Last year I was honored to bake birthday cupcakes for our good friend Beth Lacey’s party. We Crusaders are always excited to bake, especially for parties! So when her birthday rolled around this year, I was excited to create new and interesting flavor combinations with her delicious homemade jams. Not wanting to repeat the same flavors as last year, I settled on two of her best sellers (which you can buy at her Etsy shop): Raspberry Rose Jam and Salted Caramel Pear Butter.
For the Raspberry Rose jam-filled cupcake, I decided to create a floral inspired flavor profile with a lavender vanilla cake and a wildflower honey frosting. (Both the cake and frosting recipes are from my previous baking experiment.)
This cupcake turned out so much better than anticipated! While I love floral notes and flavors, I was a bit worried this cupcake would be too much of a good thing. Luckily, everyone enjoyed it and really liked the floral link with Beth’s sweet jam.
What goes better with salted caramel than chocolate? How about a little red wine? Having made Chocolate Syrah cake many times since my first experiment with it, I knew (well, hoped) this cake flavor would work well with the sweet and salty pear butter filling. Simple buttercream with a sugar sprinkle on top finished off this birthday flavor.
With its sweet and salty flavors and interesting textures this cupcake caused some chatter between the party goers. Some of them really liked it and some thought it was a bit on the strange side. Crusader Jenn thought it was sprinkled with salt, making for an odd flavor expectation that didn’t pan out. All in all, this cupcake was not a total flop, but not a home run either.
Baking is always fun when you get to work with interesting ingredients, but even better when you get to bake for the people you love. Beth really appreciated my baking cupcakes for her party, and enjoyed eating them too! It was a lovely party and I’m glad I could help celebrate with one of my favorite people.
– Posted by Cupcake Crusader, Elisa (Baltimore, MD)
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