CACTUS CARAMEL CUPCAKES

1 1/3 Cups Sorghum Flour
2/3 Cup Cornstarch
2/3 Cup Tapioca Flour
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Guar Gum
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
¾ Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
12 Tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) Unsalted Cultured Butter, diced
5 Large Eggs
½ Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup Buttermilk
2 Tablespoons Mexican Vanilla
1 Cactus Cookie Cutter
Green sugar for decorating


In a large mixer with the paddle attachment, combine all of the dry ingredients by mixing on low for several rotations. Add the butter and mix until you have a dry, slightly lumpy mound.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sour cream until very smooth. Add the Mexican Vanilla and whisk until combined. Alternating the egg mixture with the butter- milk, add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix on high until very fluffy, taupe and smooth.

Your batter is now ready to bake.

Fill your cupcake cups 2/3 of the way and bake at 350°F for exactly 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before transferring the cupcake to a wire rack to finish firming up.

If baking a cake also, butter an 8” springform pan with 3” sides. Fill with your prepared batter and bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or when a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan before you remove the ring. Cool completely before icing.

While your little cakes are cooling, make the icing:




CARAMEL ICING

*Fun fact: Did you know that caramel icing is one of the oldest surviving recipes in American culinary history? It dates back to the 1800’s.

10 Tablespoons (1 stick + 2 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, diced
2 ½ Cups Light Brown Sugar, packed
¼ Cup Light Corn Syrup
1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ Cup Heavy Cream
3 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
1-5 Tablespoons Water, if needed

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the butter, the brown sugar, the corn syrup and the salt. Set the heat on medium and heat until the mixture boils. Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the heavy cream. Whisk for one minute and then pour the caramel mixture into a clean bowl.

In a stand up mixer with the paddle attachment, add the warm caramel to the confectioner’s sugar and the vanilla. Mix until very smooth. If the mixture seems too thick, add a tablespoon or so of cold water and combine until you have achieved the consistency you are looking for.

Ice your cakes immediately. Because the cactus design that will be applied to the cupcakes, you really want the icing to be as smooth as possible. If you are preparing an 8” cake, slice the 3” high cake in half horizontally, apply a liberal amount of icing and then place the top layer back on. Ice the remainder of the cake.



DECORATING YOUR CUPCAKES:

To add the cactus motif to the tops of your cupcakes, take your selected cactus cookie cutter and center it in the middle of your iced cupcake. Apply gently pressure to create a seal between the icing and the cookie cutter. Using a small teaspoon or dessertspoon, very carefully fill the cookie cutter with the green sugar sprinkles. Tap the side of the cup cake to ensure the icing is evenly coated and the motif is clear. Invert the cupcake to eliminate any excess sugar. Turn the cupcake right side up and very gently remove the cookie cutter. Repeat this process until all of your cupcakes are decorated.

If you are decorating a cake as well, fully ice the cake, then press brown sanding sugar into the sides, and decorate the top in any fashion you deem western looking. I was lucky enough to find some plastic cacti and some chocolate rock candy to embellish this particular cake.




Makes 36 Cupcakes or 12 Cupcakes and one 8” x 3” (deep) cake

	4 comments
ByTheBay says Jul 2, 2007 - 12:03 pm	Hi there! Thanks so much for the comment in my blog. I’d love to be able to add your blog to my blog reader so I can read it every day with my other blogs, but unfortunately it appears that you don’t have this blog syndicated as an RSS feed. Will you please syndicate it (enable RSS feeds in the Blog settings?) so that readers can subscribe so we don’t have to actually long onto your site every day in order to see updates? Thanks so much!
Mike says Jul 4, 2007 - 1:18 pm	The cake was de-licious. Yeehaw!
Sea says Aug 3, 2007 - 11:53 am	Hi! I’d like to highlight some of your lovely recipes for a monthly gluten free recipe roundup I do, but for some reason I don’t get a unique URL for each post when I click on it. If you happen to know how I can access unique URLs for each post, please email me at seamaiden399 AT yahoo DOT com Thanks! Love your site. -Sea http://www.bookofyum.com
Sea says Aug 3, 2007 - 11:54 am	Oh- it might help if I showed you what I mean… Here’s an example from last month: http://www.bookofyum.com/blog/?p=490 -Sea
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