Cola Cupcakes
As soon as I saw Cox Cookies & Cake by Eric Lanlard and Patrick Cox, I had to buy a copy. As a designer myself, I couldn’t help but love the padded cover, pink edged pages and ‘sexy, seductive’ photographic styling – and the tongue in cheek, slightly smutty humour tickled me too. A collaboration between master pâtissier Eric Lanlard and footwear designer Patrick Cox, the book documents some of the popular bakes sold in their Soho shop, including the Buff Man Cakes, Cheeky Cakes and Titty Cakes. Definitely buns with va-va-voom!
With a visit to a sweet obsessed friend approaching, I dived straight in with the Cola Cupcakes – the idea of a chocolate and cola sponge, topped with a cola frosting, fizzy cola bottle sweets and popping candy was too good to resist! I did initially wonder if there was an error with the recipe, as there was no sugar listed in the ingredients, but assumed that maybe the cola itself added enough sugar. However, when I removed the cakes from the oven, they had barely risen and were firm to the touch. A taste of the sugarless sponge proved that something was sadly amiss… yuck!
Had already promised that I would arrive bearing cakes (me and my big mouth!), I needed to find a solution and fast. In times of trouble, I always turn to Nigella Lawson, patron saint of short cut sponges as her recipes are always quick, and I’ve yet to try one that didn’t work. Her Coca-Cola cake is meant to be a tray bake, but there are very few mixes that can’t be used as cupcakes providing you reduce the cooking time accordingly and keep a close eye on them in the oven. I followed the standard recipe, but divided the mixture between 16 cupcake cases and cooked them for approximately 15 minutes. Once cooled, I then continued the recipe from the Cox, Cookies & Cake book, following their guidance for icing and decoration.
However, I also discovered on this day, that popping candy (or space dust as it’s sometimes known) is also a fun but very fickle creature. It looked great crumbled on top the buttercream, but lacked fizz when the cupcakes were eaten a little while later. I’m not sure if it was moisture in the icing from the cola, or atmospheric humidity, or just that it wasn’t my day. Any tips or information on what may have gone wrong will be gratefully received.
Although the sponge was tasty, the cakes weren’t quite as nice as I’d hoped – probably as much to do with my annoyance that I’d had to through a whole tray load away. It’s always a disappointment when cakes don’t turn out how you expect, and it has put me off trying other recipes from the book – which is a shame as many of the cakes sound lovely, and are beautifully styled. One for inspiration instead!