Ava's Gluten-Free Alien Cakes
Greg:Well, can't he just beam up?
Elliot: This is reality, Greg." - E.T. The Extra- Terrestrial
When I first met my friend Ava I have to admit that my inner
competitive, jealous girl side came out. I mean, she’s gorgeous and a dancer
and has super great hair and I was like, “No. Nononononononononononono.”
Obviously, this had nothing to do with Ava, and everything to do with my inner,
insecure child (my therapist and I have dubbed her, Joan)
But,
try as Joan might, to keep me wary and
nervous about this new, gorgeous, dancing person, I couldn’t help but be reeled
in by Ava’s infectious laugh, her sense of humor, and her good-natured
personality. Also, she can tap dance in stiletto boots, and taught me how to climb a rope, which would've been perfect were it not for my fear of falling to my death.
However, with all her awesomeness, it’s Ava’s sense of humor that gave me the idea for this
dessert. The joke will make absolutely no sense to people who weren’t there,
but I thought it was hilarious, and so I based her entire dessert off of it.
Please
enjoy these gluten-free buddies on a really good hair day. Then you can feel a
little like Ava, too.
INGREDIENTS:
For the Cupcakes:
- 2
sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 2
½ cups gluten-free all purpose flour (I USE NAMASTE FOODS GLUTEN-FREE PERFECT FLOUR BLEND! It is amazing! It
works just like all-purpose
cup-for-cup and the results were great!)
- 1
½ tsp baking powder
- ¼
tsp baking soda
- ½
tsp salt
- 1
½ cups sugar
- 2
tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2
large eggs, at room temperature
- 1
cup whole milk
For the Frosting:
- 4
sticks unsalted butter, softened
- About
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1
tsp pure vanilla extract
- Pinch
of salt
- Yellow
and green food coloring
- Candy
eyes
- Black
gel food icing
DIRECTIONS:
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Places liners in cupcake tins
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla, followed by the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute between each egg.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour mixture in three additions, separated by adding the milk. (If this sounds way confusing, it’s just broken down like this: add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat, add ½ the milk mixture and beat, add second 1/3 of flour mixture and beat, etc, etc, until the flour and milk has all been added)
- Use a rubber spatula to make sure all the ingredients have been fully incorporated without over beating.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cupcakes tins and bake for about 20-25 minutes (this gluten-free flour takes a little longer to bake with), or until a skewer entered into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting and Decorating:
- In a large bowl, beat the butter on high with a hand mixer for about 5 minutes until it is all light and fluffy.
- Add the sugar, vanilla, and salt, and continue to beat until it has reached your desired frosting consistency, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Once your ingredients are all frosting-like, add a few drops of yellow food coloring and a bunch of green. Then continue to beat the coloring into the frosting. (Now remember, feel free to be as creative as you want with this alien-frosting. If you want a blue alien, instead of green, please feel free to do so)
- Frost
each cupcake using either a small offset spatula, or butter knife. When
the cupcake is neatly frosted, gently press on three candy eyes, and use
the black gel icing to make an expressive mouth.
See, this one is happy. 
This one is surprised. "The claaaaaaw." - Now
take it to your leader and eat it!
Til next time,
D
Comments
Post a Comment