Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Talk To Me Cupcake! Tasty Bites, A Gluten Free Treat!


I love cup cakes. They're so innocent. begging me to eat them.  I especially love mini cup cakes, mini anything actually. To me mini = guilt free. I know in the "reality based community", this is a bunch of horse pucky, but one can dream.
 The last time I made Gujarati steamed chickpea bread I wondered since it's so good savory, how would it be sweetened? I fantasized about little gram flour cupcakes studded with sultana raisins, an icing of sirkhand and a bit of finely chopped pistachios.
So a couple of days ago with Alan on the road to recovery eye wise, I decided to invite some friends over for an Indian lunch and try my little dessert experiment on them.
 I started the night before, as the batter for this steamed bread/cake needs to mellow overnight. The actual baking process only takes about 12 minutes. As to turning it sweet, I was winging it and we were all happy with the results, a not too sweet raisin spice cupcake. I baked steamed the cupcakes in a mini muffin pan that I had, and though the process wasn't pretty at first they were the ugly ducklings that grew beautiful. "Why Ms. Jones, you're beautiful with that frosting!"
  The biggest problem was finding a steaming vessel that would hold my mini muffin pan. Next time I try this I think I'll steam them in the oven where I can use a large baking dish as a bain marie.
  So here's what I did:
 The night before baking mix:
1 and 1/2 cups of sifted gram flour
3/4 tsp of salt
About 1/4 cup of brown sugar
3 Tbs  of vegetable oil
2/3 cup of plain yogurt
A fist full of golden raisins (I did say I was winging this)
1 Tsp of cinnamon
A  pinch of nutmeg
 Cover the bowl with a cloth and set it in a warm protected place to ferment overnight. I always store mine in the oven. Just don't forget and turn the oven on in the morning or you've got a problem.
When ready to bake  add:
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
 3 Tbs of warm water and stir these in, only whisking in one direction
The batter will start to turn bubbly and frothy. When it does, spoon it into lightly oiled muffin cups.
Place the muffin tin on a trivet in a pan of boiling water. Cover with a cloth and then a snug lid on top of that.

Steam the cupcakes for about 8 to 10 minutes. When  a toothpick poked into them comes out clean, you're done.
 Take the muffin pan out and cover it with the cloth for about 10 minutes. As you can see, I overfilled my muffin cups .

  But once they were unmolded, I was able to trim them into proper mini cupcake shape.
I put put the sirkhand into a pastry tube and swirled it onto the cupcakes.
I then sprinkled the tops with a bit of chopped pistachio. This is a cupcake "cheesecake" shot.

I loved these little mini bites. Everybody got three of them. I think I'll fiddle with the recipe a bit and see what else I can do with them. They're not super duper sweet, just pleasantly spicy sweet which is more to my taste, and they're so tiny they're hardly calories.

17 comments :

  1. They're begging me to eat them, too!

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  2. There are gorgeous! I love the color and texture the chopped pistachios adds to these mini little guys. You just gave me an idea for a baby shower with these mini cup cakes! :)

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  3. Very cool baking method! They look so good!

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  4. Wow what a fabulous save you had here, you would never know they had muffin top overload, they look perfect. The flavors are like a nice spice cake I would love them! Nice job Kathy!

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  5. Those are great looking. How would chai masala be in them for a different flavoring?

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  6. mini wonders of glory..wow these came out superb..i love the sprinkle of pistachios and they piping is beautiful.

    sweetlife

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  7. mmm, looks tasty....

    BTW I found this Indian recipe book "Indian Cookery And Confectionery | by I. R. Dey" contains many good recipes...

    Check it out
    http://bookdome.com/food/Indian-Cookery-Confectionery/index.html

    Cheers!

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  8. Haha I've the same feeling to them...they beg me for a bite and topped with pistachio.. heavenly!!

    Cheers,

    Gera

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  9. I love these little babies..and have to learn not to overfill my muffin tin..

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  10. Steamed... I must try this. Less guilty! heh

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  11. Simply superb .... Loved the wonderful combination .

    Smita
    http://littlefoodjunction.blogspot.com/

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  12. I love your recipe, cinnamon & nutmeg are two of my favorite spices. It's also great to see you write that these adorable cupcakes aren't super sweet. I'm with you on that!

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  13. I love this recipe! And winging it is truly the best way!!

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  14. These look awesome! Pretty much I wing most things because I am pretty terrible at following directions sometimes... Love these and will have to try them!

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  15. I'm with you...if it's 'mini' I can eat as many as I want. It's kind of like the 5 second rule. LOL

    These sound right up my alley. Not to sweet with a kick of spice. Y-U-M-M-Y

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  16. oh, that's so cool! they look delicious - i love pistachio!

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