Small Business Saturday - Vanilla Bean Giveaway and Coupon Code

Photo courtesy of IndriVanilla

When the Cupcake Project Explorers and I came up with the recipe for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes, we learned that nothing gave the cupcakes as much of a true vanilla flavor as a real vanilla bean.  Although I am a tremendous fan of vanilla bean paste (it makes the best vanilla buttercream frosting - read the comments on the post if you are a doubter), in the cupcake itself, nothing works like a bean.

Beans, however, can be pricey.  I've seen vanilla beans sold for as high as $7 for one bean.  For a quality bean at a cheaper price, I've recently turned to IndriVanilla.  IndriVanilla is a small business owned by Whitney, a PhD student who wanted a cheaper, better-quality bean. She found a way to procure the beans and decided to create a business out of it. "Middlemen, referred to by the farmers as 'traders,' pay vanilla farmers very little for their prized beans. IndriVanilla was born to provide more people besides myself with high-quality, low-cost vanilla. I buy direct from the farmers at their asking price."

IndriVanilla charges just $0.50 for individual beans and as little as $0.30 each if you buy in bulk.  Plus, IndriVanilla is offering a 10% discount to Cupcake Project readers; just enter the code "thecupcakeproject" at checkout.  (Full disclosure: supporting her small business also supports mine.  I get a small commission every time that code is used.)

How to Win Some Vanilla Beans

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe - The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Test Baked by 50 Bakers and Counting

"This is it, Stef!! This really, really is the ULTIMATE Vanilla Cupcake Recipe!!! I can't believe we finally found it, but I know in my cupcake-loving heart that we did. I will honestly be dumbstruck if this cupcake isn't the ultimate because I can't imagine a more perfect vanilla cupcake." 

Do You Live in A Divided Home? Make Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes at the Same Time

Some families are all about chocolate cupcakes, some are all about vanilla, but some families are mixed-flavor homes. What are these divided homes to do?

a) Make the flavor that the baker likes best.
b) Rotate and make vanilla half the time and chocolate the other half.
c) Never make vanilla or chocolate and instead make pumpkin cupcakes every day.
d) Make vanilla and chocolate cupcakes at the same time, using the same recipe!


Answer: D

I used a sour cream cupcake recipe to make both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. Both cupcakes had what I would consider a classic cupcake consistency (light and fluffy, not very dense). The vanilla had a vibrant vanilla flavor and the chocolate had a mild but satisfying cocoa flavor - you could make them more chocolaty with the addition of chocolate chips.

To make two recipes out of one, you simply prepare the batter for the vanilla cupcakes. Then, fill half of the cupcake liners. Next, add chocolate to the remaining batter and fill the other half of the cupcake liners. Bake and make everyone happy!

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

To make these vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, I used a vanilla sour cream cupcake recipe from Seriously Simple Holidays by Diane Rossen Worthington. I am including the recipe below along with my modifications to make both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.

Makes 6 vanilla and 6 chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 C flour
  
• 1/2 t baking powder
  
• 1/4 t baking soda
  
• 1/4 t salt
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1 C sugar
  
• 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
  
• 1 1/2 t vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 C sour cream
  
• 2 oz bittersweet chocolate
  

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar for about 2 minutes, or until light and creamy.
   
3. Add the butter and vanilla and beat on low speed for about 1 minute, or until well blended.
4. Beat in the dry ingredients on low speed until blended.
   
5. Add the sour cream and beat until smooth and well blended.
6. Fill 6 cupcake liners about halfway full.
7. Melt the chocolate (either using a double boiler or in the microwave).
   
8. Mix the chocolate into the remaining batter.
9. Fill the remaining 6 cupcake liners with the chocolate batter.
10. Bake at 350 F for about 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are firm.

Sour Cream Frosting

While you can top these cupcakes with any frosting, you might want to try a sour cream frosting.  The sour cream adds a nice tang to a sweet buttercream.

Cooking-Related Breakdowns: Do You Tell?

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend a pre-screening of Julie & Julia (it's a must-see for food bloggers and a should-see for everyone else). I saw the movie with Groom 2.0. After it was over, he turned to me and asked if I ever have breakdowns like Julie has in the film. "You don't write about that on your blog."

Yes, I have cooking-related breakdowns. There, I've said it.

Like Julie, I imagine all of my readers waiting on the edge of their seats to see what masterpiece cupcake I'll come up with next. I feel guilty when I don't post and guilty when I post something that is only so-so or downright bad. I also hate wasting food. There is nothing worse than the feeling of tossed food - think about the starving children who would love even a bad cupcake.

One Week - Three New Cupcake Recipes

The past couple of weeks have featured more than my normal share of cupcake crises. As you may have seen, I'll be writing for Paula Deen Online starting in October. What I didn't mention is that they need all four recipes by the end of August. I'm due to have a baby on Saturday, so I wanted to get them done ASAP, pre-baby.

I made three recipes last week. I love two of the three. My mom said that one of these was about the best thing she's ever eaten! I can't wait to share!!

However, the third recipe is evil! I will tell you that it involves making caramel and then getting said caramel to stick to a wet object. After my fourth caramel screw up, I fell, deflated, to the floor - much like the meringue you'll read about later in this post that collapsed before ever really peaking. I could blame prego hormones for my brief moment of instability, but I've had pre-pregnancy cooking-related breakdowns, too.

Jonathan encouraged me to keep trying at the caramel and kept offering to go to the store to buy more heavy whipping cream and sugar. Sweet success came on my seventh try. Sadly, the moment was fleeting. The morning after, I awoke to find that all of the candy caramel coating had dripped off of the object. GRRR. Major disappointment. I haven't given up on the caramel, but I have taken a break. I simply can't handle another caramel catastrophe at this moment.

On the bright side, I gave a batch of tasty, but not so sticky caramel to a friend and it's arriving back at my house tomorrow in the form of homemade caramel pear ice cream. Yay!

What Not to Do With 12 Egg Whites

For one of the two successful Paula Dean cupcakes, I used twelve egg yolks - pretty crazy, huh?! Since a week had gone by without posting on this blog, I thought I would bake cupcakes with the twelve egg whites. I even had the title all figured out ("What to Do With 12 Egg Whites"). I followed a recipe that I found for an egg white cake (using 6 egg whites) and made a couple of changes to make them cupcakes - disaster! The cupcakes stuck to the wrappers and had a weird macaroon-like consistency.

Despite the botched cupcakes, I thought that perhaps I could save them with some frosting. I planned to make a Swiss meringue buttercream that would use the other six egg whites. As sometimes happens (with meringue), it never got stiff enough. Besides, I didn't even like the taste. "Another tasty treat for the trash," I thought.

Jonathan, however, would have none of it. He refused to let me throw it out. Instead, he whipped it a bit more, added some cream of tartar, and baked it in ramekins. Two hours later, we had a fluffy, sweet, tasty, custard-like dessert that I would highly recommend to anyone.

Sometimes, I remember on my own that you can turn lemons into lemonade, but sometimes it takes someone else to remind me to turn that frown upside-down.

On that note, I present Stef and Jonathan's Egg White Vanilla Custard.


Makes about 5 ramekins of custard

• 6 egg whites
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 2 t vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• 1 C butter, room temperature
• 1 t cream of tartar

1. Whip egg whites and sugar until foamy and doubled in size.
2. Mix in vanilla bean paste.
3. Mix in butter, one tablespoon at a time.
4. Mix in cream of tartar.
5. Distribute evenly among ramekins. They should be about half full.
   
6. Bake at 200 F for about two hours.
7. Use a culinary torch to brûlée the top of each custard.
   

The Next Few Weeks

If I disappear for a stretch of time, it's probably because I've had the baby. I'll surely continue baking cupcakes, but I may need a few weeks off. Although, my doula says that baking cupcakes is a great thing to do in early labor, so we shall see. :)

Do You Have Cooking-Related Breakdowns?

Do you ever have breakdowns when recipes don't go the way you want? Do you tell?

Pound Cake Cupcakes

Pound cake cupcakes, as you might expect, are rich and dense - but, most importantly, they are versatile. Like their full-sized cousins, pound cake cupcakes can be served with whatever topping your creative mind can dream up. Just in case your mind is at a loss, I'll be giving you two Valentine's Day-appropriate pound cake frosting ideas this week. One is classically beautiful and one is a twist on a typical chocolate ganache. Stay tuned.

Pound Cake Cupcake Recipe

The pound cake recipe that I used is from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. I found the recipe on Robin's blog, Caviar and Codfish. Robin had such great things to say about it, but my favorite line was, "I’ll surely make it again. Every time I need a hug." Virtual hugs to Robin for sharing the recipe!

The pound cake recipe is officially called double-vanilla pound cake. In my reprinting below, I will provide you with options to punch up the vanilla flavor even more or take it down some, to your taste.

Makes 12 regular cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes

• 3/4 C sugar (If you have some vanilla sugar on hand, this would be a good time to use it.)
  
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 T pure vanilla extract (You could use vanilla bean paste here instead. If you use vanilla bean paste, you could skip the addition of the vanilla bean.)
  
• 2 C (7 ounces) sifted cake flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• ¹/3 C (3 ounces) sour cream, at room temperature

1. Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
   
2. Use a paring knife to split the vanilla bean lengthwise, then turn the knife over and use the dull edge to scrape the seeds into the sugar. (Save the pod for another use - like making vanilla sugar.)
   
3. Blend on low speed until the seeds are evenly dispersed.
   
4. Add the butter and beat on medium-high until the mixture is very light—almost white in color, 4 to 5 minutes.
   
5. Beat the eggs with the vanilla in a small bowl.
   
6. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs to the butter mixture about 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to completely blend in before adding the next.
7. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.
   
8. With the mixer on the lowest speed, alternate between adding the flour mixture and sour cream, ending with the flour mixture.
   
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake at 350 F. For mini cupcakes, bake for 12 min. For regular cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes.
    

Trader Joe's Does Not Carry Vanilla Bean Paste

Many of you commented on my post on vanilla bean paste about being able to get cheap vanilla bean paste at Trader Joe's. Since I hadn't seen it at my local Trader Joe's, I decided to try to find out what the story was by emailing Trader Joe's directly. Here is their response:

Hello Stefani,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. The Vanilla Paste was discontinued due to slow sales.

Trader Joe's approach to the grocery industry has always been quite different from the mega-chains. Because our stores have such limited shelf space, if our customers aren't buying a product, we take that as a majority vote against it and we will bring in something else in its place.
Again, we appreciate your feedback and it will be shared in the next marketing meeting.

Sincerely,
Ana
Trader Joe's
Customer Relations

Maybe if more of you email them and mention that you want vanilla bean paste, they will bring it back. You can contact Trader Joe's here.

Mini Pumpkin Pie Recipe - Cup-Pies

Mini Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Pumpkin pie is a holiday staple. However, isn't it the best when everyone gets their own mini pumpkin pie (cup-pies)? (Note: Mini sweet potato pies are also a favorite of mine.)

Here's What the mini pumpkin pie recipe tasters had to say:

• My father was in town from NY to taste the pumpkin pie recipe. If it seems like I am always having out of town guests from somewhere, it's true. Dad said that the pumpkin pies were one of the best pastries he has ever had. This is not only because he's my dad. He also tried the Soda Fountain cupcakes (which were picked by Bride and Groom 1.0 for their wedding) and openly admitted that he didn't like them at all. He is not shy with opinions.

• My mom and aunt also tried the mini pumpkin pies. They were in town the weekend after my dad. This means that the mini pumpkin pies were already a week old (I kept them in the fridge). I didn't think they were quite as good as they were when they were fresh. However, my relatives loved them. The cup-pies, however, were not their favorite. I had frozen some Better Than Sex chocolate cupcakes for them and they both thought that nothing could compare to the chocolate.
• Bride 2.0 said "mmmmm... pumpkin."
• Groom 2.0 said that they couldn't choose them for their wedding because they weren't actually cupcakes. Bah humbug!

The Pumpkin Pie Crust Recipe
Back in January, the St. Louis food bloggers got together and took a pie class at Kitchen Conservatory. The photo on the left is from Iron Stef's write-up of the event. I'm the redhead in the front. Next to me is Karen of FamilyStyle Food and next to her is Alanna, the esteemed host of Pi Day. The class was a blast, however I definitely felt like the class klutz. I was the one who cut myself using the apple peeler/corer and ended up going home with a band-aid. Note that my mini pie doesn't feature apples. Also note that I am the only one in the picture not wearing an apron. Why wear an apron when you can get flour all over yourself? I'm such the rebel!
Our instructor, Anne, had some rules that she pounded into our heads.
1. Don't overwork the dough. (She held our hands behind our backs to keep us from touching it.)
2. Don't add too much water.
When I made my mini pumpkin pies, I broke both of these rules. Did it effect the quality of the pie crust? Maybe, but none of my tasters could tell. I even got the thumbs up from a friend who prides herself on her pie crusts.
The details on how to make this pie crust are laid out very clearly on Kitchen Parade, complete with step by step pictures. I made one intentional modification. I refuse to use Crisco so I used all butter. My other modification was not planned. I ended up using 18 T of water instead of 2-4. I couldn't get the dough to stick together at all without adding more and more water. My teacher would not be proud.
Lesson: Don't worry about getting it 100% right. No one will know the difference except you.

Here is the recipe from Kitchen Parade with my modifications:

• 18 T ice water (This was where her recipe said 2-4 T)
• 2 c flour
• 2 t sugar
• 1 t salt
• 2 sticks (1 c) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Stir together 1 cup of flour, sugar, and salt. With hand-held pastry blender, cut 1/2 of the butter into the four until butter is dime-sized. (I didn't have a pastry blender so I just used my hands.) Add the rest of the butter the same way. Lightly stir in the remaining flour. Add water one T at a time until the dough just sticks together. Wrap in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Note: This is one of the few recipes that I have not made in my Kitchen Aid. I learned from Anne that butter should not be fully integrated and the Kitchen Aid would have done just that.

The Pumpkin Pie Filling Recipe

I found the pumpkin pie filling recipe on Allrecipes. It had many, many (561) fantastic reviews so I decided to give it a go. I have reprinted it with my comments below.

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg whites

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold into pumpkin mixture.

The Streusel Topping Recipe

• 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c packed brown sugar
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 2 T butter, chilled
• 1 c chopped walnuts (I used pecans simply because I like them better.)

In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Blend in the cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the chopped nuts. This made almost twice as much as topping as I needed. Unless you want a ton of topping, you might consider cutting this in half.

Putting Your Mini Pies Together
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). You will not be baking at this temperature. However, you want to make your oven nice and hot. This, as I learned in my pie class, is extremely important. Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners. I made about 30 cup-pies with this recipe. I baked the 24 and then the extra six. If you have 3 tins at the ready you can do it all at once. Also, I expect the number you will get to vary depending on the intricacies of dough thickness and pumpkin pie filling height.
Remove half of the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Use a 3 1/2 inch diameter circle cookie cutter to cut the dough into circles. If you don't have a cookie cutter that width, see if you have a glass you can use or you can experiment with different widths. Press the center of your circle into the bottom of a cupcake liner and work the rest into the bottom of the liner and up the sides. It should come about 3/4 of the way up the side. I experimented with different heights and found this to be the most pleasing to me, but higher or lower won't destroy anything. Repeat the same procedure with the other half of the dough.
Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the pie dough cups. Each cup should be slightly more than halfway full.
Lower the oven temp to 375. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the streusel topping over each cup-pie. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the pie is set (doesn't wiggle around when you touch it.)

The Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting Swirl
I topped each cup-pie with a small swirl of vanilla bean buttercream frosting. The vanilla bean buttercream frosting recipe can be found here.

Pi Day Footnote

Alanna over at Kitchen Parade is hosting pi (3.14) day. Alanna is our St. Louis food blogger social director and is a mentor to me as I build this blog. I had to participate. She's the reason why I made these mini pumpkin pies.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting Recipe

This vanilla bean buttercream frosting recipe is so much better than your everyday vanilla frosting. Regular readers may know that I don't typically like buttercream frosting. I typically make cream cheese frostings, mascarpone frostings, or glazes. However, this vanilla bean buttercream frosting is an exception. It tastes just like melted vanilla ice cream. In fact, I used it on top of my pumpkin cup-pies (mini pumpkin pies) instead of ice cream.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

 
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (add more to taste)
• 1 tablespoon milk
  

Directions

1. Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy.
   
2. Add vanilla bean paste and milk and continue to beat for another minute.
   
3. If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners' sugar to make it stiffer.
   

How About Chocolate Frosting Instead?
Check out my favorite chocolate frosting

Why You Should Buy Vanilla Bean Paste

Let's start with the basics on why you should buy vanilla bean paste.

What is Vanilla Bean Paste?

When I first heard about vanilla bean paste, all I could picture was that white paste that you eat (umm.. glue with) in Kindergarten mixed with some bean specks. I found lots of pictures of the vanilla bean paste bottle online but no pictures of the actual vanilla bean paste itself. I had heard that it was vanilla extract, but with the beans in it. I began to picture a liquid with some specks.

It turns out that vanilla bean paste is much thicker than vanilla extract. It's actually a thin syrup. While I would never drink vanilla extract straight up, I have been known to lick my fingers if they get some vanilla bean paste on them. It's still a bit strong (not to mention expensive) to, for example, pour on your pancakes.

Saffron Cupcakes: Golden Threads Make a Treasure

Saffron cupcakes are well worth every expensive bite. I've baked cupcakes with all kinds of unusual flavors - beer, avocado, ricotta cheese. Some work better than others. Saffron cupcakes work. The saffron's flavor comes through in every bite and fills the air with a sweet, soft aroma.

Why Saffron Cupcakes?

This is my second time participating in Taste & Create, an event where food bloggers get paired up to try each other's creations. Last time, I was paired with What's Cooking and made pumpkin abuelita cupcakes. This time, I was paired with Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. Back in May, she made a Vanilla-Infused Golden Saffron Cake. As soon as I saw it, I knew that was going to be the recipe I would try - in cupcake form, of course.

But wait - there's more

When Dolores made her saffron cake, she did it as part of the Taste of Yellow, a food event in honor of Livestrong Day featuring yellow food. Guess what event is going on right now? The same one. It must be destiny (at least that's what my mom would say). I am submitting these saffron cupcakes to this year's Taste of Yellow event.

Livestrong Day is "the Lance Armstrong Foundation's grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivorship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country."

Dolores described why she participated so eloquently that I have to share her words:

"I've written before about how cancer has touched my life. John's grandfather. His father and mine. Too many of our friends. Breast cancer. Lung cancer. Lymphoma, prostate cancer, bladder cancer. As their bodies betrayed them, these everyday heroes faced their mortality head-on -- and learned something about living in the process. Even more amazing, through their examples they shared those lessons with all who love them. Whether or not they overcame the diseases they faced -- they lived proudly, joyfully, with honor and dignity -- and taught me the importance of doing the same. As a small expression of my gratitude and my love, today I bake for each of them."

Dolores: I am dedicating these cupcakes to the people mentioned above. Even though I have never met them, they sound like incredible people.

Groom 2.0: I know you are questioning why all of my cupcakes are not being made for you.
a) Do you really think you should come first over cancer victims? I didn't think so.
b) You want plain chocolate cupcakes. I need to work up to that. It's just too boring.

Did Everyone Like the Saffron Cupcake as Much as I Did?

Not everyone liked the saffron cupcakes as much as I did. If you love saffron, you'll likely love it. Not everyone loves saffron. Some (Bride and Groom 2.0), thought the cupcakes were too dry. Others thought the icing was too sweet. I recommend using small quantities of the icing. It nicely compliments the cupcake. If there is too much icing, it can be overpowering.

Why is Saffron So Expensive?

I've already had one out of town friend say she would never make these cupcakes because saffron is too expensive. Saffron is the most expensive spice. However, there is good reason. It is made from the yellow-orange stigmas from a small purple saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). As explained on What's Cooking America:

"Each flower provides only three red stigmas, and it takes approximately 14,000 of these tiny threads for each ounce of saffron. One ounce of saffron equals the stigmas from approximately 5,000 crocuses. It takes an acre of flowers to produce a pound. The tiny red threads of saffron must be handpicked from the center of the crocus flower. They leave behind the yellow stamens which have no taste."

How to Buy Saffron

Saffron comes either powdered or in threads (the whole stigmas). For the saffron cupcakes I used the threads. If you do not have access to saffron threads, you can use the powder. If you are using the powder, be sure that it is pure saffron. Sometimes saffron is diluted with turmeric or other additives.

According to The Cooking Inn, "as a general rule, use half the amount of powder as you would threads."

How to Cook with Saffron

Heat releases the flavor from saffron threads. They need to be steeped in liquid in order to let the true flavor shine. Unlike many other herbs and spices, you can't just throw some saffron in cake or frosting and expect its flavor to come through.

In the saffron cupcakes, the saffron is heated with milk before adding it to the batter. In the saffron buttercream frosting, saffron infused butter is used.

Saffron Tip: Do not use a wooden spoon when working with saffron as the spoon will absorb some of the saffron flavor. You do not want to waste any of it.

How to Make Saffron-Infused Butter

The night before you make the cupcakes, you will need to prepare the saffron-infused butter for the frosting.

Melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 C) and mix in two large pinches of saffron threads. The saffron will not fully dissolve in the butter (you will still be able to see the thread). However, make sure that it is well integrated. The butter should turn a nice bright yellow color.

Let the butter sit out overnight. It may separate a bit overnight. Give it a good stir to reintegrate any liquids.

This butter is fantastic in the frosting. However, it would also be a delicious spread on bread with a Mediterranean or Indian meal.

The Saffron Cupcake Recipe

I adapted the recipe from Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity to cupcake form. Makes 12 cupcakes.

• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1-1/3 cups cake flour
• 1-3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 large whole egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
• 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and baking soda) with a whisk. Set aside. Stir saffron threads into two tablespoons milk in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a small bowl, combine 2/3 cup milk, egg, and one teaspoon vanilla. Add cooled saffron mixture and whisk well to incorporate. [Do not spill on clothes. Saffron stains. I may or may not know this from personal experience.] Marvel over brilliant yellow color. Pour the wet mixture over the flour mixture and whisk gently to combine. Resist over-mixing -- whisk only until ingredients are well-incorporated. Pour into cupcake wrappers and bake for 20 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for 15 minutes. While the cupcakes cool, stir water and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then stir in remaining teaspoon vanilla. Poke holes evenly in the cupcakes with a wooden skewer. Spoon the vanilla syrup over the top of the cupcakes. Let cool to room temperature.

The Saffron Frosting Recipe

Dolores' recipe did not have any frosting. Cupcakes need frosting, so I went in search of an appropriate match. I found a recipe for saffron buttercream on A Tasty Pedia.

• 1.5 cups confectioners' sugar (add more until preferred consistency)
• 1/2 cup saffron-infused butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon organic skim milk

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
Add vanilla and milk and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream/sugar if needed for spreading consistency.

The Livestrong Wristband

I'm all for the Livestrong cause. However, I never understood the fascination with the yellow Livestrong wristbands. My whole body would be covered in plastic if I wore a band for every cause I cared about. I'm picturing a green hula hoop-sized band around my waist because I support the environment and a white headband in my hair because I support brain research. I'm not even going to go into the band I would wear where the sun don't shine to show my opinions on abortion.

Luckily, my cupcake didn't complain about donning its Livestrong wrist/cupcake band that I borrowed from a friend.

What do you think of the Livestrong wristband phenomenon? What about all the other wristbands that people wear for every imaginable cause? Do you like to show support for your charities on your wrist? Let me know in the comments.