I suppose if the New Year is about new beginnings and what not, it’s only fitting that my first baking endeavor of 2015 was also my first fore into gluten-free baking. I had heard that a lot of gluten-free sweets aren’t very good or are a pain to make with not a lot of taste pay off, so up until now whenever I received an invitation to someone who can’t eaten gluten’s home I would just play it safe and bring along something that didn’t rely on gluten anyway. However, recently a friend of mine who suffers from a gluten allergy asked me if it would be at all possible to make a gluten-free version of the absinthe cake balls and that served as the impetus for me to finally take the plunge and take on gluten-free baking. I had to make a few adaptions to the original absinthe cupcake recipe, but the results were more than acceptable in terms of taste and texture–in fact, the gluten-free version may even be a bit better for you as its slightly springier texture requires less icing to form balls. If you want to make a decadent gluten-free treat that doesn’t seem, well, gluten-free, give this a try.
Mulled Wine Cake Bites (with bonus absinthe cake bites!)
As those of you who have been following me on Instagram know, in the spring and summer I make a fair amount of varieties of sangria and even made some sangria cupcakes, which were surprisingly quite tasty. And since sangria is to summer as mulled wine is to winter, when I was making my last batch of mulled wine I got to wondering if it would be good in cupcakes as well. My friend had a birthday in late November and I figured that would be a good opportunity to put this idea to the test, but since someone else was already bringing a proper cake to the party I decided that cake bites (cake pops without the stick) would make for a better gift since they are easier to take home and keep. The final result was the perfect mix of spicy and sweet and fruity, plus I had enough cake and frosting ingredients left to make a batch of absinthe cake bites (with this recipe) so you’re getting two recipes for the price of one today.
Absinthe Cupcakes
As those of you who follow me on Instagram know, over the last year I’ve been into making “cocktail cupcakes” inspired by cocktails and alcoholic beverages. Pink champagne cupcakes, strawberry margarita cupcakes, sangria cupcakes, mojito cupcakes, whiskey red velevet cupcakes–I’ve made a lot of cocktail cupcakes and yet up for whatever reason, up until now I had completely overlooked the obvious, “gothy-est” cocktail cupcake: absinthe cupcakes. [Continue Reading/続きを読む]