Well, this morning I did an experiment. It began with zesting some lemons from the garden, and rapidly got into the business of mixing cupcake batter (recipe here – big on the lemon zest this time, and some of the juice), to make cupcakes… then melting chocolate (7 oz), pouring it over whipped butter (1 cup!), folding in some confectioner’s sugar (three cups or so), and a few drops of vanilla essence…. to make a chocolate frosting. More photos below, which you can click for larger views.
This (and my dutiful munching on tester cakes that ensued this morning) was all in aid of a nice test of a lemon cake plus chocolate question raised earlier. You will recall from an earlier post that author Aimee Bender‘s reading at Skylight of her new book (“The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake”) raised the question of whether chocolate frosting was workable or not. I figured it would be and decided I’d try it. Well, today Aimee’s having a gathering of friends and encouraged people to bring food, so this is my contribution. Lemon cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
I should warn you – There’s one huge error I made in all this: Do not do this type of frosting on a day when the temperatures are soaring! The frosting is messy to work (so the results are not as attractive as I’d have liked) and is not setting… I had to put them into the fridge for a while to get them set (which is not ideal for the cupcake part)… I hope they don’t melt too much on the trip over this afternoon. And how do you transport 22 melting cupcakes intact, anyway? (Hence the plastic containers in the picture…. with an attempt to separate with strips of cardboard)…
Well, thanks for visiting another episode of Asymptotia in the kitchen. I hope people eat them!
-cvj
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Well, yes, I do admit that I could not deal with that much left over chocolate on a sunday morning! I’ll be sure to alert you in future such emergencies should you be in a position to help! (e.g., not 1000s of miles away…)
-cvj
Yum yum yum.
As for the great tragedy of licking chocolate off fingers and surfaces due to messy icing…I could see how that would be a problem. I could see how you would need someone to sacrifice their well-being to do that task for the sake of the common good. I volunteer. 😉
–IP
Be prepared to have everything covered in chocolate by time you’re done!
-cvj
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Ah – only venturing to make carrot cupcakes with creamcheese frosting with lime zest – my contribution to the final year primary school students! Hope they come out as well as your lemon and chocolate (which might get copied as an additional treat if time permits)! cmj+
Thanks!
Wait… Is this Candace from ages back?! Where’ve you been? How’ve you been doing, stranger? Send me an email to let me know how it all goes when you get a chance….
Great to hear from you!
Best,
-cvj
These look gorgeous! Lemon cake is always to die for anyway.