Cupcake experiment #1
I have been eating largely grain-free now since about February of 2011. It has been a huge success for me personally, and I cannot imagine going back to a conventional modern diet of carb-heavy, low-fat, fake food. Eating most grains now tends to make me feel really ill: heartburn, stomach cramps, nausea, migraines... not really worth feeling like crap to enjoy something as fleeting as the sensory perception of taste. Health is much more of a priority for me. Along with the benefit of losing weight, I've also stopped suffering from seasonal allergies and I tend to get sick a lot less frequently.
At any rate, I do want to occasionally have something sweet, and as much as I would not want to actually eat a cake or cupcake made with flour and refined sugar, I miss the bite-sized, cute treat. While there are gluten-free versions of cakes and cookies popping up in bakeries and groceries, most of these are still made from a variety of (not-wheat) grain or legume flours, so they're not really much better from my perspective.
I found an interesting Paleo-ish recipe for almond spongecake using only three ingredients: almond flour, eggs, and honey. Sounds good! Honey is still pretty carb-heavy, but it's a natural source that I don't think a caveman would overlook, and it's got other amazing qualities to it, so I'm willing to give in in this instance. ;)
So, how'd they turn out? Pretty good and pretty bad. I'm not by any respects an expert baker-while I can follow a recipe, I haven't any idea how to get the proportions right to get things to work. Flour and baking powder and eggs and oils... what do they do?! I have no idea how it all comes together. I haven't ever been much of a dessert person, so I never really bothered to learn.
The good: They're pretty nicely flavored, they do satisfy a sweet-tooth craving, and they have that appeal of "tiny, cute, single-serving treat" that I like.
The meh: They are very dense. Working with the almond flour was exactly like what you'd think: it turned to the consistency of peanut butter or soft marzipan. The recipe didn't really have any fat in it (apart from what's in the eggs), so I think they're a little drier than I'd like. The flavoring was only saved by my own desperate attempts to make this less brick-like.
As I worked with the almond flour, I realized that it was getting harder & harder to work with, so I added a lot of vanilla and orange extracts to the batter to moisten it up a bit. Tasting it, I also realized it didn't really have much of a flavor at all. I dumped in a bunch of spices (cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne, and nutmeg) at the last minute, and I think that was its only saving grace.
The finished consistency is not really like a cupcake. Luckily I didn't really expect it to be. It's more like a super dense, chewy cake. It's pretty spongy, but not light or fluffy. It's almost like a sweet/savory bread. I think I may have also slightly overworked the eggs, which may be a contributing factor to their chewy consistency. It's also a bit dry (I'm not going to put icing on these-I feel they have more than enough sugar in them from the honey), but I have found a bit of coconut butter is pretty good on them. I bet they'd be really nice with a super soft triple-cream cheese (le roule cranberry would be perfect!), a chevre, or maybe even regular cream cheese. Heated up with a bit of butter would probably also work very well.
So, it was not a total failure. It was a learning experience. They are very edible, but I may not make it through all of them before they go stale. I think next time I will try to find a recipe that calls for coconut flour in addition to the almond flour to see if that makes it a bit lighter. I may also add some extra fat via coconut oil or butter. Also? Dark chocolate should happen.