It had the one long horn, one big eye
I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee"
It looks like a purple people eater to me"
-Sheb Wooley
Grape Cupcake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup + 3tbsp Welch's 100% Concord Grape Concentrate
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup fruit snacks
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan(s).
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar until fluffy (~3 minutes). Beat in the eggs one at a time. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl combine the grape concentrate and the sour cream. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the butter/sugar mixture in thirds alternating with the grape/sour cream mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients, until combined. Fold in the fruit snacks. Pour the batter into the pan(s). This batch yielded 12 regular sized and 10 mini cupcakes baked for 17 and 10 minutes respectively.
Grape Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 oz cream cheese
2 cups powder/confectioner sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp Welch's 100% Concord Grape Concentrate
blue + red food colouring
Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until well combined. Add vanilla and grape concentrate mixing thoroughly. Mix in red and blue food colouring until desired shade of purple is achieved.
Once the cupcake were cooled and frosted I topped each with a vanilla tootsie roll horn. I placed 12 rolls into the microwave for 5 seconds which softened them enough to be shaped appropriately. I then created eyes using white chocolate melting wafers and a green edible ink marker.
"Fun. Whimsy. Clever. Best presentation yet!" were all comments received based on this week's presentation. Though a bit of an exotic flavour as far as baked goods are concerned, all of the judges were pleased with the level of grapeness. Some noted that the cakes were dry but the fruit snacks seemed to distract from this slightly, adding an unusual but fun texture that presented a challenge to those consuming the cakes using a fork. Peanut didn't actually get a single fruit snack in her cake on account of scoop randomness. Along with JRock, they both found the cake to be on the sweet side. Cocoa suggested using real grapes (an interesting proposition) and Sugar Princess felt that the treat left much to be desired with regards to a crunch.
Kupcake: "It tasted just like a grape jolly rancher!".
Diana: "Tasted purple!"
My comments
When first making the batter I found the grape flavour to be faint but I think the baking process in addition to the frosting really brought out the aroma. The batter itself was a little on the grey side which may have been modified using food colouring. I found that these cupcakes really rose compared to the ones I've recently made, possibly due to the use of a full teaspoon of baking soda this round. Overall the cakes were quite sloppy once baked as the fruit snacks sank, melting and causing the cakes to stick in the pans, resulting in a difficult removal process. I also concur that they complicated consumption with a utensil, though they really added fun punches of flavour and texture. I felt that I slightly overcooked the regular sized cakes, which is likely why they were slightly dry. Overall I was quite pleased with this one, especially the presentation.