The inspiration for this week's cupcake occurred to me while out to dinner a couple weeks back, enjoying a delicious fresh spring roll, one of my favourite Thai appetizers. I thought it might be fun to try and incorporate some key Thai cuisine ingredients into a savoury cupcake so here it is: a rice flour based peanut butter, curry, carrot, vanilla cupcake smeared with a cilantro-lime cream cheese frosting, dizzled with sweet chili ginger thai sauce, topped with peanuts and bean sprouts. Definitely makes for a conversation starter.
Cupcake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp red curry paste
1 cup rice flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 cup shredded carrots
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease pan(s).
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar until fluffy (~2 minutes). Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing in between, followed by the peanut butter, mixing well. In a small dish whisk together the coconut milk, vanilla extract, fish sauce and curry paste; set aside. In a medium bowl sift together the 2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture in thirds alternating with the yogurt/vanilla mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients until combined. Fold the carrots into the batter. Pour into pan(s). This recipe yielded 17 regular sized cupcakes baked for 17 minutes.
Frosting
1-8oz pkg cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat) at room temperature
2 cups icing/confectioner sugar
zest of 1 lime and juice of half (~1tbsp)
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
In a medium bowl, use a mixer to cream the cream cheese until smooth. Sift in the sugar and mix until well blended. Add in the remaining ingredients until well combined. Yielded plenty for the number of cakes produced with extra to spare.
Topping
Once cool, I frosted each cake with the above frosting. I then drizzled each with a sweet chili Thai sauce followed by a dash of diced peanuts and a pinch of fresh bean sprouts.
The Panel
The arbiters seemed to agree that this cupcake definitely represented an authentic Thai dish. The disconnect came when breaking the recipe down on an ingredient basis. There were a few comments made that the cake was a little dry which is likely attributed to the use of the rice flour. Though they seemed to work well together, the peanut, carrot and curry flavours were said to be muted overall. The lime-cilantro frosting was well received and the texture of the peanut and sprout garnishes were appreciated. The sweet chili Thai sauce however, was critiqued as rather astringent, overpowering the petite treat. Giovanni suggested using it to conjure up some sort of filling.
Princess: "This should be put on a menu somewhere."
JRock: "I would def buy this one!"
Diana: "Inventive and contemporary concept" chili sauce overpowering, organic pres
My comments
I was initially quite nervous about presenting this cupcake as the aroma of fish sauce seemed to me to be rather overwhelming (I could smell it throughout the once after baking them, maintaining it's potency during transport) but not a single comment was made about the odor which provided relief. I agree that the cake was a little dry though it was well balanced by the use of the frosting; the cream cheese based frosting on this cake was definitely the right choice sweet/tartness worked well with the spicy creation, though I would add more sugar to thicken it up in the future. Textures were great and there was much flavour in every bite. For the sweet chili Thai sauce, I think in the future allowing individuals to control the amount added to their personal treat would be a good parameter, though I really enjoy the suggestion made to create a filling of sorts. I would also try to incorporate more curry (up it to 1 tsp), carrots (adding an extra 1/2 cup) and peanut ingredients (3/4 cup butter and more sprinkled on top).
The arbiters seemed to agree that this cupcake definitely represented an authentic Thai dish. The disconnect came when breaking the recipe down on an ingredient basis. There were a few comments made that the cake was a little dry which is likely attributed to the use of the rice flour. Though they seemed to work well together, the peanut, carrot and curry flavours were said to be muted overall. The lime-cilantro frosting was well received and the texture of the peanut and sprout garnishes were appreciated. The sweet chili Thai sauce however, was critiqued as rather astringent, overpowering the petite treat. Giovanni suggested using it to conjure up some sort of filling.
Princess: "This should be put on a menu somewhere."
JRock: "I would def buy this one!"
Diana: "Inventive and contemporary concept" chili sauce overpowering, organic pres
My comments
I was initially quite nervous about presenting this cupcake as the aroma of fish sauce seemed to me to be rather overwhelming (I could smell it throughout the once after baking them, maintaining it's potency during transport) but not a single comment was made about the odor which provided relief. I agree that the cake was a little dry though it was well balanced by the use of the frosting; the cream cheese based frosting on this cake was definitely the right choice sweet/tartness worked well with the spicy creation, though I would add more sugar to thicken it up in the future. Textures were great and there was much flavour in every bite. For the sweet chili Thai sauce, I think in the future allowing individuals to control the amount added to their personal treat would be a good parameter, though I really enjoy the suggestion made to create a filling of sorts. I would also try to incorporate more curry (up it to 1 tsp), carrots (adding an extra 1/2 cup) and peanut ingredients (3/4 cup butter and more sprinkled on top).