercream Icing 

Whipped Buttercream Icing

This basic Buttercream can be altered and flavored in many possible ways. The main ingredients are 1 stick of butter to one cup of confectioners' sugar, with a pinch of salt tossed in. For vanilla, add in vanilla extract and/or the seeds from a vanilla bean.

Makes enough to frost an 8-inch cake

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste

In no recipe is it as important to have the butter at room temperature as in this one.

Place soft butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium high for about 8 minutes, or until the butter is nearly white and very creamy. Reduce mixer speed to very low. Sift together the confectioners' sugar and salt, and add this to the mixer bowl on very low speed, until moistened, about 1 minute. Return speed to medium high and beat for about 6 minutes more. Add liquids only if needed, and only in very small increments.


VARIATION: (shown in photos above)

Matcha Green Tea Ginger Icing 

Matcha Green Tea Ginger Icing

1 to 3 tablespoons Matcha Green Tea Powder
½ teaspoon powdered ginger

Sift these ingredients in with the confectioners' sugar, then follow instructions as for Whipped Buttercream Icing above.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a topper for the cake, back to thinking of what goes well with sweet potato, I thought of some little marshmallows in the pantry. I took a couple of dozen and set them onto parchment on a baking sheet and broiled them till they were puffed and browned, about 1 minute. They completely deflated when they cooled, but they were still chewy and flavorful, and I topped each little cake with one roasted marshmallow. Yum.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Super Bowl, Cupcakes and Cake

I have been writing articles and lately, with the Super Bowl coming up, they have been all about appetizers, recipes and goodies to serve for the millions of parties that will take place on that day. Chili alone or in bread bowls, Cheese Balls and variations. Of course, appetizers that are great for any party will also be great for Super Bowl parties. 

Yesterday I was thinking of making little roll-ups with large flour tortillas. These have been around a long time now and can be served in longer logs or small single-bite pieces. I haven't made any of these for quite some time, but thinking about it, it occurred to me that most things that would constitute a good cheese ball would also be good as fillers for a roll up. Combinations like a pound of cream cheese, half pound of goat cheese, chopped smoked salmon, chopped capers and scallions would make a great filling for a tortilla roll-up. Or how about a pound of cream cheese, a half pound of white cheddar, chopped scallions and chopped dried beef?  Using rotisserie chickens gives another way to combine flavors.

Curried Chicken Roll-Ups

Then, these could also be made as dessert roll-ups. Try combining a pound of cream cheese, a half cup of honey, a tablespoon of cinnamon and some chopped walnuts. Or maybe cream cheese with some Nutella, chocolate chips and chopped hazelnuts. 

So, on the subject of desserts, my husband was gung-ho for me to try out some cupcakes. And if I was going to make them, could I decorate them for the teams? We waited until Sunday night when the two last teams were known. And yesterday I finally made the cupcakes. I made a super mess in my kitchen, with all the food colors out and little bowls of icings in various colors, all the icing bags and tips. It never takes long to clean; it's just hard to work when there is a mess. I got myself organized and got the icings colored properly, or at least approximately and I was ready. 

Super Bowl Cupcakes

I wanted to make little footballs to set on top of some of the cupcakes, but all I had was a mold for little Easter eggs. I used that mold, stuck the halves together and with white icing, made the laces. I used icing tip #233 to make green grass on some cupcakes and set the little egg shaped football with the rounded ends down. You would never know!  

With the two teams being the Ravens with purple, black and gold, and the 49ERS with red, gold and white, I set to work approximating a logo of sorts on other cupcakes. Granted I do have some artistic ability, and maybe this is not for everyone, but it was fun to see what I could do. Here is the picture to show the finished products. I hope your Super Bowl parties are a hit with all your guests!


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.