When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When 90F weather and a bumpy bike ride give you melty, smashed, and mangled cupcakes ... make cake bonbons! My previous post discussed my dislike of waste, so these have become my fallback for failed baking missions.
The original idea was brilliant. Strawberry and rhubarb have recently entered the seasonal produce scene, mixing up the sea of green that dominated for the majority of April and May. Going with a slightly more portable version of a favorite pie, I opted to bring a strawberry rhubarb cupcake with a pretty pink strawberry frosting to one of my office's social gatherings. And though they both tasted lovely (particularly the batter...), I was too embarrassed by the disaster that arrived at my office on Tuesday morning (not pictured here).
Isn't it beautiful? Filled and topped with a sweet fruity creme. Alas, it was not to be...
So the cupcakes bounced back home in my bike basket, destined to be mashed together with the frosting, and rolled into scrumptious little rosy orbs. But with what to cover them? After eyeing Vegan Yum Yum's petit fours recipes for a year now, I thought I would go with the associated fondant recipe (linked below). My other option was Ricki's raw white chocolate coating on Diet, Dessert, n Dogs, but I didn't have all the ingredients. They turned out pretty well, besides the slight granular texture of the fondant. But then they had to travel to work in 90F heat...
They are even prettier than the cupcakes; and tastier too!
You've probably gathered that this did not turn out as anticipated. The melty soup that arrived at my office was nothing like the bonbons that left my apartment (fail #2). My coworkers still consumed a few, and said they enjoyed them thoroughly (they are so sweet!), but overall my cake adventures were utter disappointments. If I learned anything from this experience, it is to bring something indestructible to the office...biscotti, anyone?
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup soy milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbs apple cider vinegar
Strawberry Frosting
7oz silken tofu
1 tbs coconut oil
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup strawberries
water from boiling two beets condensed to about 1 tbs
Fondant or Raw White Chocolate Coating
1. You guys know the drill...mix and bake the cake/cupcakes. 350F oven, 25-30 minutes. Let cool. Food process all of frosting ingredients. Refrigerate frosting.
2. Frost, bike to work with cupcakes in basket, mourn the loss of a well-frosted dessert, bike home, and smush (is this not a real word?) cupcakesfrosting (yes, this is meant to be one word) until they form a nice, uniform-ish dough.
3. Roll into spheres of desired size. Freeze.
4. Mix up a batch of coating. Somehow get it to cover your frozen cake balls. This is an art I still must master. Good luck.
5. Place on wax paper. Ideally top with something reddish and edible. Back into the refrigerator they go. Serve cool...not after an hour in the heat!
Do you have a good recipe for a vegan, non-dark-chocolate coating for bonbons, truffles, and cake pops?
What is your technique for coating truffles, etc?
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2 comments:
Hmmm...I would think that if you blended coconut butter and some powdered sugar, perhaps some cocoa powder as well...you'd wind up with a nice coating for cake balls. Yours look delicious either way!
To coat truffles, I usually use a toothpick to hold the center, dip it, and then spin it around to get rid of the extra chocolate. THEN I slide the toothpick out with another toothpick and drop it onto parchment. Sometimes I dab a little extra chocolate on the hole from the toothpick. Sometimes I don't care enough to do this.
The way I do an easy non-chocolate based coating is i mix three parts coconut butter with one part coconut oil, melt, then dip balls and stick them in the freezer.
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