This week's cupcake is definitely my most adventurous yet. It's an idea that I have been toying with for some time and bringing it to fruition absolutely caused me a certain level of stress; salmon cupcakes drizzled with a soy sauce flavoured caramel, covered in a wasabi cream cheese frosting topped with sesame seeds, orange nonpareils ( as 'caviar') and a piece of nori, with a side of candied ginger. Phew! Without further ado, here it is, my sushi cupcake!
Cupcake
(adapted from 500 cupcakes)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour (I used rice flour)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt (I used kelp flakes)
3 oz smoked salmon, chopped
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease/spray pan(s).
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs and milk. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt then gradually add it to the wet mixture until combined. Gently fold in the chopped salmon and lemon zest.
The batter has a slightly grainy texture to it which is a result of the rice flour, not unlike the texture of a corn muffin/bread recipe, and is lightly sweet overall to allow for the salmon flavour to come through.
Spoon the batter into your pans and bake. This recipe yielded 12 regular cupcakes and 5 minis; I baked them for 17 and 10 minutes respectively. I would reduce the time for the larger cakes to 15 minutes and possibly less as this recipe cooked faster than usual (as seen in the above picture, the sides were a little darker than desired).
Soy Sauce Caramel Drizzle
(adapted from http://polkadotapron.posterous.com)
1/4 cup water
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce (I used Bragg Liquid Aminos, a soy sauce substitute)
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine water, cream of tartar, corn syrup, and sugar; ensure that sugar is completed moistened. Heat the ingredients over med-high heat, cook until caramel-amber colour comes through and mixture is at a rolling boil (~8 minutes). Quickly turn off the heat and add the tablespoon of butter, stirring until melted. Carefully pour in the cream, the resulting steam is VERY hot! Return the pan to a medium-low heat, stirring until smooth and slightly bubbly. Remove from heat once more and stir in soy sauce. Transfer the caramel to a heat proof container (ex. Pyrex measuring cup) and allow mixture to come to room temperature before decanting it into a mason jar and refrigerating it to thicken it up (I had it in there overnight). This recipe yielded about 1 1/2 cups of caramel.
(adapted from 500 cupcakes)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour (I used rice flour)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt (I used kelp flakes)
3 oz smoked salmon, chopped
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease/spray pan(s).
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs and milk. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt then gradually add it to the wet mixture until combined. Gently fold in the chopped salmon and lemon zest.
The batter has a slightly grainy texture to it which is a result of the rice flour, not unlike the texture of a corn muffin/bread recipe, and is lightly sweet overall to allow for the salmon flavour to come through.
Spoon the batter into your pans and bake. This recipe yielded 12 regular cupcakes and 5 minis; I baked them for 17 and 10 minutes respectively. I would reduce the time for the larger cakes to 15 minutes and possibly less as this recipe cooked faster than usual (as seen in the above picture, the sides were a little darker than desired).
Soy Sauce Caramel Drizzle
(adapted from http://polkadotapron.posterous.com)
1/4 cup water
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce (I used Bragg Liquid Aminos, a soy sauce substitute)
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine water, cream of tartar, corn syrup, and sugar; ensure that sugar is completed moistened. Heat the ingredients over med-high heat, cook until caramel-amber colour comes through and mixture is at a rolling boil (~8 minutes). Quickly turn off the heat and add the tablespoon of butter, stirring until melted. Carefully pour in the cream, the resulting steam is VERY hot! Return the pan to a medium-low heat, stirring until smooth and slightly bubbly. Remove from heat once more and stir in soy sauce. Transfer the caramel to a heat proof container (ex. Pyrex measuring cup) and allow mixture to come to room temperature before decanting it into a mason jar and refrigerating it to thicken it up (I had it in there overnight). This recipe yielded about 1 1/2 cups of caramel.
Taste: ***1/2 | Presentation: ****1/2
Frosting
8oz package cream cheese (I used 1/3 fat)
1 tbsp wasabi sauce
1 1/4 cup icing (confectioners/powdered) sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 drop green food colouring
Combine the cream cheese and 1 cup of the icing sugar. Add in the vanilla, wasabi and food colouring, mixing well; add the rest of the sugar and mix some more! Refrigerate the icing to allow it to thicken up. I placed the frosting in a ziploc bag to allow for easy dispensing when ready. This recipe yielded about 1 1/4 cups of frosting
Once cooled, I drizzled the soy sauce based caramel over the cakes, following up with the piped frosting. I sprinkled sesame seeds over them, along with orange non-pareils, intended to appear as caviar. I topped the creations off with a torn piece of nori and served them up with a side of candied ginger, keeping in mind that ginger isn't everyone's cup of tea.
The Panel:
Kupcake was out this week with strep throat so the panel was one cupcake-ivore short. Understandably, 'weird' and 'unique' were among some of the comments made this week. Dry was a prevalent observation, likely due to the sole use of rice flour. The salmon flavour was noted to be subtle and the wasabi barely noticeable.
Fathom's Chef: "What a blend of flavours!"
Giovanni: "The best bite was with the seaweed, salty, sweet paradise."
My comments:
I will admit that the muted flavours were a result of my apprehensive approach to this recipe. Most definitely would add more wasabi to the frosting in the future, the 'bite' was definitely lost. I would also like to experiment with using different ratios of rice flour to regular flour in this (or any other) recipe. I used smoked salmon as I deemed the flavour would go best with the sweet of the cake but would consider using fresh salmon in the next batch. Salted caramel turned out nice.
Kupcake was out this week with strep throat so the panel was one cupcake-ivore short. Understandably, 'weird' and 'unique' were among some of the comments made this week. Dry was a prevalent observation, likely due to the sole use of rice flour. The salmon flavour was noted to be subtle and the wasabi barely noticeable.
Fathom's Chef: "What a blend of flavours!"
Giovanni: "The best bite was with the seaweed, salty, sweet paradise."
My comments:
I will admit that the muted flavours were a result of my apprehensive approach to this recipe. Most definitely would add more wasabi to the frosting in the future, the 'bite' was definitely lost. I would also like to experiment with using different ratios of rice flour to regular flour in this (or any other) recipe. I used smoked salmon as I deemed the flavour would go best with the sweet of the cake but would consider using fresh salmon in the next batch. Salted caramel turned out nice.