In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I have experimented with different combinations of recipes to come up with this one. And let me just say, after THREE attempts, I finally got it right...or at least I hope I did.
But before we get into my ordeal, let's back track a little bit and find out how St. Patty's day and its infamous green came to be.
To keep it short and sweet, March 17th was named after the most common and esteemed Saints of Ireland -- Saint Patrick. Why March 17th? Well, that's when he died. It is originally suppose to be a Holy Day of Obligation -- the faithful have to participate in Mass.
Today, St. Patrick's day is widely known for getting drunk and being pinched if you're not wearing green. So why green? Surprisingly, blue was the color of Saint Patrick. But because Saint Patrick often used and wore shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity, it quickly stuck on.
Now imagine if the color blue stayed...the Chicago River would be dyed blue. But what's the point, if that's what color it is already. Boring right?
So moving on...
For St. Patty's day, I wanted to make some yummy cupcakes that I could share with my classmates and coworkers. And since Red Velvet cupcakes are so popular, I figured, "Why not make GREEn Velvet cupcakes!" Now if you didn't already know, Red Velvet cupcakes are basically a white cake mix with red food coloring topped with cream cheese frosting.
, tasted utterly bland, not to mention dry as the Mojave desert. I was so completely shocked at the results. You would think if it came from the Food Network, it must be good. Big NO! It was so horrible, I had to throw it away.After attempt #1, being that I'm not a big fan of plain old white/vanilla cupcake anyways, I changed it up to green CHOCOLATE velvet. So here comes attempt #2.
What went wrong? I accidentally put 1 tablespoon of baking powder instead of 1 TEASPOON. And to add to it, the second recipe I found in one of my cookbooks did not call for enough sugar. So not only was it not sweet enough, it had a bitter after taste from the baking powder. TRASH.
Attempt #3? Much, much better! This recipe is from Food.com and it is oh so moist and just enough chocolatey goodness. What makes this recipe different? Much more water, cocoa powder, no buttermilk, and no eggs. Though the texture is crumbly, the difference in water (and perhaps no eggs) definitely makes the cake moist, soft, and fluffy -- which is way better than solid and dry.
To give these cupcakes its St. Patrick's day flare, I added 2 tablespoons of green food coloring to the cupcake batch, 2 drops of the food coloring into the cream cheese frosting, and topped it off with green sprinkles and Lucky Charms shamrock hats. But beware, wear gloves and an apron when dealing with the food coloring as it can get stained on your skin and nails. I did, however, find acetone nail polish remover to work pretty well. I can't say for the counter tops though.
Here's the final product..voila!
Side note: The easiest and neatest way to top the frosting is to put it all in a gallon zip lock bag, cut a teeny tiny hole in the corner and squeeze away. I found it neater to frost it in a circular motion and pulling away at the top. For those of you fancy bakers, you could use a piping bag and an 1/4 inch tip.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
That looks really delicious I hope it looks as good as it tastes! I actually want to try one of your recipes :) I might try them over the summer break though baking takes a lot of time which I don't have right now but I'll tell you how they go when I try them this summer! :)
ReplyDeleteThese were delicious! You are a very talented baker! I actually had two of these in class, and couldn't stop thinking about it until after my last class that day. You have one of the best overall blogs, in my opinion. Like I've mentioned in class before, you're the only one getting a hands on experiment with the topics you blog about. The baking tips are a plus! An even bigger plus is the yumminess of your topics!
ReplyDeleteMy brother's girlfriend is also a baker, and I would love to show her some of your recipes. She's been starting to take orders on holidays, or in general, on Facebook. Also, when she brings her baked goods to parties, she basically networks and let people know they can put in an order. It'd be awesome to be able to order your mini cupcakes! The cookies you made and brought to class were also very scrumptious! Keep up the great work!
Those cupcakes were really good. I like how in this post you went into a little history about st. patricks day, which showed your interest in the topic. I also didnt know that blue was the actual color associated with st. patrick, which was interesting.
ReplyDeleteThese were really good, at first I thought they were just plain chocolate cupcakes, but was surprised by the different taste. Thanks by the way :) Additionally I like how creative you are with your baking, which shows the passion you have for it. Keep up the good work, and I can't wait what other recipes your willing to share with us... :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post! Velvet cupcakes are my favorite and making them green for St. Patrick's Day is brilliant! You share your baking experience with us even the fail attempts, I mean we're human and make mistakes. I like how you use the Lucky Charm clover marshmallow as a decoration piece. It's easy/simple but looks great! A couple days ago, my friend made green and purple (separately) velvet cupcakes and one thing I noticed is that sometimes I get the color dye in my fingers. Does this happened to you as well?
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