Floreine Hudspeth’s Hoosier Cupcakes
I love recipes named after people, especially when they have names like Floreine Hudspeth. It appeals to that part of me that craves connection not only with the source of our food, but with those who prepare it. (The same appeal that makes Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker such popular brands.)
Today was like Christmas and W’s birthday all rolled into one. October 15th has been talked about for at least a month around here, it being the release date of How to Train Your Dragon, only the very best thing that has ever happened to a certain 5 year old boy who lives here. And so since there’s no school on Friday afternoons we arranged an impromptu soiree with W’s cousins and a couple BFFs from kindergarten. He asked as he was leaving for school if there might be cupcakes, and I remembered at close to noon that I had yet to produce any.
Instead of flipping through the internet, I pulled The Fannie Farmer Baking Book off the shelf and in the chocolate cake section found Floreine’s recipe (which was actually for a cake, not cupcakes, but they worked swimmingly) – although I have no idea why it was called a hoosier cake, how could I not make it?
Of course I changed it – knocked down the sugar and swapped some canola oil for the butter, and although I am totally making her “Gravy Icing” someday, which oddly contains flour but which Marion Cunningham describes as “the fluffiest frosting imaginable”, I had exactly ten minutes to frost them before running out the door and leaving Mike with the little boy madhouse. You can see speed was the only important factor when ladling the batter into the paper cups.
So I made – seriously, don’t snicker – a quick ganache. Which I swear is infinitely faster than the beaten butter-sugar method – ganache is a word like deglazing, which only means to splash any kind of liquid into a hot pan after you’ve cooked something to get up the browned bits. A ganache is just warmed cream with chocolate stirred in – toss in a handful of chocolate chips and leave it – they’ll melt in the cream after a minute or so – then stir until smooth. I was trying to avoid the inch-thick swirl of buttercream that just gets eaten off the top of a cupcake anyway, and so didn’t even wait for the ganache to cool – I dipped the tops of each into the chocolate and then, wanting to appeal to a room of four to seven-year olds, sprinkled them with green sugar. (I didn’t have any sprinkles.)
The cakes themselves are nice and dense and moist, not too sweet and nicely domed on top. You make a paste out of cocoa and boiling water, which is cool, and as with most of my favourite chocolate cake recipes, there’s coffee – it won’t make them taste like coffee, I promise. If you’re worried about the caffeine, pick up a jar of instant decaf and keep it in your cupboard to use for baking, as you would a bottle of vanilla.
Floreine Hudspeth’s Hoosier Cupcakes
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup boiling water
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup cold strong coffee
2 tsp. vanillaPreheat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugars for a minute, until well blended. Add the eggs and beat for two minutes, until pale and creamy.
Meanwhile, stir together the cocoa and boiling water – it will make a thick paste. Beat it into the butter-sugar mixture. Add half the flour, the baking soda and salt, beating on low just until combined. Add the coffee and vanilla, then the rest of the flour, beating just until blended. Divide among paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are springy to the touch. Tilt them on their sides to allow steam to escape and help them cool before frosting. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cupcakes.
Quick Ganache or Glaze: to make ganache, you just need some cream and chocolate – heat the cream, add the chocolate, stir. For a glossier chocolate glaze, add corn syrup – heat 4 Tbsp. cream and 4 Tbsp. corn syrup, then stir in 4 oz. chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. Really – I’m never that precise with the ratio.
And because it’s World Food Day, I should quickly fill you in on dinner. I spent my Friday evening in a room full of food producers, educators, growers and eaters at Dine & Dialogue – a 150 km supper and chat with like-minded people. We sat at long tables and ate bison, locally grown carrots, beets and lettuces with local pear dressing, elk salami and apple crisp (all for $10!). Wade was there, and Eliese, and Rod and Chad, and Andrew, and almost a hundred others, and my heart actually raced over the conversation about sustainability, security and other food issues.
Backtrack: One day last week after a string of particularly hard days, I emailed to ask my sister how her day at work was going. Her answer – “I got to teach math this morning, which was incredibly relaxing and satisfying.”
I know. How could we possibly be related? It would seem she got all the math genes and I got none. She comes home from her evenings back at University, where she’s taking her masters degree, and compares it to having just had a massage. I repeat: wow. Also? Wow.
But then I went and got all flushed talking about urban gardening and bees and SPIN farming and permaculture and production and affordability and accessibility issues surrounding local food, which I think tends to be the biggest issue and was the best part – people tend to get hung up on farmers’ markets, but there are more direct ways to support local growers, like CSA farms and co-ops. And my wheels wouldn’t stop spinning.
Tomorrow they’re continuing the event with a Harvest Food Fair. Here are the deets:
HARVEST FOOD FAIR
Show off your bounty and enter one of the fair contests! Entries will be accepted in the following categories: Jams, Preserves, Pies, Flower Arrangements, and Photography.
Bring your entries on the day of the fair with a second helping to offer to the Food Bank.
Presentations will be given by local experts on a variety of topics such as permiculture, backyard farming, urban bees and much more. An abundance of opportunities to network and ask lots of questions! Refreshments featuring local apple juice, coffee and tea will be served.
When: Saturday, October 16, 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Where: Unitarian Church, 1703-1st Street NW (free parking at Balmoral School and complimentary Bike Valet service).
If you have any thoughts on any of the above – or would like to share a story, idea or arrangement that works well for you or where you like – I would love to continue the discussion here! Or what you had for dinner on this World Food Day, or really anything else on your mind. I do love reading your comments – I have a bunch of your ideas posted on my fridge to make one of these days. My friend Nik donated a trio of her premium loose leaf teas (creamy Earl Grey – my favourite – white Swiss truffle roiboos and jasmine green tea with flowers) to pass on – not exactly local, but imported using the Ethical Tea Partnership, and all packaging and other business goes down in her living room just a couple blocks away from me. And they take Canadian Tire dollars. For real. (We all live in hundred-year-old houses and do a lot of renos.) She has wonderful tea – I thought of tea as not much more as floor sweepings that produced dingy water until I met her.
And congrats to Cathy and Merry, who won fancy new Crock Pots! Yes, I decided to give away two instead of one. Thanks for playing!
October 16 2010 | cake | 23 Comments »
