It's that time of year again when trips to the grocery store bestow cedar wreaths dressed with red bows, the sound systems ring with a deluge of Christmas harmonies and delicious seasonal flavours become available for your indulgence. More specifically, my personal favourite, pomegranates are piled high near the entrance to the produce section; their beautiful red shell conceals a conglomerate of juicy and divine arils. This fruit is believed by many to have been the object of temptation in the Garden of Eden. To kick of my 3-week series of Christmas cupcakes I give you Forbidden: a red velvet cupcake comprising pomegranate seeds crowned with a pomegranate cream cheese frosting topped off with pomegranate seeds and a dash of dark chocolate.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
(from joyofbaking.com)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk (or substitute 1tbsp vinegar, top off to a cup with milk,,allow to sit 10 mins)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp red food colouring
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan(s).
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar until fluffy (~3 minutes). Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between. In a separate bowl combine the "buttermilk", vanilla and red food dye. In a medium bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture in thirds alternating with the milk mixture starting and ending with the dry ingredients until combined. Fold in the pomegranate seeds. Scoop into pans. This batch yielded 12 regular sized and 12 mini cupcakes baked for 16 and 11 minutes respectively.
Pomegranate Cream Cheese Frosting (from www.pomwonderful.com)
1 1/2 POM juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter room temperature
1-8oz pkg cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat) at room temperature
2 cups icing/confectioner sugar
In a medium bowl, use a mixer to cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Sift in the sugar and mix until well blended. Add in the juice until combined. Yielded plenty for the number of cakes produced with extra to spare.
Once cooled and frosted, I finished off each cupcake with with a couple pomegranate seeds and a dash of shaved dark chocolate.
The Panel
Crazy Cakes: "So striking, wow, wow, wow!"
Diana: "Tart pom seeds complemented tart cream cheese frosting...almost a work of art!"
My comments:
One of my best presentations. I really like how the colours turned out with this and the combination of flavours was different and exciting. Personally found the cakes a little dense, wonder what adding baking powder might have done. Also felt that the chocolate flavour cake through just enough as intended in a red velvet cake. Extra shavings or mini chocolate chips however would have added a nice extra something.
The most notable feature about this cupcake was the brilliant colour, everyone really seemed to enjoy the presentation and the use of fresh fruit. Overall taste and texture seemed to be appreciated; most seemed to enjoy the addition of the seeds to the cake, though one comment made to say that they were annoying. Several comments were made that the chocolate flavour seemed to be absent. Peanut suggested topping the cakes with chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, while Sugar Princess recommended larger chocolate shavings. Kupcake commented that even though consumed a day late, the cake seemed to maintain it's moisture well.
Cocoa: "Very pretty and charismatic."Crazy Cakes: "So striking, wow, wow, wow!"
Diana: "Tart pom seeds complemented tart cream cheese frosting...almost a work of art!"
Giovanni:"...an interesting study in natural vs processed sugars."
My comments:
One of my best presentations. I really like how the colours turned out with this and the combination of flavours was different and exciting. Personally found the cakes a little dense, wonder what adding baking powder might have done. Also felt that the chocolate flavour cake through just enough as intended in a red velvet cake. Extra shavings or mini chocolate chips however would have added a nice extra something.