Mevrouw Cupcake

This month the theme "ingredient" for Cupcake Hero is Earth Day, as chosen by Tempered Woman, partner in crime to Cupcake Hero's founder and hostess-with-the-mostess, Laurie of quirky cupcake. With such a broad and interesting topic to portray using the cupcake as my medium, let me tell you, I found it difficult to come up with an idea. I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it some more, and when I couldn't come up with anything, I decided I'd better pick the brains of my nearest and dearest. So a big shout-out to my darling friend Liz who suggested using flower pots as baking cups and to my lovely boyfriend who came up with idea of a farming theme, after their input everything else just fell into place. In my case, the egg came before the chicken, in that it was only after thinking about the subject of Earth Day and farming, that I started thinking about sustainable agriculture and locally grown foods and how my opionions on the subject were shaped by my parents. In honor of Earth Day and my wonderful parents, I present to you my organic farm cupcakes in a reusable baking cups!

I don't often talk about my values or beliefs on this blog, as a matter of fact, other then talking about food and anything relating to my food experiences, I kinda avoid the rest. For the most part it's because I feel that there are so many other folks out there who can say it better and more eloquently then I, but also because part of me wants to keep this blog policitally neutral. Should you have the opportunity to meet me in person, I'd have no problem stepping up on my soap box, but unlike the majority of those Web 2.0 savvy among us, I tend to tone it down online. No time like the present, to change that though.

My whole childhood is one long memory of meals made and eaten from the finest and freshest ingredients available, because my parents felt that what my siblings and I ate was important; so important in fact, that they went out of their way to make sure that we were raised on a vegetarian and mostly organic diet. They took time out of their busy home life to volunteer at the local organic food co-op, enabling them to buy organic whole foods in bulk for our growing family. At one point during my childhood my mother even made the bread, yogurt, granola, and sometimes even the butter, that we ate. We bought our milk from a farmer who brought it to us in glass gallon jars, unpasturized, and with a good 4 inches of cream on top. My parents taught us to garden and how to compost, ensuring that we learnt first hand where food comes from and could appreciate taking part in the production of it. Because of the TLC my parents invested in the care and feeding of my siblings and I, I've always had a strong sense of the importance that good food plays in one's life. As the oldest of seven children from a low-to-middle income African American family from Kansas, I wasn't raised to think that good food was a luxury, but the right of every human being; and I still believe this to be true.

Flowerpot Farm Cupcakes

Classic Yellow Cake
source: Sweet Celebrations: The Art of Decorating Beautiful Cakes 

1 cup + 2 tbsp sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ lb (1 stick/113g) sweet butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup (115g) sour cream
2 large egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350F/177C. Line the bottoms of eight small unglazed terracotta flowerpots with parchment paper, then butter and flour.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy and light in color, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the sugar and continue to mix until fluffy and light.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time, being sure each is well incorporated before adding the next one. Add the vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Be sure the mixture is completely blended after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared flower pots and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. The top of the cake should be nicely browned. Test for doneness with a skewer or a toothpick; the tester should come out dry and clean. 

 Samira's Chocolate Frosting

1 cup full-fat Greek yoghurt

3/4 cup powdered sugar

4-6 tbsp good-quality cocoa powder

In a medium sized bowl, shift powdered sugar and cocoa powder over Greek yoghurt, stirring with a spatula until blended. More sugar or cocoa powder can be added to taste.

Decorating the cupcakes:

Once the flowerpots have cooled, pop the cakes out and remove the parchement paper from the bottom. Replace the cakes in the flowerpots, frost and decorate.

Chef's notes:

The flowerpots that I used were roughly 1¾ inches in diameter at the base, 3 inches in diameter across the top and 2¾ inches in height. When I originally made this recipe, I used six and not eight flowerpots and overfilled them, which is the recipe as written above uses eight flowerpots.

This post is my very first submission to Cupcake Hero hosted by Laurie of quirky cupcake.

More info on the subject of sustainable agriculture: 

Sustainable Table

The Food Project 

The Land Institute --- this is in my hometown!

Growing Trust, an article by Barbara Kingsolver for Mother Earth News 

A bit closer to (my) home, the region of North Holland has just kicked off the campaign that will run until September, promoting local and oragnic produce from North Holland. Click here for the Dutch language site and further info on events surrounding the campaign.