I like to bake.
It's the most instant-gratification-giving of all of my projects (as opposed to, say, quilting!), plus it doesn't inherently take up space. I also enjoy the decorating process as you can see
here,
here, and
here. I have been looking at
Cupcake Bakeshop for the past year or two. I've admired her photographs and tried a few recipes—though I've never been ambitious enough to actually
fill a cup cake. (I did do
this though, which did take a
certain level of ambitiousness.)
So, when she posted about a cupcake round-up, co-hosted with
Vanilla Garlic I thought I'd give it a shot.
May I introduce my Cupcake-a-touille cupcake—inspired by ratatouille. We all know zucchini bread, some of us may have seen tomato-cake, and apparently I was not the first person to think up
candied eggplant, but all together? Well...OK, then.
I started with a zucchini bread recipe from my copy of the Betty Crocker cookbook. I substituted some apple/tomato sauce for some of the oil and added some butter because I wanted it to be richer. I also added a little cocoa powder because I liked the idea of the cocoa-tomato combo.
My thoughts on the outcome?
Overall I'm pleased, though I don't know if it immediately says ratatouille to me. The smell of the cupcakes right out of the oven was tomato-y and delicious. The lemon flavoring was really strong in the batter, but not as apparent in the final cake itself. Overall the rosemary was good, but a little overwhelming. I would definitely subtract rosemary and add more cayenne to the frosting, but that's a personal taste thing—I like the whole spicy chocolate thing.
Wet ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup apple/tomato sauce*
• 1/2 cup veg oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp lemon extract
Dry ingredients:
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• pinch of dried thyme
Extras:
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup candied eggplant**
• Parsley, rosemary, basil—2 sprigs each—finely chopped
Cream butter, sugar, eggs, oil, and tomato sauce.
Mix dry ingredients together and add to wet, stirring until just combined. Stir in 1 heaping cup of shredded zucchini, 1/2 cup candied eggplant and chopped herbs.
Scoop batter into cupcake wrappers and bake for 22 minutes at 350 degrees.
* Apple/Tomato Sauce.
4 medium plum tomatoes (skinned and seeded) simmered over medium for approx. 20 minutes with 1 small apple (cored, peeled, and chopped).
** Candied Eggplant
1 small eggplant (4 oz) peeled and diced.
Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1 cup water and simmer eggplant in simple syrup for about 15 minutes. Spread on baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar and and toast lightly.
Frost cupcakes with:
Chocolate Rosemary Frosting
2 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate
1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp chopped rosemary leaves
1/4 milk
Melt chocolate and stir in 1 Tbsp rosemary. Mix chocolate and softened butter. Beat in powdered sugar. Stir remaining Tbsp. rosemary into the milk and microwave for 30-40 seconds. Add warm rosemary-milk as necessary to achieve a spreadable frosting.
Garnish with a tiny sprig of rosemary.
