Seventy-five Dozen Cupcakes

I've been wondering what I'd do with 'em.

The Demarle party left me with a fascination for cupcakes. Sue made a cake in one of the Demarle pans -- it was lovely. Light, moist, beautifully browned -- it was remarkably good, the best cake I've had in a long time. I picked up a muffin tray and a charlotte tray -- originally with the admirable intention of making low-fat individual crustless quiches with them, hereafter referred to as timbales -- but that cake! What if I actually made some cupcakes!

It didn't help that I've been reading Veganomicon, and it has been making me very happy. The combination of attitude and solid vegan comfort food -- they really do seem to hit the mark of "the dishes you wish you'd grown up with" -- absolutely nourished my vegetable-seeking heart. Then there's all these desserts in the back! Including some amazing-looking cupcake recipes! So how could I not go out and borrow their previous volume, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World?! Especially when it was just sitting there on the shelves of my friendly local library?

So, now I've read Vegan Cupcakes cover to cover -- about 40 main recipes, with variations carrying the total to at least 75 -- and I plan to try at least a couple when my Demarle order arrives.

I think I can take some to the networking group. My new mastermind group could try a few. Still, seventy-five dozen -- what I'd have if I tried every recipe in the book -- is rather a lot. Especially since we've basically been living a flour and sugar free lifestyle since Doug developed diabetes. It was just a couple months ago when our neighbor tried to borrow a cup of flour, and I had to admit I didn't have any.

So, who knows what this fascination with cupcakes is about.

Here is a vegetarian but not vegan recipe for fast timbales -- more appropriate for a low glycemic lifestyle. Than cupcakes. I made this in my friend Sue's charlotte tray the morning after the Demarle party.

Fast Timbales

3 cloves garlic
1 zucchini
1 carrot
6 eggs
2 tablespoons cream, optional
Salt, pepper, and oregano to taste -- approximately pinch each of salt and pepper, 1/2 teaspoon oregano

Press the garlic cloves into a medium bowl. Grate the zucchini and carrot on top of the garlic. In another medium bowl, beat the 6 eggs with the seasonings and cream, if using. Fold the vegetables into the eggs, then pour into charlotte or muffin trays, filling each form no more than 3/4s full. (If there are any empty spaces, put a little water in them for more even baking.) Bake until lightly brown on top, and a toothpick inserted into a timbale comes out clean -- approximately 20 minutes, depending on the size of the individual timbales.

These puffed beautifully, and were nicely brown underneath, when made in Sue's charlotte tray. Plus, of course, since it was Demarle, they popped right out of the forms, no oiling, no spraying, no flour. I liked the fluted round shapes of the charlotte tray very much for this -- I felt surprisingly gourmet with no extra effort.

Well, maybe I can find someone who is having a bake sale. I really do want to try making some cupcakes. My muffin tray and all are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. I have recipes, and I bought ingredients -- baking ingredients are remarkably economical.

This is one of those times when having a family of six, like I did when I was growing up, would be more convenient than having a family of two. The math is just better for dividing a dozen cupcakes between six farm workers than two knowledge workers.

Seventy-five dozen cupcakes will likely be too much. I'll make a couple recipes of a dozen each, and see where I go from there.

I wish you indulgent and happy food.

Anna