Acorn Cupcakes are Not for Squirrels

Get out there and start competing with your local squirrels for some acorns - you're big, you can take them.  With those acorns you can make your own acorn flour* - the star of these acorn cupcakes.  I used half all-purpose and half acorn flour in my acorn cupcakes to keep them light while still imparting the acorn flavor (a walnut-like, sweet, earthy taste). My favorite honey buttercream frosting caps the acorn cupcakes so well that I feel sorry for my squirrel opponents that buttercream doesn't grow on oak trees. 

The Secret to Perfect Honey Buttercream Frosting

I've tackled honey buttercream frosting before and I have always been disappointed.  I'm a honey-holic and I really want the honey flavor to shine. In the past, when I added powdered sugar to the frosting (needed to make the frosting stiff and pipe-able), the frosting would always reach a unpalatable level of sweetness.  Today, I discovered the secret to making honey buttercream frosting!  Honey buttercream frosting has finally met my honeyed desires and I'm considering adding it to my list of favorite frostings.

The Secret To Perfect Honey Buttercream Frosting

Homemade Honey Nut Cheerios in Three Minutes

When I talk about making homemade honey nut Cheerios, I am not suggesting that you bake Cheerios from scratch.  I'm proposing that you sweeten plain Cheerios (or any knock-off version) with honey and nut flavor.

Why Bother Making Homemade Honey Nut Cheerios?

You can control how sweet the cereal is.  If you (or your kids) prefer sweetened cereal, but you want to keep the sugar to minimum, try starting with plain Cheerios (which have 0 grams of sugar) and adding just enough honey until they are a sweetness that you like.  I suspect that you'll find that you don't need very much honey at all.

Honey Nut Cupcakes for Valentine's Day

These honey nut cupcakes for Valentine's Day are just the Valentine's Day treat for the special nut lover in your life.  I gave a honey nut Valentine's Day cupcake to one of the biggest nut lovers in my life - a man who will forever be my Valentine - my dad.  He said without hesitation that this was the best cupcake he had ever tasted.  That's strong praise from my father.  He doesn't mince his words.

The honey nut cupcakes for Valentine's Day are dense, with gobs of nuts and honey squirreled away inside. The cupcakes are "frosted" with honey (to act as a tasty glue) and then rolled in chopped nuts.  Nut lovers will "nut" miss the buttercream, instead they'll go nuts for the huge mound of their favorite stuff.

Honey, I'm Nuts for You - Easy Honey Nut Valentine's Day Cookies (Gluten-Free)

If you're nuts for a nut lover, this is the Valentine's day cookie to make them.  These honey nut Valentine's Day cookies are super simple to make - they have only three ingredients (an assortment of nuts and seeds, honey, and a couple of egg whites to help hold it all together in a chewy granola bar sort of way) - and they are gluten-free!  The best thing about these cookies is that you can use whatever nuts your Valentine loves.  Does your hubby crave cashews?  Use them!  Does your child pine for peanuts?  They'll work too!

Cupcakes are Vegetables? Congress Says Yes

WASHINGTON — Congress wants to add cupcakes to school lunch lines, fighting back against an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.

A new bill would allow any cupcake, regardless of fat content, to be counted as a vegetable, as long as it has a small sprinkling of dried greens on top of the frosting. USDA had wanted to prevent that.

Bakeries around the country, the sugar industry, and kids everywhere requested the change, and some conservatives in Congress say the federal government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.

Chocolate Banana Baklava Cupcakes

Take baklava (the middle Eastern dessert featuring buttery phyllo dough, nuts, and sticky sweet honey), add a layer of brownie, mix in some banana chunks, bake in jumbo silicone cupcake liners, and you get chocolate banana baklava cupcakes.  As a baklava fan through and through, I never thought baklava could get any better than the traditional Greek baklava that I order every chance I get.  I was wrong.  Silly me, everything is better with chocolate!  Plus, the banana adds one more surprising and delightful flavor to the mix.

Chocolate banana baklava cupcakes are more labor-intensive than most cupcake recipes that I make.  However, none of the steps are difficult.  If you've got time, you CAN make these and they will be worth every second!

Take a look at a couple more photos and then I'll tell you how to make them. 

Milk and Honey

Hot milk and honey is my coffee shop beverage of choice - just a simple steamed milk (2% or whole if I'm splurging) with a touch of sweet honey.  I realize that as an adult (and a foodie) I should have graduated from hot milk and honey to more sophisticated drinks: lattes, cappuccinos, and whole leaf teas.  However, I've never found anything as satisfying as the drink my mama made me as a kid - heating up a big pot of milk and stirring in some golden blossom honey. Hot milk and honey temporarily cured my tiny scratchy throat when I wasn't feeling well, and today, it can untie the knots in my stomach on the days when stress creeps in and attacks.

Right now, it's summer and it's TOO HOT for hot milk and honey.

Enter milk and honey panna cotta.  Milk and honey panna cotta has the same flavor as my beloved hot milk and honey, but in a chilled, jello-like format.  It would make a perfect palate cleanser in a multi-course meal or an after-work calm-you-down snack.  It doesn't have a massive flavor punch, it's not super sweet or spicy, it's just simple and calming, like an edible hug.

Honey Nutella Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats are on a short list of kid-friendly, three ingredient, always popular things to bring to a holiday party without resorting to a store-bought snack.  Most people will smile pleasantly when you show up with them, the host will put them out on the dessert table, and they will get eaten. However, they will be the Dasher or Prancer of desserts - definitely not the steal-the-show-and-save-Christmas Rudolph.

Arrive at your affair with these honey Nutella Rice Krispie treats and heads will turn as if Santa himself had just walked in the door.  It's your choice whether you share the secret that honey Nutella Rice Krispie treats are just as easy to prepare as the original Rice Krispie treats - just three ingredients and a microwave. If you'd like, you can tell people that little elves worked on them all day (they'll never have to know that the elves were your kids and that most of the working was licking the Nutella-filled spoon). 

Yogurt and Honey Cupcakes - A Taste of Greece

Licking honey off of one's paws may be the best way to eat it (assuming you aren't being stung by bees).

But if you must pair it with something, yogurt is the way to go - specifically, thick, rich, tart Greek yogurt.

I first discovered yogurt and honey in Greece.  In college, I had the good fortune to be able to attend Semester at Sea (a floating campus that travels around the world).  One of our stops was Greece.  While I don't remember every meal of my journey, I do clearly remember sitting at a cafe in Athens writing in my journal and eating yogurt and honey.  That meal sticks out in my mind not only because of the comforting sweet, smoothness of it, but because I was spending the day by myself; it was one of the few times that I have spent a whole day by myself in a foreign country.  To this day, yogurt and honey makes me feel independent and free. [Lie Detector: I wasn't by myself the whole day.  I actually ran into someone that I knew from the ship and ended up sharing lunch with him.]

A few days ago, I received a complimentary case of Greek yogurt from Voskos.  Not surprisingly, the flavor that I was the most excited about was this one:

Random fact: One of Cupcake Project's Facebook fans,
Sara Vogt, says that she uses this yogurt as a face mask.

I was worried that the honey yogurt might be too sweet (I hesitate to say it, but there is such a thing as too much honey).  It was not too sweet.  The honey yogurt was just as I would make it for myself - minus the dripping honey mess that always ends up all over my counter and sometimes makes its way onto my keyboard.  The Voskos Greek honey yogurt got me thinking about making a yogurt and honey cupcake.

Jasmine Cupcakes with Raspberry and Honey

The smell of these jasmine cupcakes greets you first - somewhat formally. You feel like giving them a small bow.  Instead, you inhale deeply and are transported to an intimate tea house on a carefree day.  Your first bite begins with the jasmine flavor that you were smelling.  Only after the bite is swallowed do you start to notice the slight hint of raspberry and sweet honey.  You go in for a second bite and continue nibbling at the slow pace that the tea demands until the cupcake is gone and you are left only with a memory and a desire to revisit the tea house tomorrow.

The Ultimate Truffle Cupcake

The Ultimate Truffle Cupcake experience begins with the smell - as the cupcake comes close to your sniffer, a waft of truffle - the fungi kind - hits you hard (Yes, I called it a sniffer; I have a five month old.). You begin to wonder, "Is this a dessert or an Italian entree?" As you take a bite, you reach the rich dark chocolate first. The truffle flavor isn't quite as strong as you would have guessed. Then, the cake itself makes you pause. You realize that while it's a chocolate cake, it's clearly sweetened with honey. It starts to feel like comfort food. But, wait... there is that truffle flavor making it different than anything you've ever tasted before. Did you save the chocolate truffle on top as a chaser? It's not in a box, so you don't know what the flavor is. Here goes nothing... oh yeah!!

Truffle Honey for Your Honey

Chocolate truffles in a heart-shaped box are a Valentine's Day staple. In fact, I'll be telling you about some of my favorite chocolate truffles in my next post. However, if you are looking for something different for your honey this Valentine's Day, consider the other variety of truffle - fungi! Specifically, I recommend getting your sweet thing a jar of truffle honey.

I first experienced truffle honey during a trip to a local restaurant, FIVE Bistro. FIVE serves truffle honey with its cheese plates; that in itself is a reason to go to there. The salty cheese dunked in sweet honey with the distinctive musky taste of truffle is a must try!

I will warn you that truffles are an acquired taste. On the same night that I discovered truffle honey, several of my dining companions were disgusted by it. I could barely come down from my place in heaven to hear their complaints, but it wouldn't be nice of me to not warn you that truffle honey isn't for everyone.

Where Can I Buy Truffle Honey?

Back in June, I first met (online) Justin from Marx Foods. He wanted me to review Marx's palm leaf plates (I loved them). When I was browsing Marx's site, I discovered that they sold truffle honey. I immediately began hinting strongly that while the plates were nice, what I really wanted to review was the truffle honey. Seven months later, Justin sent me some. Woohoo!

The truffle honey from Marx Foods was dreamy. Of course, I used some in a cupcake, but I saved enough to eat with bread and cheese and I licked every last morsel of truffle honey out of my measuring cup. The honey costs $31.50, which is less than a box of chocolate truffles might cost.

Give it a try!

Apple Cider Doughnuts with Honey Glaze - Rosh Hashana Recipe

Each year around this time, I start seeing apple cider doughnuts showing up on food blogs and on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. These posts often mention buying apple cider doughnuts at local apple orchards. I've been apple picking many times in my life and I have never seen an apple cider doughnut. I love apple cider and I love doughnuts - and frankly, every time I read about these elusive apple cider doughnuts, I felt cheated. Why didn't my orchard make them? I had to make them myself to see if they were as good as I dreamed.

Rosh Hashana seemed like the perfect time of year to give apple cider doughnuts a try. L'Shana Tova roughly means "for a good year". On Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) we dip apples in honey to show our wish for a sweet new year. Why not make apple cider doughnuts dipped in honey this year?!

Apple cider doughnuts are typically baked, not fried. They are essentially cake doughnuts made with apple cider. Because apple cider doughnuts are cake, the doughnut recipe also worked as a cupcake! In the photo above, you see a doughnut on top of a cupcake - both made with the same batter.

Were the Apple Cider Doughnuts Worthy of My Dreams

Our dinner guest, St. Louis food blogger Andrew Mark Veety, said that my apple cider doughnuts would be "killer with a cup of coffee for breakfast." However, he and his wife both felt that they could hardly be called doughnuts. I had to agree. The apple cider doughnuts were moist, fluffy, and sweet, but tasted more like tiny apple muffins than doughnuts. These doughnuts could be a great way to trick your kid or yourself into eating something healthier than a typical fried doughnut, but if you are expecting a Krispy Kreme, don't bother making these.

Apple Cider Doughnut Recipe

To make these apple cider doughnuts, you'll need a doughnut pan. The cool thing is that you can make any cake recipe into a cake doughnut with one of these pans - so fun!! I prefer the mini doughnut pan - that way they fit on top of my cupcakes (I understand that this may not be your priority).

I found the recipe for the apple cider doughnuts on Jen's food blog, Milk and Cookies. Jen adapted the recipe from one found on Diana's Desserts. I am reprinting it here, with my notes.

Makes approximately 36 mini doughnuts or 12 cupcakes.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t grated nutmeg
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2/3 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C apple butter
• 1/3 C pure maple syrup
• 1/3 C apple cider
• 1/3 C plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp hazelnut oil, plus extra for coating the pan (If hazelnut oil is not available, you can substitute with macadamia nut oil or vegetable oil.)
• approximately 3 tbsp sugar for baking pans

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, apple butter, maple syrup, cider, yogurt and hazelnut oil.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until moistened.
4. Brush cavities of a doughnut pan with hazelnut oil and sprinkle with sugar. If making cupcakes, simply fill cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
   
5. For doughnuts, fill each cavity about halfway. For cupcakes, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
   
6. Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes (doughnuts) or 20 minutes (cupcakes) or until the tops spring back when touched lightly.

Honey Glaze and Cinnamon/Sugar Topping

I topped each apple cider doughnut with a honey glaze and then dipped the doughnuts in cinnamon and sugar. For the honey glaze, simply combine and microwave two parts honey to every one part apple cider (i.e. 4 T honey and 2 T apple cider) until hot.

I used the same glaze to top the cupcakes, and I added some powdered sugar for kicks.

Sesame Honey Cupcakes

I wanted my sesame honey cupcakes to taste like sesame honey crunch candies. I know I was an unusual child, but sesame honey crunch candies were some of my favorite candies (I have always had a love for anything with honey). Perhaps, I wasn't as strange a child as my husband, though, who for some inexplicable reason called sesame honey crunch candies "chicken bones." Did anyone else do this?

Did the Sesame Honey Cupcakes Taste Like Sesame Honey Crunch Candy?

Yes, the sesame honey cupcakes tasted just like sesame honey crunch candies! Those (like me and Jonathan) who love sesame honey crunch candy loved these sesame honey cupcakes. Those who do not like the flavor of sesame and honey, like my mother in law, did not like these. Lastly, those who had never had anything with sesame and honey, like my friend who was in from Seattle, simply didn't know what to make of them.

You should know that like the candies, the cupcakes are not overly sweet and strike me as kind of mellow and cozy - a cupcake that you would have with some steamed milk rather than an espresso.

Groom 2.5 suggested that the cupcakes might go well with some kind of fruit filling. I agree, but I think that would in some way detract from their simple nature.

The Sesame Honey Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for the sesame honey cupcake from Curiously Ravenous. Her recipe was absolutely perfect for what I was looking for! I am reprinting it below with my notes.

Makes 12-15 cupcakes

• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/3 C unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C honey
• 1 egg
• 2 T tahini (you can use my homemade tahini recipe or use store-bought)
• 1 C buttermilk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 3 T white sesame seeds

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
2. In another bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and honey until pale and glossy, about 3 minutes.
3. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk and vanilla.
4. With the mixer running, add the egg to the butter-sugar mixture, until well-blended.
   
5. Continue beating in the tahini.
   
6. In 3 additions, alternately blend in the flour and buttermilk, ending with flour.
   
7. Mix in the sesame seeds.
8. Fill cupcake liners almost to the top. These cupcakes do not rise very much.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top of the cakes are lightly golden.

The Sesame Honey Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Curiously Ravenous used a sesame honey buttercream frosting on her cupcakes. Since I'm not a buttercream fan, I opted for a Cupcake Project original cream cheese version. You might notice the absence of sugar in my recipe. Whenever I've added powdered sugar to a frosting recipe with honey it, the level of sweetness disgusts me!

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 C butter, room temperature
• 2 T tahini
• 1/2 C honey

1. Whip cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly mix in tahini and honey.
3. Spread on the cupcakes. You don't need to make them look pretty because they are going to get covered in sesame seeds.

The Dunk and Drizzle

Once the cupcakes have been frosted, simply dunk them in a plate of toasted sesame seeds. If you need a tutorial on toasting sesame seeds, see my notes in the tahini post. I used all white sesame seeds, however, I think it would look really neat to use a combination of white and black sesame seeds.

Once the sesame seeds were all in place, I drizzled some honey over the top of the cupcakes. The photo above is really just another opportunity to show off Jonathan's new macro lens!

Related Recipes

If you would prefer to make the actual sesame honey crunch candy instead of a cupcake recipe inspired by it, you might want to check out Alanna's recent sesame candy recipe. I haven't personally tried it yet, but it sounds fantastic.

If you would prefer a cupcake recipe based on another favorite candy, you might want to check out my Ferrero Rocher cupcakes.

Honey Meringue Frosting Recipe: You'd Better Eat It Quickly

I decided on a honey frosting for upcoming cupcakes when I received honey in my CSA package last week. I had made a honey frosting before. The problem, however, is that I don't like using both honey and powdered sugar in honey frosting recipes - way, way too sweet. Last time, I ended up using mead (honey wine) in the frosting recipe with very little sugar. This left me with more of a glaze than a frosting. I then drizzled honey on top of that to give the honey frosting more texture and a sticky sweetness.

For this cupcake, I searched the Web to find a honey frosting recipe that did not use powdered sugar at all. I found a fluffy honey frosting recipe on Big Oven which was originally from the American Bee Journal. It used a full cup of honey and no powdered sugar.

How I Ended Up Making Honey Meringue Frosting

What I failed to consider was that the honey frosting recipe I chose involves beating egg whites until they are stiff and then adding a sugary substance - just like when I make meringue. Regular readers may know that I don't like meringues because they remind me too much of marshmallows (something else I'm not a fan of).

The fluffy honey frosting did end up being a honey meringue. I have never heard of a honey meringue before. It worked, though! It tasted like a honey marshmallow - especially after I torched it on the cupcakes like you'll see soon.

You'd Better Eat The Honey Meringue Frosting Quickly

About an hour after I frosted the cupcakes, something started to happen. The honey meringue frosting started to drip. The frosting became messy and gooey - not at all appetizing. If you like honey and you like meringue, I do encourage you to try making this frosting, but only if you are going to serve it immediately after you frost. Do not wait or you will be sadly disappointed.

The Honey Meringue Frosting Recipe

As noted above, I found this recipe on Big Oven. I am reprinting it below with my slight modifications.

Makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes

• 1 C honey
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 t vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan or double boiler, heat honey to boiling.
2. In a bowl, combine egg whites, salt and vanilla.
3. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until whites are stiff but not dry.
4. Slowly pour in hot honey.
5. Beat for 5-7 minutes until frosting holds shape.

Greek Bird's Nest Cupcakes: The Birds and the Bees

My Greek bird's nest cupcakes are all about honey. They are an extremely dense, honey soaked cake topped with a crunchy, honey soaked Greek bird's nest cupcake topper. If you love honey and more specifically love Greek desserts like baklava, you'll adore these cupcakes. The Greek bird's nest cupcakes are not for you if you can only handle honey in moderation.

I can eat honey by the spoonful, so these cupcakes were perfect for me! The only complaint honey lovers had about them was that it was really hard to eat the topper with the cake. You had to remove the topper and eat it separately. I could have perhaps stuck them together with some frosting, but with all the honey syrup, any frosting at all would have been overkill.

The Greek Bird's Nest Cupcake Recipe

I got the cake recipe by converting an amazing honey almond cake recipe on Poppalina to cupcakes. Here is the recipe with my modifications:

Makes 16 cupcakes

• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 C sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 C semolina flour
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 C ground almonds

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Fold in semolina flour, cinnamon, and ground almonds.
4. Fill cupcake wrappers 3/4 full.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. As stated on Popillina, "they will be heavy and not a bit springy and that's a good thing."

The Honey Syrup Recipe

The honey syrup that I used to top both the cake and the bird's nests also came from Poppalina's recipe. The only change that I would make if I made it again would be to add either a little lemon zest or some lemon juice to the recipe. One of my regular tasters is half Greek and he thought that it really needed the lemon to taste more authentic.

• 2 C honey (I used Greek honey since I saw some at the store. However, any honey you like would do.)
• 1 C water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cardamom pods (optional)
• lemon zest to taste (As noted above, I didn't use the lemon zest, but I think it would be a nice touch.)

1. Put all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer for 10-20 minutes.

Putting the Cupcakes Together

1. Poke lots of holes in all the cupcakes (you can use a toothpick or a fork or anything you have handy) and drizzle the hot syrup over the cupcakes.
2. Wait a minute or so for it to absorb and then do it again.
3. Continue letting the syrup absorb and adding more about 3 or 4 times.
4. Put the bird's nests on top of the cupcakes.
5. Drizzle syrup over the bird's nests so that they are completely covered in the honey.

You can eat the cupcakes right away while the syrup is warm, but be sure to save some to eat later. The cupcakes get better and better the longer the syrup has to absorb into them. They were still tasty a week after I made them.

Cupcake Hero

I am entering these cupcakes into this month's Cupcake Hero. The theme is Earth Day. How do these cupcakes fit the theme? I'm stretching here, but:

Birds and bees, nests and honey,
Are featured in these cupcakes - and not just to be yummy.
They are important to the Earth, so let's care for them well,
And important to my cupcakes, they taste so swell!
Happy Earth Day to all, a few days too late.
And enjoy Cupcake Hero - what cupcake's on your plate?

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Mead Frosting and a Honey Swirl: Rosh Hashana Cupcakes for a Sweet New Year

One cupcake taster closed her eyes to savor every bite. Another chose to eat this as his first piece of cake in 3 months and did not regret the choice. I ate one fresh out of the oven and it was so good I was scared that frosting it would screw it up somehow. It didn't. It just made it even better! This may be my favorite cupcake yet.

I had to get that part out of the way. I have lots to say in this post and I didn't want anyone to not make it to the part where I expressed how much I loved these cupcakes!

This week's cupcake was inspired by the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana). Could the holy connection have anything to do with how good they ended up being? On Rosh Hashana it is a tradition to eat apples dipped in honey praying that God will grant us a sweet new year. Apples with honey are delicious on thier own. Give it a try if you have never done so. I turned one of my non-Jewish friends onto this and it became her son's favorite snack. The bride and groom are not Jewish, but they are getting married on the secular new year. Perhaps they would like it to be sweet with an apple and honey cupcake?

The Cake

I was recently loaned a copy of the book 500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need. I take issue with the fact that there aren't really 500 cupcakes in this book. Lots of the "cupcakes" are muffins and some of the items they count as unique cupcakes are simply a recipe they already listed, but with ingredient substitutions. However, since I liked the recipe I tried so much, I may have to think more positively about the book.

For the cake, I modified 500 Cupcake's Applesauce Cinnamon Cupcakes. Their cupcake had apples on top and no frosting. I put the apples inside, created my own frosting, and did not include nuts or raisins.

Recipe (16 cupcakes)

*The recipe in the book was for 12 cupcakes. I doubled it and still ended up with only 16. That was my only complaint about the recipe. However, I filled my cups all the way to the top and from the picture in the book, it looked like they let theirs sit a bit lower.

Cream:

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 C + 2 T sugar
• 2 C Flour
• 4 Eggs

Stir In

• 1.5 C Applesauce (unsweetened)
• 1.5 t cinnamon
• 1 C finely chopped apples (I used Fuji)

Fill cupcake wrappers. Bake at 350 for 25 min. Eat some hot out of the oven before proceeding to frost the others. I thought they tasted just like apple pie filling.

The Frosting

I first discovered mead at The Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire. It is technically an "alcoholic drink made from diluted honey and water, fermented by yeast." Essentially it is a honey wine and it is perhaps the 1st wine ever made. We happened to have an unopened bottle of mead sitting in our pantry and it seemed a perfect way to impart a honey flavor to the frosting without making it too sticky.

The frosting recipe was:

• 1/4 C butter
• 2+ cups powdered sugar
• 3 T soy milk (I'm sure you could use milk. I just happened to have soy milk in the house.)
• 2 T Mead

1. Beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in soy milk and mead.

The Honey Swirl

As I worked on creating my honey swirl, I began to feel like I was Goldilocks and had left my house to 3 bears. The bears, of course, were honey bears. When did honey start coming in bear format? Check these out! They even have bow ties.

• One bear's honey was too empty.
  
• The next bear's honey was also too empty.
  
• And the last bear's honey, well that was too empty too.

Why did Miss Goldilocks allow all her honey bears to reach such sad states? Probably, the same reason she left those 3 bowls of porridge on the table: she was in a hurry. It was too much work to get the honey out of the bottom of each bear. The problem with most of the bear shaped containers is that they can't be easily stored upside down.
Anyway, to speed up the honey removal, all 3 bears went into the microwave. The warm, more liquidy honey was poured right out of the bear to a decorating bag with a small tip and piped onto the cupcakes. Unfortunately, because the honey was still toasty, it often just melted into the frosting as opposed to making a defined swirl.
The good news was that everyone did live happily ever after because even the ones that didn't have the swirl looked neat and tasted great.
The moral of the story is to either
a) buy a new bear,
b) have more patience for the honey to come out of the bear, or
c) don't use bear honey at all.

St. Louis Bloggers

The St. Louis Bloggers are hosting a blog carnival this month with the theme of apples. I happen to love carnivals. I particularly like the really small ones where the whole community comes together and everyone either has lots of fun spending money to win cheap prizes or gets dizzy and sick from spinning rides and cotton candy.

I've never worked a blog carnival before (Wikipedia has a great description of blog carnivals for those who have no idea what I'm talking about.). I wasn't planning on participating in this one either, but I had already made an apple cupcake and was planning on writing about it. So... count this as my carny entry.