Sorghum Cupcakes with Orange Whiskey Whipped Cream - Wild West Cupcakes

To bring Wild West week to a close (so far I've made wagon wheel pasta and wagon wheel cookies), I bring you Wild West cupcakes.  These aren't poser cupcakes. No, no.  The recipe for these sorghum cupcakes comes from a newspaper in the 1800's (it was for cake, not cupcakes, but close enough).  I found the cake recipe (I invented the frosting recipe) on Chronicle of the Old West where they report that, "This was a dessert made either at the ranch or restaurants in town.  It couldn’t be made on the cattle drive because of the need for butter and eggs, two items that would not remain fresh during a two to three month cattle drive."

Compost Cupcakes - Salty and Sweet

These compost cupcakes have so many different flavors that Bride 3.0 described the compost cupcakes as schizophrenic. What you think of these compost cupcakes will likely depend on whether you are the type of person who mixes foods on your plate.

If you are the type that greatly prefers plates with dividers (shown above) - so your peas and potatoes don't mingle - you'll hate them!

Compost cupcakes (like mud pie and dirt cake) are much better than the name reveals. The interesting thing about compost cupcakes is that they will taste different every time that you make them. The idea for compost cupcakes came from Momofuku's compost cookies. In the compost cookies, you mix your favorite salty snacks into the batter (Doritos, cheesy poofs, tortilla chips, etc.) along with your favorite sweet snacks (chocolate chips, raisins, caramel, etc.) and end up with salty/sweet deliciousness. I did the same thing with my compost cupcakes. I used pretzels, homemade goldfish crackers, cacao nibs, and Skor chips.

Compost Cupcake Recipe

To make compost cupcakes, mix your favorite salty and sweet snacks into your favorite cupcake recipe. There is no reason that you have to use the recipe below. I was in the mood for molasses, so I mixed my snacks into a molasses-based cake. The molasses flavor was a bit overpowering and next time, I might try making compost cupcakes using a more basic white cake.

Yield: 12 Cupcakes

• 5 T unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1/2 C unsulfured molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 C hot milk
• 1/2 C - 1 C crushed salty snacks (I used goldfish crackers and pretzels)
  
• 1/2 C - 1 C sweet snacks (I used cacao nibs and Skor chips)
  

1. Cream butter and sugar.
   
2. Add the molasses and eggs.
3. Add the flour and stir until just combined.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk.
   
5. Stir in the hot milk mixture.
6. Stir in salty and sweet snacks until combined.
   
7. Divide batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch.
   

Chocolate Goldfish Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my favorite parts of my compost cupcakes was the chocolate cream cheese frosting with crushed goldfish crackers mixed in. The crackers added just the right about of salt to cut the sweet of the frosting. I highly recommend this frosting for any cupcake. Follow the recipe for my favorite chocolate frosting and then mix in a half cup of crushed goldfish crackers (or other salty treat) at the end.

Special Thanks

Special thanks goes out to reader Casey, whose email inspired these cupcakes. I don't always make cupcakes suggested by readers, but I'm willing to entertain all suggestions - the stranger the better!