Sunday, August 16, 2009

62 years of glory to India

15th August marks the freedom of Incredible India, 62 years of struggle, wars, democracy, economic growth and independence.
I decided to make my first batch of official cupcakes, those based on the three principal colours of the Indian Flag.
For those of you who aren’t aware of the Indian Flag and the relevance of the colors, here’s a brief explanation to the three horizontal equally proportionate bands and the navy blue wheel:

Deep Saffron: courage, sacrifice & spirit of renunciation
White: purity & truth
Dark Green: growth, faith & fertility
Navy Blue Wheel: called the Dharma Chakra – the 24 spokes denote life in movement & death in stagnation
(Source: Flag Code of India: Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. Of India)


According to the colors on our flag I made:
Orange - Cinnamon Cranberry Cupcakes with Grapefruit Frosting
White – Coconut Cream Cupcakes with Coconut Cream cheese Frosting
Green – Cucumber White Tea Cupcakes with Mint Frosting

Cinnamon Cranberry Cupcakes
Recipe makes roughly: 6-8 cupcakes
GET
Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsps baking powder
3 tbsps unsalted butter (softened)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp orange flavour (fleur d'orange)
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 tsp cinnamon powder

SET
1. Heat oven to 175°C, line up the muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together baking powder, salt & flour & cinnamon powder.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter for 2 minutes, then add the sugar and beat with an electric beater for 3 minutes. or until pale & fluffy. Beat in egg & orange flavour. Divide dry mixture into three portions, add the dry mixture & milk in alternate batches, beating slightly. Mix until just well incorporated.
4. Fold in the cranberries.
5. Use a ice cream scooper to put the batter in the muffin cups. Bake until pale golden, for 20-25 minutes. Turn out onto a rack and cool for 15 minutes.

GO
Make sure the cupcakes have thoroughly cooled, else you will have the frosting sliding off!
Ice the cranberry cupcakes with the Grapefruit Frosting, and enjoy these crunchy tangy cupcakes!

The Orange Frosting :)
This is a butter cream frosting with a hint of grapefruit, its pretty simple and you can substitute it with orange or lime to get an Orange or Lime Frosting.
GET
2 1/2 tbsps Butter
3 cups icing sugar
6-7 tbsps grapefruit juice
smallest pinch of salt
2 tbsps grated grapefruit rind
Icing colour - Orange

SET
1. Place butter in a mixing bowl & cream it for a minute.
2. Add in sugar one cup at a time (make sure you sift in the sugar before, or you can sift it even during this process) with 2 tbsps of the juice. Keep adding the sugar and juice until the right consistency is achieved.
3. Add in the grated rind and salt and beat on high speed for 1 minute.
4. Take a small portion of the icing color (I used the paste variety) on a toothpick/knife and swirl it in the mixture. Make sure to take on just a teeny weeny bit, as the colours are very potent and can make the butter cream turn out a fluorescent orange :D Mix once again to get the right colour.

GO
Before piping the cupcakes, make sure they have cooled down. Use a butter knife or frosting knife to ice up the yummy Cinnamon Cranberry Cupcakes!

2 comments:

  1. these cupcakes look delish! luv the tri-clors!

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  2. To be honest have never eaten a cupcake ever. But ure creations sure luk very tempting. While reading the recipe i luved the concept of "get set go". It's a fun way to put it. Only thing i didnt understand was how did u obtain the tri colour in the cupcakes. Maybe u shud add more info on the go part of it for novices like me! ;-)
    All the best for ure venture. Am sure we will more yummy stuff coming out of ure miniature Paris home. Kuddos to u.
    Aru

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