I tried hitting the chocolate bars with a rolling pin while still in the wrappers, but that didn't produce much results. Instead I crumbled them while they were still inside the wrappers by hand. (I would probably enlist my nephews to do that for me)
I think the frosting was delicious even if it was crazy sticky. I would like to try carmelized marshmallow frosting- like "skinning the grandma" when you roast your marshmallows.
I ran out of time last night to make more graham cracker crumbs to do a coating or crumbly topping. Sorry Tim!
I had enough batter for 24 cupcakes, I was scraping the bowl for enough frosting for them though. If I wasn't careful I wouldn't have had enough chocolate bits at the end for the top decoration.
Have you seen Bakerella's take on the s'more cupcake? I like the idea of using a chocolate cake, and a chocolate ganache, but a raw marshmallow is a little unappealing to me.
Updates: there were comments from a couple of the entrance station folks that got to try them.
"I tried one which seemed to have a lemony touch which I liked, I also thought maybe a tad bit dry, so how could one moisten more... I didn't pay much attention to the aesthetics as if anything was curious about the brown little pieces on top. Of course I gravitate towards cupcakes in general as they are my favorite. Good work overall." G
Next input: "Cupcake sample #1- presentation is everything. Make bears obvious as boy girl, maybe one holding a sugary flower like you might be holding, maybe leaning toward one another? or together? 2- taste great, but maybe adjoining sugar rings, or maybe the date or your initials placed sentimentally" P
Then these comments make more sense- "the cupcakes are delicious (of course!) and very cute. though as I was looking at the design, I had a brief, morbid flash of two little bears drowning in a whitecap sea, unable to help each other as their little chocolate life raft capsized and sank before their eyes. Sure I have an active imagination, but this batch was slightly over done (on the bottom) barely noticeable, but good to know if you're perfecting the recipe. In summary: yum! more please!" J
So mostly visual tweaks, I really liked Kim's smore's. They were real pretty!
I like the way your frosting looks like melted 'mallows. I do think a torch would be a good thing in this case. Hmmmm.... I think I have an anniversary coming up?
ReplyDeleteWhat did Tim think of the cupcakes?
Bakerella's look quite labor intensive. I'd say go with the mini 'mallows and toast them with a torch instead of the large raw.
I am hearing (Bakerella, Mark ...) that some ganache or chocolate syrup would be a happy thing.
Tim liked the cupcakes, he didn't like the teddy grahams, but liked the chunks of chocolate in the cake, and also liked the marshmallow frosting. I really think a chocolate cake with more chunks of chocolate mixed in, less of the graham cracker crumbs- put those on top, a marshmallow frosting and a flourish of chocolate ganache.
ReplyDeleteSo I sent some to the entrance station- still waiting to hear back from them, one said she liked them, but I was on my way out the door so I couldn't get more feedback from her.
I asked about the toppings- my coworker Linda really liked the little teddy grahams, and the frosting. Brian took one home to his wife, he said the first thing she did was grab the hershey bar out of the cupcake- everyone liked that I'm pretty sure. He also thought a possible alternative to the teddy grahams might be golden grahams- the cereal. It might be something to consider.
Brian's only criticism was that cupcakes are generally pretty self contained but these kind of crumbled and make a pretty big mess. I tend to agree. Do you think it was the graham cracker crumbs that went into the batter that caused it?
So if we do these for the wedding, which I'm pretty sure we will, we should probably test them again with alterations?
I used the cinni bears, and I don't think they had quite the same "impact" as your choco bears had. But the toes did get soft in the frosting. I think a torch on the frosting, and then with K's crumb & shaved toppings, it will work out nicely. I'd skip the crumbs in the batter.
ReplyDeleteI think the crumbli-ness is probably a factor of the humidity in the cake. So if we are going to do this in dry air, we will probably need a simple syrup to keep it moist and less crumby.