FOOD: "Ding dong! Another bright idea from the people who brought you Beer Milkshakes!"
Never has this icon been more apropos.
Okay. So these started out life a very long time ago as an increasingly crazy series of Concept Cupcakes. You know. Like Concept Cars. The sort someone draws on paper before a bunch of
imagination-challenged paper-pushers level-headed executives point out the production-line model couldn't possibly make any money and may push the company over the edge into bankruptcy.
Like that. Only cupcake-shaped.
And one of those Concept-Cupcakes was Baked Bean flavour.
I know! I too was all like, "Wow! Cool!"
But doubters doubted, as doubters are wont to do, so I set out to prove them wrong.
Well, actually I set out last week, because there were a lot of other cupcakes lining up to be created first.
And then Uncle R. died, and I was in completely the wrong frame of mind to write, but I needed to do something. Anything really. But it was night here when I got the news, and starting on an extended spring clean seemed like exactly the wrong idea at that time of night.
Baked bean cupcakes, otoh, seemed like
exactly the right idea.
For the cupcakes themselves I used the Pumpkin Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World as a template, as it seemed to me that blended baked beans might have a similar consistency to pureed pumpkin. I omitted the salt as the baked beans already have plenty of that in the sauce.
I pureed the baked beans in a blender. This didn't work too well as there was too small a quantity for my blender to get a good grip on, so I added some of the oil called for later in the recipe, and the blender was much happier with that.
From this, we learn that baked beans blended with sunflower oil turn an 80's shade of peach.
I also added cinnamon to the mix as it seemed a bit bland otherwise.
The rest of the recipe continued as, uh, normal.
And here are the resulting unadorned baked bean cupcakes:
There was some discussion with quizlings as to what the topping should be. Her default setting seemed to be toast, but she prodded me, so you can blame her for the prawn, fish & chip, or salt & vinegar cupcakes that might turn up eventually...
Later, as I flipped through some of my cupcake books, I stumbled over Lily Vanilli's Zombie Breakfast cupcake creation, and realised this was perfect for the baked bean cupcakes.
Lili used almond & honey cupcakes under her maple syrup flavoured 'egg & bacon' icing, but it seemed an ideal partner for baked beans. Think about it - Baked beans, 'egg', bacon (and yes, it's real bacon as a decorative element - what? You think I wouldn't put real bacon with vegan cupcakes? What about the concept of baked bean cupcakes didn't hint that I have a subversive streak?), and maple syrup. Consider the cupcake itself to be a sort of 'bread' and you have a Full English! Well, okay. Full Canadian. But still!
And here they are:
How did they taste? Maple-y. The cupcakes themselves were very close to a version of red-bean sweet cake I've had in Japan (which is why I figured in the first place that they'd work). The cinnamon doesn't quite meld with the whole, so next time I'll replace it with maple syrup.
The icing really overwhelmed any flavour from the cake, so once they were put together the only real hint of baked bean was the slightly drier than usual texture to the cake.
The white colouring recommended to whiten the icing had a metallic tang, so next time I wouldn't bother with that, but would try using the vegan girls' basic frosting if I can get it white enough. Or just colour it all yellow and pretend the yolk broke.
Overall, they were a fun experiment with some potential, but I hear those fish & chip cupcakes calling...
Okay. So these started out life a very long time ago as an increasingly crazy series of Concept Cupcakes. You know. Like Concept Cars. The sort someone draws on paper before a bunch of
imagination-challenged paper-pushers level-headed executives point out the production-line model couldn't possibly make any money and may push the company over the edge into bankruptcy.
Like that. Only cupcake-shaped.
And one of those Concept-Cupcakes was Baked Bean flavour.
I know! I too was all like, "Wow! Cool!"
But doubters doubted, as doubters are wont to do, so I set out to prove them wrong.
Well, actually I set out last week, because there were a lot of other cupcakes lining up to be created first.
And then Uncle R. died, and I was in completely the wrong frame of mind to write, but I needed to do something. Anything really. But it was night here when I got the news, and starting on an extended spring clean seemed like exactly the wrong idea at that time of night.
Baked bean cupcakes, otoh, seemed like
exactly the right idea.
For the cupcakes themselves I used the Pumpkin Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World as a template, as it seemed to me that blended baked beans might have a similar consistency to pureed pumpkin. I omitted the salt as the baked beans already have plenty of that in the sauce.
I pureed the baked beans in a blender. This didn't work too well as there was too small a quantity for my blender to get a good grip on, so I added some of the oil called for later in the recipe, and the blender was much happier with that.
From this, we learn that baked beans blended with sunflower oil turn an 80's shade of peach.
I also added cinnamon to the mix as it seemed a bit bland otherwise.
The rest of the recipe continued as, uh, normal.
And here are the resulting unadorned baked bean cupcakes:
There was some discussion with quizlings as to what the topping should be. Her default setting seemed to be toast, but she prodded me, so you can blame her for the prawn, fish & chip, or salt & vinegar cupcakes that might turn up eventually...
Later, as I flipped through some of my cupcake books, I stumbled over Lily Vanilli's Zombie Breakfast cupcake creation, and realised this was perfect for the baked bean cupcakes.
Lili used almond & honey cupcakes under her maple syrup flavoured 'egg & bacon' icing, but it seemed an ideal partner for baked beans. Think about it - Baked beans, 'egg', bacon (and yes, it's real bacon as a decorative element - what? You think I wouldn't put real bacon with vegan cupcakes? What about the concept of baked bean cupcakes didn't hint that I have a subversive streak?), and maple syrup. Consider the cupcake itself to be a sort of 'bread' and you have a Full English! Well, okay. Full Canadian. But still!
And here they are:
How did they taste? Maple-y. The cupcakes themselves were very close to a version of red-bean sweet cake I've had in Japan (which is why I figured in the first place that they'd work). The cinnamon doesn't quite meld with the whole, so next time I'll replace it with maple syrup.
The icing really overwhelmed any flavour from the cake, so once they were put together the only real hint of baked bean was the slightly drier than usual texture to the cake.
The white colouring recommended to whiten the icing had a metallic tang, so next time I wouldn't bother with that, but would try using the vegan girls' basic frosting if I can get it white enough. Or just colour it all yellow and pretend the yolk broke.
Overall, they were a fun experiment with some potential, but I hear those fish & chip cupcakes calling...